Ripping down a kilt

[freddie]

Due to weight loss I need major alterations to one of my kilts, and while searching kilt makers I notice some offer to rip down a kilt, opening it up back to the original 8 yards and remaking it. My question is how successful would this be, especially as the pleats may have been cut out ?

[The Wizard of BC]

Taking a razor blade to a kilt is not a job for the faint of heart.

I would suggest that taking a kilt all the way down to the length of fabric be considered as a last or final resort only. And only by someone to has done this sort of thing before. At least once.

If you are making a kilt smaller may I suggest that you simply move the straps and buckles before considering a re-build. Making a kilt smaller is always possible and usually fairly easy.

It is when a kilt needs to be made larger that we run into problems. We just don't have any more fabric. So the re-build is usually to make the pleats wider. This is where the issue of the cut-away behind the Fell raises its ugly head. Is there enough fabric left back there? Will the pleating still look the same in the rear of the kilt if you widen the pleats?

For an idea of the complexity presented by this sort of job please take a look at a total re-build job I did recently.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=89532

Before you even think about a total re-build make sure you have a firm understanding of how to lay-out pleats in Tartan fabric. You are going to be changing that so you need to understand not only how it was done originally but how to lay-out to accomplish what you want to do.

[Barb T]

Honestly? If you could find a kiltmaker who would do a superb job of this, they ought to charge you and arm and a leg. First you have to take the kilt completely apart (and there's no predicting what odd stuff you're going to find inside...), then you have to figure out how to make it smaller given the fact that the pleats are cut out (e.g., can't just make fewer pleats and transfer what was in the pleats to the apron and underapron because of those cut-out sections, so you'd have to remove the cutout sections and seam the tartan back together, and then you have to put in the same amount of labor as it takes to make a kilt in the first place.

Soooooo, my advice is to sell the kilt and use the proceeds to have a kilt made that fits you. Or, just move the buckles and straps, as Steve says. They can be moved a surprising amount without it being noticeable. See

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-larger-78931/ and
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...oo-much-59745/

[The Wizard of BC]

Barb is spot on with her comment of the cost of such a job. In the kilt I did the post on, I charged the same as if I were making a hand-stitched kilt from scratch. I ripped myself off. It actually took three times as long to do this one job than if I had started with a new length of fabric.
I did this job with a firm understanding and agreement with the customer about the cost. I viewed the job as an engineering challenge. Could I actually do it? Knowing full well that I may end up with a length of fabric, with pleat cut-outs, that was not able to be re-made into the customers new measurements. In other words, a total waste of my time effort and experience to end up throwing it all away.