Military box pleat trial

[way2fractious]

The trial continues...

pic #7 - The leather apron is stitched onto the edge of the first tapered pleat from hip to top of kilt. Since there were no opinions expressed on showing the front or back of the leather, I went ahead with my original intention of using the front. Also, I was about 4" short of material for the deep pleat behind the apron, so it took me a while to join in another piece of wool fabric, which should be completely hidden from view.

pic #8 - The excess fabric is cut out. *This is where I made a mistake.* With normal knife pleats, the next pleat is folded down behind before stitching the current pleat, thus producing multiple layers of fabric which is NOT cut out. I sewed these box pleats down individually (with no pleat folded in behind) so when I cut out the excess, the only material remaining besides the outside layer is the 1/2 +/- seam allowances. I obviously missed something here because there is not much to sew the stabilizer and canvas to later.

Perhaps a kiltmaker familiar with military box pleats could describe or illustrate the process for me.

pic #9 - Steeking, underapron canvas, and stabilizer stitched in. There will be no canvas under the leather apron, but there will be a nylon taffeta liner to prevent the suede surface from "sticking" to the rough wool-blend underapron.

[cavscout]

Holy smokes, you found what looks like Fraser hunting tartan! I'm in the middle of a huge struggle of will power to keep from ordering a kilt in that. Thanks for reminding me Kilt looks great by the way.

[Southern Breeze]

Wow! I can't wait to see it finished.

[way2fractious]

A tidbit of surprising information that appears to fit here.

I stopped by the vendor booth of Geoffrey (Tailor) at the Sac Valley Games in Woodland last weekend and asked if there was a price differential between kilts done in regular knife pleats and those with military box pleats. The answer was that Geoffrey (Tailor) had no one who could do military box pleats, therefore the question was moot.

[Southern Breeze]

A tidbit of surprising information that appears to fit here.

I stopped by the vendor booth of Geoffrey (Tailor) at the Sac Valley Games in Woodland last weekend and asked if there was a price differential between kilts done in regular knife pleats and those with military box pleats. The answer was that Geoffrey (Tailor) had no one who could do military box pleats, therefore the question was moot.

LOL Once you finish this kilt you can ask them for a job.

[Pleater]

That is going to be a beautiful kilt - I have some cloth earmarked for a kilt of similar construction, but not such striking pattern.

If I have been in a similar fix, of not having enough material, particularly with the cloth being a rough one, I would have made the apron in the tartan and used a softer toning fabric for the under apron.

I did that with one of my kilts which is now all the same cloth as I have lost weight, but when it needed to be 11 inches larger it was a good way to stretch the available cloth to make something to fit.

I am waiting to get closer to my goal size before attempting anything more complex than simple pleatings.

You might find that with a wool mix ironing on the wrong side will produce a smoother finish.

If you have a scrap of the cloth left try ironing small strips at progressively hotter settings and increasing pressure to see the effect.

[way2fractious]

Thanks for the tips, Pleater. The patchwork leather apron came about simply as an experiment. If it fails to meet expectations, I may move the underapron to the top later on.

On my construction question regarding the excess fabric, inside and above the fell, I corresponded with one of our known and respected kiltmakers. The answer was that the techniques involved are proprietary and will not be shared, at least not at this time nor in an open venue.

I guess I will have to continue the attempts to recreate the process, or find some old kilts for deconstruction or reverse engineering. These techniques are how kiltmaker apprentices had to learn the craft in earlier times.

[Pleater]

Having had to use what I could find on the internet, my experience from previous sewing, and then spend time just 'fiddling' using what fabric I had and a lot of pins, I would advise that you just experiment - use any bit of cloth to fold and cut and see what happens - you can get lots of bits of stuff from the charity shops - assuming you have some close by.

Failing that you might have an old sheet - or you might even try out a thought on some spare wallpaper.

I have definitely settled into making reverse Kinguisse style kilts, about 7 yards, with no internal reinforcing just a sturdy belt.

I tend to use cotton, sewing the edges of the pleats, as the weather is so mild that I find even 50 percent wool too hot.

Perhaps I will feel the cold more if I get thinner.

As yet I have not cut out the back of the pleats, as I have been regularly returning kilts to straight cloth and remaking them smaller, So can't give any advice on the excess fabric.

However...

The purpose of cutting the pleats is to thin out the fell, to smooth the garment outline and I suspect reduce the insulation. I would tend to look at cutting the inner parts of the pleats, that is the cloth which is not on either the inner nor the outer faces. There would then be an unbroken layer of cloth both sides but not so many layers. On an ordinary pleat raw edges are left inside and need to be covered. It might be more satisfactory to retain more of the kilt material and - although it would mean hand sewing, form a smooth surface inside the kilt.