Quote Originally Posted by raibeart_dubh View Post
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1. I am assuming this fabric will need to be hemmed. Does anyone have some color photos of the hemming process to show me how a finished hem on a kilt should look? Also, how does the hem affect the pleats if at all?

2. Why is the back join not performed until after the pleats are stitched? I am sure there is a good reason but it seems to me that this would be done right after ripping the fabric.

Thanks for any input! I am sure I will have many more questions as I get into actually making the kilt.
1. The instructions in the book have good drawings about how to hem a kilt - just follow them, and don't use a standard "double-fold" hem. If you do just a single fold, it won't affect the hang of the pleats at all. We even hem some of our 16 oz band kilts, and you can't tell.

2. Experienced kiltmakers commonly do the join right after ripping, but, until you've made a zillion kilts, it's very hard to tell exactly where the join will fall until you get the pleats done. If you do the join before the pleats, and the join winds up falling across a pleat fold, you'll have a huge ridge. I've done zillions of kilts, and I still do the join after pleating so that I can place the location of the join really carefully inside the pleat.