Completly expermental.

[Bearded Man Brew]

I have fabric to make 3 kilts but I have narrowed it down to my next project. I always wanted to make a kilt out of softshell outdoor fabric but it would be too thick. I found some Windproof outerwear fabric that has fleece on the inside. Supposed to have the same properties of soft shell at a fraction of the thickness. This will bring a little bit of the NW to the kilting world.

I plan on using some nylon webbing to use at the waistband for stabalization and use slide locking plastic buckles as my closure. As far as pleating goes, I was thinking a standard knife pleat with a slight overlap.

I dont know if anyone has used this kind of fabric before, but any hints, help, and comments would be greatly appreciated. I havent laid out any pleats or made any cuts yet so I can still use the rabble's advice.

Pics of the fabric will be posted soon.

[sydnie7]

You say "standard" knife pleat but this type of fabric does not lend itself to the stretching and shaping described in Barb T's book (apron edges, for example).

Will you use the selvedge for hem, or have to fold/stitch it? The thicker that hem gets, the more difficult to keep pleats in place. Do you plan to edge-stitch the pleats or just rely on pressing?

I've made several kilts from non-trad fabric, including wide-wale corduroy and a somewhat heavy sueded fabric. Because I had to hem it anyway, I tended to work with cuts made selvedge-to-selvedge, joining several lengths ("widths") to get the amount needed. One trick I used was to cut the overapron piece about 3 inches wider than the others and line it up even with the others at the hem end. Then I could fold an A-shaped apron, make the deep reverse pleat, and still be able to catch the top edge of reverse pleat at the waistband. Otherwise you have to lift the inner edge of reverse pleat upward, which creates wrinkles in the fabric. I used the hem depth to compensate for the reverse pleat dipping below apron hem, as Barb describes.

By the time you fold up all that material and start sewing nylon webbing at the waist, I hope you've got a workhorse machine! It certainly can be done and looking forward to pictures/progress.

[Bearded Man Brew]

I started with the construction today. I was going to 1.5 inch reveal for a total of 9.5 inches of fabric used per pleat. That was much too thick so I had to make some adjustments. This will now be more of a utility style kilt with no pockets. I am doing a basic 2 inch reveal with 6 inches of fabric used per pleat I will be sewing down the pleat edges. The first picture is just the pleats pinned down. The second picture shows the back side of the fabric which is fleece.

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[Grizzled Ian]

Good on you for making this attempt, I hope it works well for you. I am looking forward to your photographic record of progress, out of curiosity about the material and the process, not because I would build anything with similar thermal capacity for eastern Australia.
All the best,

[Alan H]

Yeah, I'll be curious what you think when you're done.

[Liam]

Interesting project.... looking forward to seeing the end result!

[Bearded Man Brew]

Done sewing and shaping all of the pleats. Next is shaping the aprons and attaching the webbing and waistband. Should be able to finish it up this week. I will post some pictures soon

[Carlo]

Just one point, please don't go regimental when it's windy outside.
Remember it's windproof from both sides

Good luck

[Bearded Man Brew]

Finished up the Waistband, almost done with the straps and I will get pictures up tonight probably. Interesting fabric to work with to say the least.