Machine made or hand stitched?

[Blackrose87]

Just wondering how much noticeably difference there is between the two? I was looking at Gordon icholson kilts and saw that their hand stitched ones are around £100 more than the machine sticthed ones.
Do people think this is really worth it? Like would their definitely be a difference in quality between the two?

[Riverkilt]

Hellya!!

I've purchased over a dozen hand stitched kilts so far - the quality leaps out at you...the craftsmanship....for me - there is a huge difference between hand sewing and machine sewing.

Another key difference is probably gonna be the thread that holds the kilt together. The top handsewn kiltmakers buy special thread from Great Britain or Germany. Don't think that quality thread will fit through a sewing machine needle well (??) The most important part of a kilt - after the person sewing it up - is the thread they use to hold it together.

So many operations of hand sewing a kilt are difficult to duplicate on a machine.

One man's appreciation of the craft of kiltmaking.

The one exception would be leather kilts where a machine is necessary and hand sewing a leather kilt would be almost punishment.

[Blackrose87]

Thanks! I thought this may be the case. Although I would save quite a bit by buying the machine sewed one, I think the investment may be worth it.
I'd like to have a good quality kilt I can wear to weddings and formal things, so hopefully a hand made kilt will last me for quite a few years.

[Ryan Ross]

I vote for hand sewing too. There are some folks out there who can make really excelent kilts by machine, but I've never seen a machine sewn kilt that could close to stand up to a really fine hand sewn one.

I think that's a fairly undesputed claim, also. Never heard the contrary come from someone with experience being around both kinds.

EDIT: On the duribility of a good hand sewn kilt, it should last you a lifetime of pretty regular wear, so long as you take care of it; a lifetime and more.

I had a good look at this one old kilt that was being worn by the chief of the clan Ramsay. It looked more or less brand new, save that it was made in hard tartan, which until recently, was almost impossible to find. I hear that kilt was well over 100 years old.

[Barb T]

And the difference in appearance of the pleats between hand sewn and machine stitched depends on how the kiltmaker does the machine stitching. Most kilts with machine-stitched pleats have the machine stitching on the outside, where it shows on the face of every pleat. That makes the kilt pretty obviously machine sewn. When a kilt is made by hand, even though the pleats are stitched from the outside, the stitches should be invisible if the kilt is well-made.

Having said that, some kiltmakers, such as Rocky at USA kilts, machine stitch the pleats from the inside, so that the stitching doesn't show on the face of the pleat. This is really hard to do well and get the stripes to match, but Rocky is one of those who does a fabulous job.

[creagdhubh]

And the difference in appearance of the pleats between hand sewn and machine stitched depends on how the kiltmaker does the machine stitching. Most kilts with machine-stitched pleats have the machine stitching on the outside, where it shows on the face of every pleat. That makes the kilt pretty obviously machine sewn. When a kilt is made by hand, even though the pleats are stitched from the outside, the stitches should be invisible if the kilt is well-made.

Having said that, some kiltmakers, such as Rocky at USA kilts, machine stitch the pleats from the inside, so that the stitching doesn't show on the face of the pleat. This is really hard to do well and get the stripes to match, but Rocky is one of those who does a fabulous job.

Great information to know, Barb!

[Pleater]

I have been using a sewing machine for over 50 years and consider myself pretty well up in the skills required, having sewn many hundreds of items with the machine, but I sew my kilts by hand.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[ForresterModern]

I have several machine stitched kilts as well as a number of handstitched kilts by various vendors. One noticeable difference I recently discovered between several of the machine stitched (not topstitched like Barb mentions for the low end kilts) kilts is that their internal construction consisted of discontinuous interfacing where the aprons joined the fell and pleats (several kilts from three different online Scottish kiltmakers), whereas a couple of machine stitched and ALL of my handstitched kilts had continuous interfacing from apron edge across the fell to the under apron edge, providing what seems to be a better and more consistent fit, IMHO. In nearly every other way the kilts are practically indistinguishable. Cheaper built and casual kilts often/usually lack the interfacing altogether in my limited experience (one casual and two off the peg PV kilts).

So I think either hand or machine sewn kilts can be of high quality, a lot depends on the internal construction and many of the small details that can make a significant fit and wearability difference are practically invisible to most of us. Best to query your anticipated kiltmaker about construction details----in particular stabilizer at the fell between the buckles, and continuous interfacing across the whole kilt. Several here have shown us their techniques and work, and to the best of my knowledge no one has had major complaints from one of their hand sewns. The same cannot be said for several other kiltmakers who are not represented here, as demonstrated by several recent threads.

I guess the short answer is that either technique could yield either a high quality well fitting kilt or an ill-fitting relatively lower quality kilt, depending on the techniques used in the basic construction, but IMHO a handsewn is more likely to be a high quality item than is a machine sewn kilt.

[madmacs]

Who's doing the hand stitching? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want my hand stitching... Would I have a problem with a part machine sewn kilt? No.
Would I want a kilt with the pleats machine sewn on the outside? Not unless it was for very casual use and didnt cost a lot...
Do I think $100 extra is worth it for hand stitching? Depends on If the kilt is reasonable priced without it... $500 for partially machine stiched 8yd plus $100 for fully hand stitched by someone who has a reputation for quality work, I'd go for... $800 plus $100, not so much...

I guess I'd say choose your kiltmaker, then the kilt...

[Ryan Ross]

I have been using a sewing machine for over 50 years and consider myself pretty well up in the skills required, having sewn many hundreds of items with the machine, but I sew my kilts by hand.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

See there- That's very telling information, and very good to know!

Thanks for sharing, Anne.