Difficulty Repressing the Pleats

[Tobus]

To press it, obviously, you don't want anything buckled. You'd want to lay it out flat with the aprons at each end. When laid out like this, yes, the waistband will curve and so will the bottom. This is due to the tapering in the fell area. The amount of tapering (and thus the amount of curvature) will be unique to each kilt and how it was made to fit the person. But in general, when a kilt is truly laid out flat so the pleats can be pressed, it will look a lot like this:




*edited to add: Your kilt may need to be squared up a little if the pleat lines have wandered over time. Hard to say without seeing it. But also keep in mind that when you press a kilt, it's best to get all the pleats exactly where you want them and then baste them before pressing. This is why most new kilts come with basting stitches still in them.