Can it be done? This would be MONSTER of a conversion

**NorCalPiper** · 4th December 10, 09:50 AM

Funny you mentioned that. After reading Matt's comments and speaking with me Mom, I've decided to just do that. Before and after pics soon.

**Barb T** · 4th December 10, 11:41 AM

So, I see from your previous post that you're going to just address the flare issue. But for others who might see this post and are contemplating a complete reconstruction project, I agree with Chas. If you have a knife-pleated kilt that's made in the traditional way, you will not be able to turn it into a box pleated kilt or, in fact, re-do the pleats, because the material in the pleats above the bottom of the fell is cut out to reduce bulk. So, if you took the kilt completely apart, you wouldn't have an uninterrupted length of fabric. Instead, you'd have 20-30 4-6"-wide chunks cut out of one side of the fabric. That can't be made into a box pleated kilt.

And, to be honest, it is so darned much work to unstitch a kilt that I would sell the darn thing and buy a new length of kilting tartan. You'd likely break even on the cost of the tartan (not even considering how much time it would take to unstitch the kilt).

**NorCalPiper** · 4th December 10, 10:41 PM

Hi All-
Its actually a casual kilt, so the constraints to be found with such a project and a proper 8 yarder aren't there. Converting this would be challenging, but doable. The main problem for me is the way the apron is constructed. Again (After a careful explanation from Mama), the apron is cut like a kilted skirt, meaning there iis no A-frame construction. Its as wide at the top as it is at the bottom. The first pleat and the reverse pleat play a sort of trick by flaring out to give the illusion of an apron shaped properly. I'm going to reshape and sew and see how I feel about doing more. i have enough kilts to make as it is, so I'm not sure this will ever REALLY get done.........I will say that it is an exquisite tartan, so I want to try and get this reshaped to a point that I feel good wearing it.

**Pleater** · 5th December 10, 05:11 AM

This will probably arrive without formating, so bear with me. Something seems to be a bit awry.Could you get away with simply repressing the apron into the shape it wants to be, taking advantage of the flare in the pleats - or am I not visualising the problem correctly.I put in under apron pleats in my kilts and if I do not sew them out of line at the waist band they roll outwards. I have to lift the inner fold so there is a long thin triangle of double fabric, shortening the inner fold and pulling the pleats into line. Perhaps some similar tactic could cause a reshaping - dropping the inner fold would push fabric out Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**denmcdough** · 5th December 10, 09:28 AM

Josh, this sounds like a huge undertaking. And, as Matt mentioned, it's probably gonna be a nightmare to take out the stitching!

I'm probably going to have my own nightmare. After about 7 weeks of jonesing, I received, last Tuesday, my tank from Scotland, in Robertson Red modern. It was awesome. The weight was unreal, the swing was the best ever, and the material was Jura from MM; good stuff. I tried it on and was so excited to have this beauty. But, then the bomb dropped...my wife took some pics and said that the pleats didn't look right on the left side. Alas, she was correct. My heart sank! It was, I thought, just an issue that could be steamed out. No such luck!!! It's in the stitching. How sad is that....jonesing all that time, and then have a faulty construction issue: the sett was out of alignment, the pleats sagged, and they did not lie down properly. It made the rest of the kilt look hideous. For such and expensive item, this is not acceptable! I have some inexpensive PV and acrylic kilts where the pleats hang better.

Fortunately, the maker, upon looking at the pics, agreed that it was not right and to send it back. They thought it was just a matter of taking out the stitching and redoing it. NIGHTMARE!!! This, mind you, is on a machine stitched kilt. I'm thinking it will need to be totally reconstructed. It might even be easier to just do a whole new kilt!??

The good news is, the company, which I will not mention at this time, is totally behind me. They have gone out of their way to make this right, and, if it can't be stitched properly, will have a new kilt made. I do plan to review the kilt when it gets back to me. I'm guessing that I will NOT have it back before Christmas!??? The jonesing begins, again!!

I do hope that future kilt orders from this specific kilt maker (again, I'll mention it later) will check for quality control before sending out expensive items.

Note: I did order a kilt from them before, and was totally satisfied. So, I think they'll resolve this matter honorably! Mistakes happen every once in awhile. This will be a learning process for the maker!

**Ryan Ross** · 11th December 10, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by davidlpope

Check with Matt Newsome. IIRC, one of his early box-pleats was a casual knife-pleat kilt in LC's New York City tartan which he deconstructed and rebuilt. The finished pictures of that kilt looked great...

David

Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome

Yeah, the hardest part about that conversion was ripping out all of the machine stitching. It was a nightmare. Pressing out all the former creases was a bear, as well, but nothing compared to pulling out all the machine stitching.

Yep, that was a really excelent kilt, once Matt was done with it; worlds better than the "casual kilt" it started out as. I still feel bad about the trouble Matt had to go through with it, though. Sorry, Matt.

**piperdbh** · 11th December 10, 08:44 PM

Sounds like it would be about as much fun as ravelling a felted bonnet and reknitting it, eh Ryan?

**Ryan Ross** · 12th December 10, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by piperdbh

Sounds like it would be about as much fun as ravelling a felted bonnet and reknitting it, eh Ryan?

Hahahaha- Honestly, that's the first thing that popped into my mind!

**NorCalPiper** · 12th December 10, 03:40 PM

OK.....So here's what I've decided to do. I've decided to rework the apron and shape it more to my liking. Undoing the machine stitching would be too time consuming and I don't have time for that kind of work at the moment. I undid the apron trim and let out some of the fabric on the left side and reshaped. For the fringe area..I'm just going to have to undo the stitching and let some out near the bottom and refringe. Here it is so far-My surgery shaping the left size required me to undo a pleat which in turn has shifted the belt loops....i guess thats an easy fix. I'm going to undo the fringe side of the apron today and finish......I think this will satisfy me!