Inside out Kilts

**Pleater** · 26th November 14, 05:00 AM

OK - don't laugh - I went over 8 yards of 24inch wide fabric with a pin and moved dozens of little flaws to the other side so as to reverse it. It was a fabric with a proper folding over selvedge, but the diagonal of the twill ran the wrong way, so I fixed it.

I have also cut fabric across the warp and joined it in order to get the diagonals going the way I wanted.

I do measure pleats with a vernier - in case you're wondering, so precisely that I can detect alterations in the tension of the threads in the fabric and also tell that I am not symmetrical. When I buckle on a kilt I consciously alter the way I stand in order to align the front and back of it. It's done wonders for my spine.

Yes - slightly crackers but almost totally harmless.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**OC Richard** · 26th November 14, 05:20 AM

Originally Posted by Pleater

I went over 8 yards of 24inch wide fabric with a pin and moved dozens of little flaws to the other side so as to reverse it.

Yes I think those little flaws were what Elsie was looking for, to determine which was the 'right' side. She would have just flipped your fabric over! Time is of the essence, in "production kiltmaking", as she would say.

**Pleater** · 26th November 14, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Yes I think those little flaws were what Elsie was looking for, to determine which was the 'right' side. She would have just flipped your fabric over! Time is of the essence, in "production kiltmaking", as she would say.

Bit of a perfectionist doesn't really adequately describe my attention to detail when I make something. I am sometimes surprised that I have managed to make things for other people at all. There have been times when I have stayed up all night to get things finished because of the amount of time I have spent to get them just right.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**Tarheel** · 26th November 14, 01:57 PM

Well my Confederate Memorial kilt is "bass-ackwards"by RReid's original post, unless I only take photos of it in mirrors. Then the twill lines run top left to bottom right. How many of us checked our kilts? Show of hands.

**Barb T** · 26th November 14, 08:12 PM

Although the traditional right side of the fabric gave a twill line that diagonals down to the left from the right hip, what really matters is how the kilt looks. If the tuck-in selvedge looks better on the side where the twill line goes the other way, then that's the way the kilt should be made. If the slubs (the places where a thread is joined) are on the side you think you want to use for the face, then either use the other side or very carefully spread the threads of the weave apart and push the slubs to the other side. Do NOT cut them off, or you will have a hole in your tartan. I've commonly pushed slubs through to the other side if there's one slub in an unfortunate place and I can give the kilt a traditional twill diagonal by moving the slub to the other side of the fabric.

**Steve Ashton** · 26th November 14, 08:32 PM

Barb Tewksbury, "The Slub Hunter". On The Kilt Network this fall.

**Nile** · 26th November 14, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by Tarheel

Well my Confederate Memorial kilt is "bass-ackwards"by RReid's original post, unless I only take photos of it in mirrors. Then the twill lines run top left to bottom right. How many of us checked our kilts? Show of hands.

OK, Tarheel... I ran up to the closet checked my kilt and it's the same as your's, top left to bottom right. It's a Lochcarron Strome, 16oz of the Fraser of Lovat Modern tartan. Despite what's "traditional" for twill line direction, I believe my kilt looks great (a true piece of art made by Bonnie Heather Green) and the fabric is 'top notch'. I appreciate what Barb T posted in this thread; "...where the twill line goes the other way, then that's the way the kilt should be made."

Nile

**RockyR** · 26th November 14, 09:56 PM

As a kiltmaker with 11 years in the trade, I can say with 100% certainty that Barb and Steve are correct. Have your kiltmaker check with the mill to see which side is the face and which is the backside. When in doubt, some mills will put a sticker on the face side, labeling it "face".

Alternatively, as a general rule, the side of the cloth folded facing INWARDS when the mill folds it is typically (dare I say always?) the face. The theory is that if a bit of grease or something hits the cloth, it is on the backside.

Lochcarron 16 oz runs ////
HOE 16 (HW) runs ////
EVERY other major mill (and Lochcarron and HOE's 13 oz) runs \\\\\\

Matt, Barb or Steve, please correct me if I am wrong.

As has been discussed here and elsewhere, unless the cloth has obvious slubs / knots or is Teflon coated, the sides are virtually indistinguishable.

My $.02

**davidlpope** · 27th November 14, 06:08 AM

Rocky,

Thanks. I had remembered a post about this previously.

**OC Richard** · 27th November 14, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by RockyR

Lochcarron 16 oz runs ////
HOE 16 (HW) runs ////
EVERY other major mill (and Lochcarron and HOE's 13 oz) runs \\\\\\

OK I just went through the kilts I have and here is what I saw.

The direction is as seen with the kilt spread out on a table with the selvedge closest to you, the top of the kilt furthest from you.

Lochcarron 16oz (Isle of Skye and Auld Scotland) \\\\

House of Edgar 13oz (muted Drummond of Perth) \\\\

House of Edgar 18oz MOD (Royal Stewart) ////

unknown weaver, my band kilt, 13oz (Prince Charles Edward Stuart) \\\\