Steeking Question

[Steve Ashton]

It really depends on if the pleats under the Fell Area are cut away or not.

The purpose of the Steeking line is to support the inside of the pleats that have a tendency to sag from being cut away.

If the kilt is machine sewn then the chances are pretty good that the pleats are not cut away. (In a machine sewn kilt there also may not be the hair canvas interfacing because the machine stitching through all the layers compresses and stiffens the Fell Area which is what the interfacing does in a hand stitched kilt.)

Very few Poly/Rayon kilts and virtually none of the Acrylic kilts have, or need, a Steeking line. The reason is that the Poly/Rayon fabrics are thin enough that they don't have a lot of bulk and the Acrylics are made without cut-aways, interfacing, stabilizer or any more than a rudimentary liner. Heck in many Acrylic kilts, the only reason there is a liner is because other kilts have a liner.

I have even seen Scottish made custom kilts without Steeking eventhough it should have been there to support the pleats..

But if the inside of the Fell Area has the excess fabric cut away to reduce bulk, then I would fix the Steeking line sooner than later.

Another thing I would be asking myself is - "Why did the steeking fail in the first place?" There should be very little stress on the area of the kilt where the Steeking line is.