Military box pleat trial

[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.

[Kilted KT]

This is one hugely ambitious project, and looks like the end result is gonna be a great looking kilt!

I eagerly anticipate more pics!

[switchblade5984]

more pics!

looking good

[Pleater]

I have been thinking about the cutting out - as I folded up a bit of cloth and found I had NINE(!!!) layers.

I think what I would do is make up the cloth into knife pleats and tack along the folds, that is sew with large stitches in a contrast colour for later removal.

I would then cut out the front of each pleat, from about 1/4 inch from the front fold to 1/4 inch from the back fold, and almost as deep as the sewn fell.

The edges of the cut part will need to be sewn to keep the edges from fraying, but at just what part of the operation will need to be experimented with.

Refold the pleats, first as knife pleats and secure the back fold of each pleat to the single layer of fabric in front of it with a couple of stitches, then pin out the widening to the hip, then make the turning back of the front fold which should hide the cut out completely - I think.... but I am not quite sure how the supression and folds are organised yet.

It will take a couple of attampts with scrap fabric to get right when I eventually decide to make one of these, but I am looking forward to it as it looks to be a very interesting pleat design problem as well as an interesting style of kilt