At Long, lo-o-o-o-ong, long...did I say "long"..last

[Alan H]

OK, here's how I do it, once the right-hand edge, and fringe of the over-apron is done...and the pleats are all hand-sewn in.

1. cut out the hair canvas such that it fits the top 1/3rd (roughly) of the over apron.
2. finish the edge of the hair canvas by stitching a deep zig-zag around the edges
3. pin the hair canvas into the inside of the over-apron, so that the upper edge of the piece lies directly on the upper, raw cut (or torn) edge of the over-apron.
4. machine-sew the hair canvas to the top of the over apron. The line of stitching is about 3/8ths of an inch from the raw edge, so that it won't show...the tartan waistband will cover it.

5. measure the total length of the waistband of the kilt. Make a cloth strap that's a few inches longer than this. This is the "load bearing strap" that will take the loads put on the kilt by buckling it tight.

6. pin the "load-bearing-strap" to the inside of the kilt such that the edge of the strap is even with the top, raw edge of the over-apron, pleats, and under-apron. The strap tucks underneath the folded-over tartan near the fringed edge of the over-apron, so it's hidden, there.

7. Machine-sew the load-bearing-strap to the kilt. This means sewing it on top of the hair canvas, in the over-apron. The line of machine stitching is about 3/8ths of an inch from the top edge and runs the full length of the kilt. This whole "load bearing strap" is NOT described in the Art of Kiltmaking, it's totally my own invention.

8. Fabricate, fit and sew in, the pleat stabilizing strap, that goes in the area where the pleats are cut-out in the fell. This bit of work is outlines in the Art of Kiltmaking. This is a totally separate piece of cloth from the strap described in steps 5, 6, 7

9. Cut several pieces of tartan cloth, about 2 - 2.5 inches wide, to function as the tartan waistband. Join them end-to end to make one long tartan waistband strap.

10. Being careful to align the tartan stripes on the over-apron with the stripes in the tartan waistband, pin the tartan waistband strip to the outside of the kilt.

11. Machine sew the tartan waistband to the outside of the kilt. The line of stitching is about 1/2 an inch from the raw edge of the over-apron + the strip I put there. IN other words, it's a little bit further away from the edge than the line of stitching that attaches the load-bearing-strap....and for that matter, also a bit farther away from the raw edge than the line of stitching that holds on the hair canvas. This is so that when the waistband is turned over, the earlier lines of stitching are hidden underneath it. This is typical, standard waistband construction, like any skirt y'all have ever made!


12. Turn over the tartan waistband to cover the raw edge of the over-apron, pleats and under-apron. Pin it, and hand-sew it down. (I actually machine sew this down on my athletic kilts, but not on this "traditional" one)

13. Attach straps, buckles etc. THIS IS IMPORTANT. My kilts do NOT have a strap/buckle on the right hip. Most "traditional" kilts have three buckles/straps. Mine have two. I stitch both of them into the load-bearing strap, so the strap takes all the buckling loads, rather than any stitching in the tartan.


If I were to use three buckles/straps then I absolutely would have to extend the pleat-stabilizing-fabric far enough to be able to sew the hip-buckle strap into it. In fact, I've even modified a kilt, once, so that the stitching for the hip-buckle-stap tied into another strap, which went around and tied into the pleat stabilizer. But that's not the case here, as I won't be putting that third buckle on this kilt.