Sewing pleats on Amerikilt?

**Moosedog** · 9th February 07, 04:54 PM

Hello, All,

Has anyone tried sewing down the inside of the pleats on an Amerikilt? I love the comfort but not the disarrayed pleats...I plan to sew them down unless someone has a horror story about doing it.

I guess the only problem I could see is the increased stiffness would reduce the comfort, but this fabric is so soft I don't think it will matter. It's the khaki version, and I can only imagine it will get softer with washing. Please weigh in with advice if you have it,

Thanks,
Moosedog

**Tattoo Bradley** · 9th February 07, 04:58 PM

I'm not at all familiar with Amerikilts (simply don't have one.) But, I don't see sewing the pleats down to cause a "stiffness" problem.

**Moosedog** · 9th February 07, 05:13 PM

Hm, I may not be describing this well. It's not sewing down the pleats to the fell (they come from AK this way) but sewing the inside (hidden) part of the pleats in from the fell to the bottom. The outside is sewn, like on a USA kilt, but the inside is not. On UKs, for instance, this can make them rather stiff, kinda gives the effect of an Egyptian tomb painting. I'd like to avoid that, and the curling issues that happen sometimes.
Thanks, Moosedog

**Canuck** · 9th February 07, 05:41 PM

If you stitch them down you may sacrifice pleat depth by all of 1/4". granted doesn't sound like much. And, you could, infact increase the amount of curl by restricting play in the pleat.
Some folks do stitch the inner pleat, however, they have already acccounted for it in the seam allowance with the total pleat depth.

**arrogcow** · 9th February 07, 06:18 PM

Somewhere here there is actually a thread posted by jimmy carbomb talking about removing the sewing on the inner pleats of a UK to make it swing better. I'll leave it for someone else to find (Ron? I know you were in on that discussion).

Adam

**keepoffgrass** · 9th February 07, 08:55 PM

I have a brown Amerikilt, and it looks great , until I sit down. Then the pleats become a total mess. Ive tried the spay stuff thats supposed to help wrinkles, but it doesn't seem to work at all. I get bummed about the kilt because it looks awesome when its ironed nice and I put it on. I don't like to wear it though because of how fast the pleats just get totally destroyed. And a sloppy kilt just looks awful. I thought about trying to sew the inner part of the pleat, but I don't think it would really help, because the fabric still gunna wrinkle just as bad, sewn pleat or not. I wish there was some magic wrinkle stuff for these lighter weight kilts, I love the way they look, but cant bring myself to wear it out, because I look like a total slob by the time I get to where ever I'm going.

**ccga3359** · 9th February 07, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by keepoffgrass

I have a brown Amerikilt, and it looks great , until I sit down. Then the pleats become a total mess. Ive tried the spay stuff thats supposed to help wrinkles, but it doesn't seem to work at all. I get bummed about the kilt because it looks awesome when its ironed nice and I put it on. I don't like to wear it though because of how fast the pleats just get totally destroyed. And a sloppy kilt just looks awful. I thought about trying to sew the inner part of the pleat, but I don't think it would really help, because the fabric still gunna wrinkle just as bad, sewn pleat or not. I wish there was some magic wrinkle stuff for these lighter weight kilts, I love the way they look, but cant bring myself to wear it out, because I look like a total slob by the time I get to where ever I'm going.

Oh very punny. other than that I can't help in this thread.

**KiltedCodeWarrior** · 9th February 07, 09:00 PM

I have to agree with KOTG, AK's just are wrinkle prone, it is because of the fabric used to make the kilt. Nothing wrong with that, but if you want a kilt that you can iron, then get into the car and drive 15-20 miles and get back out looking good, they just do not hold up.

Great for casual wear though.

**ccga3359** · 9th February 07, 09:02 PM

Ther is the other ongoing thread check out riverkilts comments regarding his 14 Utilikilts http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=24451

**Moosedog** · 9th February 07, 10:56 PM

Thanks for all the tips. Hm, the link sent me to...a discussion of calendars? Actually I do have a steamer and love it, also have my own "tricks" to get my UKs to dry right.

I used to work on my feet all day, so not an issue. But now it seems I am up and down all the time, and am a little, er...bummedat the quick wrinklies. I plan to stitch them up. Rather a curl or two than a bunch.

Thanks, Moosedog