Hemming a kilt

[ThreadBbdr]

There was a flaw in the way that the fabric was woven - instead of the twill line going over two, under two at that particular spot, it goes over four. Basically that 'thread' is twice as long as the surrounding ones.

Which would have been fine, if somebody hadn't tried to 'fix' it by cutting the flaw away. Which weakened the fabric and caused it to fray. What I will do is lift the liner over the steeks, coax out a few threads here and there and use a blunt needle to reweave the areas where there are holes. I could, in theory, reweave every place the flaw occurs, but since we need to hem this up anyhow, I'm just going to do the holes to restore the integrity of the weave so the holes don't get bigger.

Usually what you would do it use the other selvage, but I THINK this may be a single width tartan. There's no 'back' seam anywhere at any rate. This is a vintage piece and may even be hand loomed. I know it wasn't woven on a rapier loom, since the selvage is not turned and cut - the threads only do the turn in at the color changes.

It's fascinating to get my hands on something this old. My first degree was in anthropology and I was heading to be a curator of textiles at a museum before Walt got sick. They pay accountants (even accounting clerks) better than grad students, so I felt I needed to stay in corporate America. Good thing as it turned out.

[Dukeof Kircaldy]

Well, Karla, I am glad that we agreed to do this. Please enjoy yourself. When it comes to earning a living, I am truly a toff. People should do what pleases them rather than what makes money (e.g., accountancy, defending criminals, etc.). One of my exes was into textiles and we had a leclerc handloom and kromsky spinning wheel.

But I digress. The kilt fits very well, almost "bespoke". the issue to me was the lack of a "hem", but it sounds as if this is a real vintage kilt. So, I am glad you are enjoying this and I hope it is helpful to others. I am trying to figure out the technical talk and referring to Barb's book. But from what I am gathering, this is going to be an interesting thread.