Apron shaping help.

[Pleater]

I devised my own way of working - typical Aries - not that I believe in that stuff it is just spot on when describing my character.

These days I press in all the outer folds of the pleats starting from the lower edge, and sometimes the inner ones too before doing any sewing at all, as that was I can do each fold in isolation, with no danger of marking another pleat or accidentally pressing in a crease.

Only when I have beaten the fabric into submission do I fold the pleats and pin them in place from the lower edge to the fell and check that they are all the right size and the right number of them, that they are all on the correct part of the pattern - and only then do I start to sew.

I use a pressing cloth so the sole of the iron doesn't polish the fabric, and always pick up the iron, never slide it.

Your pleats should hang vertically from where they leave the hips - the curve of the rump - and above that be shaped into the waist around just over one half of the waist.

The aprons need to make a slight cone shape - if they don't they will appear to narrow towards the lower edge, and when the kilt is worn the edges of the aprons should meet the edges of the last box pleat, as though it was a box pleat, though the under apron pleat is larger then the standard to allow the aprons - and your legs, to move freely - to step up or over an obstacle, or to sit modestly.

Being of the female persuasion I have a larger than the male difference waist to hip - and I curve the apron edge differently too, reflecting the shape of child bearing hips I expect - but the basic principle of getting the edges to meet up is the same, and a lot of time can be saved if you ensure the shape is correct first - then start to sew.

This was written under the influence of a cold cure - so I hope it makes sense.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Barb T]

Bottom line is that it won't lie nicely until you press it. The bigger the waist-hip differential, the worse it will look while it's basted. But when you put it over a pressing ham and steam the dickens out of it to make a curved shape, it will look terrific. The only thing I would say is that, if you _can't_ lay it over a pressing ham and stretch it a little until it's smooth, it _won't_ press well, and you need to rebaste, stretching a little while you do so.

When I first started making kilts, I agonized about how bad it looked when it was basted, and, on a couple of kilts, I even did a little pressing at the stage you're at to convince myself that everything was OK. You could do that, too.