Alright, so I probably don't have the guts...

**D.A. Guertin** · 16th September 09, 01:21 PM

OK, everything measured and weighted and multiplied and divided, and the grand secret of the universe (or, at least the weight of the fabric) is...13.501 ounces. Score! I'm thinking I'm going to have to take pity on my thighs and line this in satin or something, though...

Thanks much for the input!

**Pleater** · 16th September 09, 02:22 PM

That looks to be a very dark but interesting pattern.

By the way - when making up a kilt the diagonal of the woven twill pattern is expected to run from the right hip to the left knee on the apron and line up all way around, as long as that is not going to pose any problems. Some machines now weave differently and doing it that way would give a rough line at the hem. If that is the case then you just have to make it up with the line going the other way.

It the fabric is rough then you could simply wear the kilt with a long shirt or tunic.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**D.A. Guertin** · 17th September 09, 07:29 AM

Thanks much for that, Anne.

Current thought process is to go with a late 18th / early 19th century box-pleated to stripe, adding a waist band, buckles and belt loops. A happy hybrid, I hope. There is a single white vertical line that I can use that I think would go nicely with the double blue lines that run horizontally. Will test this as soon as I go out for a smoke and do a quick pleat up in the car, since this is all just floating around in the mental ether at the mo...

Spent the night reading the Tewksbury supplement on box kilts several times, and I'm still a bit off on how exactly to go from my 31" hips to my 28" waist *and* keep the pleats nice and even when I'm sewing everything pleat by pleat as I go... I have a theory that I can tack the pleat at the hip and then somehow increase the material taken up within the box, but then I'm thinking the pleat width may be as much as 1/4" narrower at the waist than the hips...

**D.A. Guertin** · 17th September 09, 08:49 AM

Right, so, did a quick pleat up in the car, and conveniently had a pair of straight pins to fumble around with as well...

Sett width is 5 3/4" and based on red line to red line (not white, as I wrote above). This tartan seems like it keeps changing colours on me based on what day I look at it in what light...

From the *really* quick box pleating I did, I come up with a pleat face of 4" and somehow everything meets nicely and evenly under the face. I know some of the oldest known tailored kilts have box pleats up to 6," so I'm not feeling all too horrible about it, though I'm still slightly concerned...

(Incedentally, if this is better-suited to another forum, please feel free to move it).

Will try to post up a photo here of what I accomplished in half a mo, just have to get it off my phone and uploaded to Photobucket.

Thanks much all!

**D.A. Guertin** · 17th September 09, 09:02 AM

Photos of what I managed (pardon the steering wheel). You can actually make out a good deal more of the pattern here! Sending through links so that I don't overload the forum for anyone that might be on dial-up.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t.../ATT436801.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t.../ATT437024.jpg

**sydnie7** · 17th September 09, 09:28 AM

That's quite handsome. There might be a problem with the blue (?) lines that are right on the outside edges of the pleat. As you taper the pleat to the waist, one or more of those lines will disappear. This calls attention to the taper and is something Barb T warns against (in the book, I think, and certainly in posts here). Have you tried centering those three blue lines on your pleat face?

But if that is the only way you can pleat it given your yardage, it's a nice look -- and folks shouldn't be staring at your taper anyway LOL

**D.A. Guertin** · 17th September 09, 09:50 AM

Sydnie,

Yardage isn't really too much of an issue since I'm so scrawny, but also because I picked up another 3.5 yards of it. ;-) It's the tapering in at the hips that really has me noodling over how to do it, though. Sounds like it would be easier to hit a few buffets and put on 10 pounds than try to get the taper to work!

**sydnie7** · 17th September 09, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by D.A. Guertin

Sydnie,

Yardage isn't really too much of an issue since I'm so scrawny, but also because I picked up another 3.5 yards of it. ;-) It's the tapering in at the hips that really has me noodling over how to do it, though. Sounds like it would be easier to hit a few buffets and put on 10 pounds than try to get the taper to work!

LOL but that doesn't work either. . . you are tapering in the rear, to adjust for the difference between "rumpus" and small of your back dimensions. All that a buffet-belly does is make it more difficult for the apron to hang nicely. FYI those are commonly called "bay windows" or "corporations" around XMTS.

Tapering isn't that difficult. Your 1/4 in. guesstimate is very do-able. But I would pin the pleats up to a different pattern, just to test, and try to get away from any stripes being right along the edge of the fold. As I said before, those stripes disappear as you work in the taper, and it doesn't look as good as it could.

**Friday** · 17th September 09, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by D.A. Guertin

Sounds like it would be easier to hit a few buffets and put on 10 pounds than try to get the taper to work!

As Sydnie says the buffet line tend to pack the front porch more than the back steps and that is a whole other set of problems.

**D.A. Guertin** · 17th September 09, 12:14 PM

OK, so no tapering for the aprons, and only across the pleats. Got it. Take the pleats in from the height of the rump to the waist, got it. Next puzzlement is with the taper in the apron.

My thought was to start by pinning all the pleats across the backside, making sure I have enough material for the aprons and under-pleats, and then..... That's about as far as I've gotten...