Corduroy X-Kilt

[Panache]

Originally posted by The F-H.C.A.G. on 3/8/07


I am probably going to regret this, but I am answering the challenge inherent in these sentences from Alan H's X-Kilt manual: "Corduroy, well.... I haven't made a kilt out of corduroy yet, so I can't comment. If you make an X-Kilt out of corduroy, let us all know how it comes out."

Went to the store today and picked out the cloth-a charcoal grey medium weight 100% cotton corduroy. The color was per the request of the recipient, an X-marker who shall remain unnamed until the kilt is finished and accepted, at which time, said member can post pictures of the finished product being worn. After today, I am a little more confident that it will eventually be finished, but it's going to take a while.

Here's the fabric, straight from the store, not yet washed



A close up to show how this fabric changes with the angle and the light-it's really nice stuff



I threw it in the washing machine-hot water, plenty of detergent, heavy duty cycle. At this point, I was sweating a little, since the washing instructions on the bolt said "cold wash, gentle cycle", but I figured, if it couldn't stand up to this, it wasn't worth using. Besides, it was on sale for less than $5.00 per yard anyway-I could always start over.


Here's what it looked like right out of the dryer (cotton/high setting). Note that it is not even very wrinkled.



In fact, I did not need to iron it prior to measuring and cutting-it smoothed out well just by shaking it out. Besides, my work surface looked like this.



So, I needed to kick the boy off the table, but he had to finish his homework first.

[Panache]

I cleared off my work surface and realized that I had not played with the fabric yet. I did not know if corduroy would rip evenly or not. So, I tried it on the slightly uneven ends.



Yep, it rips just fine. It does leave a bit of a mess though-all the little bits from when the thread unravels (only a bit though-no straighter line than ripped fabric).



I ripped both ends off and also ripped them to be perfectly straight. These will be the waistbands.



Yes, I said waistbands, plural, because, once I finished measuring...



And ripping out three lengths (the drop of the mystery recipient is 22.5 inches, but I measured 24 inches to make room for a hem and any "slop"), this is what I had left-enough for another X-Kilt for Panache!



To follow...some of the "complications" of working with corduroy...

[Panache]

The complications:

1) I anticipate that when I finally pleat the kilt, I may have a hard time hiding the joins (as Alan H says "...they could buy two yards of the 60-inch wide fabric, cut it in half and sew the halves together, end to end....Well, I'm going to tell you NOT to do that.
Why? Because it's complicated. You can't predict ahead of time where that seam is going to fall, and it's complicated to design the kilt so that the seam is hidden inside the pleat").

2) There is the issue of the knap of corduroy being "one way" as the clerk at the fabric store (and O'Neill-thank you!) pointed out. So, if you join it wrong, it looks "upside down" on part of the kilt.

It is necessary to join fabric when using corduroy, because the lines of the corduroy run the length, not the width of the fabric (if they ran the width, I could follow Alan H's directions to the letter). Unless you can get fabric that is about 140 inches wide, you have to cut sections and join them to get enough to make a kilt. Or, you could make a kilt with the cords running horizontally...which would look very strange, in my opinion.

So, next is how I joined the fabric...

[Panache]

I ripped out three sections of 24 inches from my 45 inch wide fabric and pinned them together (along the selvedged edges-no unraveling at the joins!)



Sew them up



With the usual interference from the cat



But, my first mistake. I sewed a little too close to the selvedge on one section, so it showed on the outside. I'm not sure if this picture shows it well or not.



So, I ripped out this seam



More...

[Panache]

I've joined the lengths of fabric, so I've now got about 135 inches of fabric.



With some fairly good seams



But, there is a little bit of a "lump" where the seams are, so I'll iron them out flat



Here's the end product



It looks so good, I'm not sure it will matter if I'm not able to hide the seams inside a pleat! Also, I could not tell if there was any difference between the naps, whether sewn one way or the other, despite what the clerk at the store said. Hopefully, I won't finish the whole darn thing and find out I was wrong!

[Panache]

Because the bottom of the fabric does not have a selvedged edge when joined like I have done (and even if it did, it didn't look like it would make an attractive hem), I decided to hem the length.

So, I marked 1.5 inches (remember, my "victim" has a drop of 22.5 inches and I have a 24 inch wide strip of fabric now)



Then I started to iron the hem in



But realized I had not yet "locked in" the edge to keep it from fraying. My tired old machine does not have an overlock stitch, so I had to run zig zags back and forth and a line of straight stitching down the middle of these. Instead of turning the fabric around when I got to the end of the zig zag and wanted to go back the other way, I flipped it over (so I didn't have to deal with all the material under the arm of the machine.





Next, I finished ironing the edge up and pinned it, checking to be sure it is indeed at 22.5 inches.



Next step...the over apron strip with velcro and the actual sewing of the hem