Kilt is too long

[Drac]

Good day all,

I screwed up when ordering a kilt and it turned out to hang to the bottom of the knee or sit way to high if I pull it up. Either way not to happy on how it turned ou length wise.

All other is fantastic.

The lower edge is selvage like it should be. Now I have a couple casual kilts that have hemmed edges and you have to get fairly close to see it isn't a selvage.

Question on this is - Should I hem this or is this one of those issue where I end up ruining a great kilt to make a eh one?

Thanks,
Jim

[PEEDYC]

I have seen hemmed kilts and if done correctly then you cannot see any difference. Like everything if done by a gifted amateur or a professional it will look good.

Best of luck.

[davidg]

You really have only two choices and the easiest is to hem the kilt. It should give a good result and be virtually undetectable

The other option is to remove the waistband, lining and canvas, extend the stitching at the fell, and then chop off the excess length at the top of the kilt. Effectively a re-build and not a job for the faint hearted or inexperienced

[Paul Henry]

You really have only two choices and the easiest is to hem the kilt. It should give a good result and be virtually undetectable

The other option is to remove the waistband, lining and canvas, extend the stitching at the fell, and then chop off the excess length at the top of the kilt. Effectively a re-build and not a job for the faint hearted or inexperienced

It so happens I am doing an alteration for a client where the the kilt was about 5 cm too long, we have decided on a hem, as a complete rebuild was just not realistic, in budget terms.
The trick is just to catch a thread or two from back of the kilt and to do a little back stitch into the hem to lock the stitch, don't work too tightly as the fabric needs to be able to move slightly when being repressed, and being inside the pleat the extra thickness needs to be able to slide slightly so that it doesn't appear to be bunching up. If one of threads goes over the hem edge(rather than under in an attempt to hide it) it helps to keep the extra fabric from catching.
I normally press the pleat first to give me a guideline to work to, and this kilt I decided to work to the black line , as it gave the front of the kilt a better appearance than to the the "open"
green square. It is a fairly time consuming job on an 8 yard kilt, but well worth it , to make the kilt fit better

[seanachie]

Thanks for another great explanation with picture Paul. No matter how well worded the nararative a pic helps. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

As we discussed some months back I have an asymetric tartan kilt and that had to be hemmed.

[Mickey]

I say hem it. It's very easy, just a bit time consuming. I'm in the middle of hemming another one myself, in the same manner Paul shows. Been at it for a few days now, working a couple of hours a night. Tedious, yet relaxing.

Doesn't take a lot of concentration, so it gives you time to think about other projects and stuff as you go. In the end, you'll never notice the hem if you do it right, and there's a nifty bit of satisfaction when you are done

[haxtonhouse]

some of the original military kilts sat just below the rib cage!

[Jock Scot]

some of the original military kilts sat just below the rib cage!

Do you know I was thinking the very same thing.

So you need to raise the hem by say, 2 inches? Have you tried just moving the whole kilt upwards by that much? It would save a lot of trouble and not a little time , sweat and expense if you tried it. Now I am not saying that you will like the feel and look of it, but in the past and in some some cases the top of the kilt covered some of the ribs too.

Just following a line of thought.

[Pleater]

Cutting off the top might not be an option unless making the waist larger is desirable.

The fell is shaped / \ so removing the top couple of inches would make it wider at the new waist level - I have used this in the past to make suitable skirts a larger size.

Where the top of the kilt is an ideal fit then hemming is the way to go.

Otherwise it would be a total dismantling and rebuilding onto the same underpinnings to maintain the size. Might as well sell and buy a new kilt due to the time taken, and the danger of damage to the fabric during the deconstruction.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[haxtonhouse]

Do you know I was thinking the very same thing.

So you need to raise the hem by say, 2 inches? Have you tried just moving the whole kilt upwards by that much? It would save a lot of trouble and not a little time , sweat and expense if you tried it. Now I am not saying that you will like the feel and look of it, but in the past and in some some cases the top of the kilt covered some of the ribs too.

Just following a line of thought.

Great minds think alike Jock!