Help me learn from my mistakes

[Aspiringloser]

This is my second attempt at kilt making. I made my first attempt on cheap fabric with a tartan like pattern that I found at Hancock Fabrics. My first attempt was brutal but I managed to finish with confidence that I could in fact purchase wool tartan and give it another go.

This is the Mississippi tartan. This was even harder than the first with the end result being worse than the first attempt. I must have e-mailed Barb one hundred times and I'm forever grateful for her help. I'd like to get my process dialed in before I mess up my 16 oz. wool X Marks tartan. Any comments or criticism is welcome.

I used the book for both attempts. My measurements are: waist 37, hips 44, length 24. My splits are: waist 19.5 aprons 17.5 pleats, hips 21 aprons 23 pleats. I realized that I overlooked that I should split my hip measurement evenly. I only wish I'd realized this before I began construction. I think I may have put too much flare in the aprons. Here are the pics:



Aside from not being a fat *** and using even splits on the hips, what other suggestions would you have?









This sett was small so I chose to pleat to every other sett to give the pleats some more depth. I failed to take this into account for my join which is why the join pleat is shallower than the rest. You'll also notice that my deep pleat is indeed not deep at all. It is almost identical to all of my other pleats. I ran out of fabric so I had to leave it shallow. I pretty much chalked this attempt up to practice kilt number 2. I'd really like to make myself a wearable kilt.
I have 6 pieces of 4 meter length PV from Marton Mills that I would like to make my next few attempts on before going to the 16 oz. X Marks wool. I'm sorry if this post is so long. I await your comments and criticism.
Many thanks,
Paul N. Wise.

[MacMillans son]

First off, you have far more courage than I ! I admire folk's willingness to take on such a project, and am frequently impressed by how well they come out!

I'm not a kilt maker so can't help you with construction questions, but for what it's worth, I do think if you were to make the kilt about 1-1/2" shorter it would look better on you.

Best of luck on your future efforts.

[Aspiringloser]

I think it's the camera angle. It may not be in the right place as well. I didn't check in the mirror before having my mother take the pictures. It looks like the vertical stripes are curving. It also looks like the horizontal stripes aren't matching but it doesn't look like that when looking at it in the mirror. I may need to take better pictures and make sure everything is where it should be before doing so. Thanks for your comments regardless.
Paul.

[tripleblessed]

As well not a kilt maker, but does appear a scoche long. May just be camera angle. Most say between just above knee to middle of kneecap. The Duke of Argyll suggests that with both knees on the floor, the the kilt should stop an inch short of the floor.

I'd say many third kilts have not fared as well as your second, so your user name maybe inappropriate. Having the courage to get this far, and in Tupelo, I'd say definitely a winner. And, you're learning.

[Aspiringloser]

Perhaps I'll try 23 for the length on my next one. I'm planning on an X Kilt next just to give myself a break from all the hand sewing. Tupelo is definitely isolated from the rest of the world for pretty much everything that I'm interested in. I'm thankful for the internet for sure. My pipe instructor lives in Birmingham, AL. I definitely can't afford driving there often so I do lots of lessons via Skype. I wish I'd joined this forum while making my first attempt. I wish I'd been aware of the cost and quality of PV as well. You are right, I am indeed learning. Thanks for contributing.
Paul.

[The Wizard of BC]

I see nothing really wrong with your overall construction.

What I do see is very light weight fabric. In my opinion it is harder to make a good looking kilt from light, weight fabric, store fabric that it is with good kilt wool. The light weight stuff just doesn't hang and drape well enough for a novice to get a good idea if they did anything wrong.

Now, to some comments. You of course can choose how to pleat your kilt but I would have chosen a different stripe for an early attempt at kiltmaking. I would have put a yellow stripe down the front of the apron and pleated it to the yellow stripe.
Not that it would look any better but because for an early attempt the eye would follow the pleats better. This would allow you to asses how your stitching is and how the kilt hangs just a little bit better. It gives your eye something to follow.

Then there is the apron taper. Yep, maybe a bit much for this style of kilt. Down near the hem, the taper should be almost vertical again. This lessens the amount of apron tip hanging down underneath the aprons and may help the aprons lay a bit better.

There is also something off in the back of the kilt. I can't tell from these photos but something is off.
It could be the tension of your stabilizer and interfacing. They may be loose inside the kilt. Especially the interfacing of the aprons It looks like the straps are pulling and stressing the light weight fabric. the stress of wearing the kilt should be taken up by the stabilizer in the back and the interfacing in the front. The outer fabric should float over the interfacing with no pulling of the outer fabric.

It could also be that your lower strap could be too tight. Try loosening the lower strap completly. Don't even do it up and see if the lines of the apron straighten out.
It also may help the pucker you have in the small of your back. It looks almost like the lower strap is so tight that it is riding up on your hips and the light weight fabric just puckers as a result.

