Denim Kilt

[kaz]

So I'm looking in to get my first Kilt. I wanted to know if it is machine washable.

I'm looking at getting a modern Denim Kilt. What do people suggest?

[Pleater]

I have stopped putting kilts in the machine as I found that they were getting a lot of wear on the folds whilst the ones I washed by hand were looking far less aged.

Of course - that might be the look you want, or putting the kilt in one of those mesh bags to protect it might be the thing to do.

I wash them in the bath and rinse them under the shower.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Bugbear]

I'm not an expert in any of this, but I have a canvas kilt; It's kind of like denim.
I machine wash it. It has sewn in pleats, so the folds aren't an issue. It does require ironing rather than pressing after it dries, and it will be very wrinkled. I can't say anything about machine drying it because I don't have a dryer; I lay it out on a rack to dry.

Hope that helps.

[tundramanq]

If you have a front loader washing machine, use cold or luke warm water wash and cold rinse and then hang dry on clip hangers after straightening the pleats you will have no problems. I agree with Pleater - agitator machines are too violent to use on any kilt (or any other clothes). I have a lot of Twill and denim Utilikilts for daily wear and no damage has happened. Only the blue denim has faded much and I think its the nature of indigo denim to fade. I did a series of posts, with pictures, on Utilikilts facebook page yesterday on the care and feeding of Utilikilts which are denim, cotton duck, cotton/poly twill or cotton. (I have them all - it's addictive! -$5488 so far)

I think a lot of the kiddies get them and don't know how to maintain them and end up selling them on e-bay. Great for me, 1/3 of mine came from there in unwashed and like new condition.

[Riverkilt]

I've had two blue denim kilts. Both Utilikilts. The first and Original, the current one a Workman's. The Original arrived almost hard, deeply dyed, like you used to buy blue jeans in the 50s before they prewore them.

Softened with wear, just like jeans, and ran them through the wash six times with unscented Downy to soften them up.

Haven't washed my new blue denim Utilikilt Workman's yet. May not run it through the six cycles. Workman's are better firmer.

Hated that I outgrew my denim Original. Was one of my favorite kilts - like and old pair of jeans before I became a gutter kilt junkie.


Hiking the Paria River in the Original



The new denim Workman's out on the rez.

What I like about the Utilikilts is they use the same rivets and thread that the jeans folks do. Strong thread. Most important part of the kilt is the thread - if it breaks you have a bunch of cloth.

[tundramanq]

Riverkilt you won't have to thrash the new denim near as much as the cotton ducks. I am sitting in my new winter length denim Workman now. Baby soft.

I ran it through the normal luke warm wash cycle with detergent and Downy in the rinse. Then reset the machine to the longest wash cycle and re ran it with a cup of Downy in the wash cycle reseting the timer until it had washed 15 minutes (30 minutes on ducks). Let the cycle finsh, hang dry ( I use weighted wooden clothespins on the outer pleat points ) then when fully dry it goes into the cold dryer for 15 minutes (30 for duck) with a dozen clean tennis balls. Comes out soft as a babys behind.

BTW - This is probably too detailed for Riverkilt, but a good quick tutorial for the Workman newbes