Hi Ugly Bear

The selvedge on a piece of fabric is actually the edge of the fabric where the weaver originally turned the shuttle and sent it back across the fabric again. So, if you look closely, you'll see that an individual weft thread actually loops around the very last warp thread and goes back again. So, you can't just cut the selvedge off and re-selvedge it, unfortunately.

The good news is that lots of kilts, even heavy weight ones, have hems. If done properly and pressed well, no one is going to notice that your kilt has a hem. In order to do a proper job, you really need to take out the stitching at bottom of the apron and underapron edges, turn up a hem, and _then_ re-stitch the apron and underapron edges. Also, the hem isn't turned up evenly everywhere. The underapron is turned up about an inch more than the rest of the kilt at the very left hand edge, tapering to the normal hem depth about 9" from the underapron edge. This keeps the corner of the underapron from sagging below the apron edge and showing. Also, the inside point of the very first pleat next to the apron edge gets turned up an additional 1/2" or so, tapering to the normal hem depth where the pleat shows, again so that the point won't hand down and show behind the apron. If that isn't making sense, let me know, and I'll explain it another way. Once the hem is turned up and stitched, be sure to baste the pleats closed before pressing so that you don't muck up the pleats when you press them. Be sure to press both sides of the kilt.

But, before you go to all the trouble to make a hem in your kilt, make sure that it really is too long. Lots of people wear their kilts too low, and they seem too long but really aren't. The center of the buckle of your kilt should be at your true waist (roughly your belly button), and the top edge of the kilt extends _above_ your waist by about 2" in a standard kilt. So, a kilt properly worn is buckled high and tight. If you buckle it on low and loose, it can hang down as much as 2" farther than it's meant to. So, you may be able to save yourself some trouble if you check first! If you have it on properly, the bottom of the kilt should come to the top of your knee cap when you're looking straight ahead.

Cheers!

Barb