It also may be that the taper in your pleats is a little off. The taper of the pleats should be the smallest right at the level of the top straps. It may be a bit lower on this kilt. To tell, fold the kilt in half. The straps will be together. Then look at the profile of the Fell area at the center of the back. Does it look like the taper gets smaller right up to the level of the top strap and then makes a sharp turn to flare back out? Or does the taper sort of make a larger more rounded shape to the taper and flare?

As I say, it is hard to tell much from these photos and due to the light weight fabric. But what you have done is better than my first kilts. So don't give up. Practice, practice, practice.

And do yourself a big favor. Go ahead and get your good kilt fabric. Right up to the point where you cut away the pleats everything can be un-done with no harm. The difference in the finished product will be night and day.

[Aspiringloser]

Thank you for your reply Wizard of BC. Yes, this is pretty light wool. I was told 12 to 13 oz. I'm not sure how accurate that is though.

I honestly wanted to pleat this to the sett but it was baffling me. I must have exchanged 20 or so e-mails with Barb on just this. I chose to skip a sett in my pleats because they would have been very shallow due to the small sett. When I decided to pleat to the stripe I wanted to pleat to the white and gold stripe but my pleats would have been narrower than I'd like. That or have black on each edge disappear through the taper.

I like the way you make your curve using the form with weights and a piece of plastic. I may have to try to borrow that technique.


I actually removed all my interfacing and stitched it in again because it was binding on one side. I made sure to stretch the pleats a bit as I stitched them back in. I probably had it too tight as I hastily put it on for the photos.

I purchased some 16 oz X Marks wool from you a few weeks ago. I also purchased 7 pieces of Marton Mills PV while my parents were on vacation in England. I think their bags were barely within the weight limit. I plan on making many more. I could probably justify paying for a professionally made 8 yard kilt after having purchased so much fabric but I wouldn't learn anything that way. Poverty tends to necessitate DIY but then DIY tends to lead to expensive hobbies. It's a vicious cycle.

Thanks for all the input so far from everyone. I doubt I will try to fix this kilt as I pretty much accepted it as an even more expensive practice kilt version 2.0 from the very early stages. I look forward to more advice on this kilt and the many more I plan to make in the future.

Paul.

[Pleater]

I'm assuming that you want to lose weight and size, so you have made the aprons larger than the pleats so you can make the aprons smaller at some time in the future?

Normally, from my reading, the pleats make up slightly more than half the circumference.

You might find that once you have settled at your new size lining one or both aprons will be a good idea.

At the moment they don't hang in a horizontal ) shape below the waist but collapse in in themselves. The lining would give them more rigidity. You might find that the apron flips back too easily due to its light weight.

The apron shaping is a bit too /\ judging from the lines of the tartan and that will not help with the ) shape either. The lower part should be straight, the curving should be at the top, just like the pleats.

I don't think you need to worry much about your kilt making abilities - once you gain confidence in your working with the fabric you will be able to see the way to make the best of the fabric you have.

Rather than skimp on the under apron pleats I'd have put in some single set pleats evenly across the row, so that there is enough material for the aprons to fall easily when sitting - you don't want draughts then.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Aspiringloser]

Of course I'd like to lose weight but it wasn't factored into the construction of this kilt.

Do you mean lining the aprons all the way to the selvedge rather than just over the interfacing?

I definitely need to work on curving my apron edges. I've noticed on both of my attempts so far that the left apron edge curls under. I tried repressing my first apron edge in a different place to try to prevent the rolling under but it didn't help. The fabric from my first attempt wasn't wool and I had no real expectations about the final result. I mostly just wanted to see if it was feasible for me to undertake and spend the money on wool. I did have expectations about my second attempt and was optimistic until I removed the basting.

I suppose I'll get better with each attempt. I really thought the second one would be easier but that wasn't the case. I suppose I just got lucky and fumbled my way through the first. I'll definitely use an even split in my hip measurements on my next one. I'm thinking I should take my length measurement again. I'm thinking I'll make my waist measurement at the navel rather than an inch above so that my 2 inch rise won't be quite as high on my torso. I could probably stand to have the measurement from the bottom of the fell to the selvedge be an inch or so shorter as a few have already suggested.

Thank you for you advice Pleater. I'm in the process of learning.

[Pleater]

I think that the fabric is light enough to warrent lining the apron as it seems to lack the necessary whatever to stand straight on its own.

Judging by the lines on the edge of the kilt you are flaring it quite a lot - I think too much and the edge of the apron should be reshaped so that the lower part is straight. It would then be more inclined to hang straight.

Being narrower would also help to keep the apron straight, as wrapping a piece of fabric more than half way around your circumference with no darts for internal shaping is asking a lot of any fabric. A greater length of pleats means more opportunities for shaping the garment for a better fit.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: