This may seem ridiculous, but bear with me.

A good friend of mine made me an X-Kilt a few years back, and she did a fine job. I should mention that even though it was her first kilt, as a student she worked as the costuming head for our college theater department, and she did an outstanding job with alterations and one-off costumes. (She also quilted a gorgeous little blanket for our daughter...)

But the kilt has some problems, most or all of which I'm pretty sure are my fault.

First of all, it's made from bull denim, either 10 or 11 oz, that I provided her. Heavy-duty, as denim goes, but lightweight for a kilt. So it seems a little on the light side.

Second, I instructed her NOT to stitch the pleats in on the inside, but only on the outside. This has resulted in the inner pleats not holding a pleat at all, causing the garment to bell out. This makes me look like a ballerina. Not cool.

Third, I had her hem the garment, which ended up making it too short, by about an inch. I later took a seam ripper to it, but that denim, the same denim which won't hold a pleat on it's own, insists on curling back in on itself as if it stil had a hem.

SO. To recap, the three issues are as follows: Too lightweight, misbehaving box pleats, and irrascible denim.

To fix issue #1, do you think... a few contrasting panels of some cloth be stitched on top of the already existing cloth, adding weight and interest? Inserts, as it were? Or would this be a phenominally bad idea...

To fix issue #2, I reckon I'll re-press the pleats (AGAIN), and this time take a needle and thread to the inside. My question though, is this: It is necessary to use a close stitch to make these pleats stay, or can I use a fairly wide stitch, thereby saving time and thread?

To fix issue#3, how the heck do you get denim to lose its memory? If I can lose my memory, surely it can...