X-Kilt modification?

[toadinakilt]

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...

[Farlander]

#1 is probably a bad idea, or at the very least NOT easy to do well.

#2, a wide stitch is OK, but might not last as well. It is possible to use a sewing machine, and stitch up as much as you can. You will not be able to go all the way to the fell, but that would be OK, just sew as far as it will go.

#3, Use LOTS of steam and press hard. You can even wet the fabric with a spray bottle so that you get even more steam.

Looking for another option? Make a new X-Kilt and turn the old one into your kick around the house, get dirty and don't care kilt. That is what I did with my bull denim X-Kilt.

[Alan H]

Bull denim is what it is, and well.... It's also pretty heavy, unless you have a kilt made out of stuff different from the bull denim that I can get around here. It's plenty heavy.

Please oh PLEASE remember that the whole X-Kilt thing was intended to be half "kiltmaking to product a garment", and half "learning exercise". I'm dead serious when I say that commissioning someone else to make you an X-Kilt defeats half the purpose of why I wrote the manual in the first place. So why not choose a more appropriate fabric, and make yourself a new one?

[Mike in Dayton]

I would say for a first X-kilt you and she did a good job. Most of us making these are not experienced with putting a kilt together. I am getting ready to make one just need to clear a few other projects out of the way first. I fully expect the first not to be something I would wear. I expect to use that learning experience to make the second. As Thomas Edison said "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work".

Mike

[dwmoffatt]

Hear, hear....or is it Here, here??
Either way, I'd agree Alan H. Try it yourself. Run to the *-mart and grabs some supplies and kick one out yourself.
The possibilities are endless, you will find things you like, things you don't.

Heck, I found out I don't like sewing machines, I'd rather do as much as I can by hand and I'd rather have straps or buttons (just don't like velcro very much)!!