Quote Originally Posted by mookien View Post
In case the kilt still has its basting stitches (a picture would help us), be careful and be gentle in removing them. But, it is easy to do. They are secured by knots at each end which, if you are careful, are easy to "unravel". I use tweezers to do the unraveling at one of the ends (your choice). Then, gently grasp the thread and simply pull on it to remove all the intervening stitches. When you reach the other end (and the knots there), simply unravel them. There will likely be more than one line of basting stitches, so you will have to do the above more than once. Good luck and post a pic - before and after would be great.
I read this with surprise.

Different makers baste in different ways. My own maker never knots the thread becuase a pull on a knot could damage the cloth. He also uses a holding stitch rather than a running stitch because he wants the pleats held in place securely. See pic (with thanks to Paul Henry).basting-001.jpg

Equally, whilst pulling a running stitch carefully should be ok, you do stand a significant risk of cloth threads being pulled and damaging the finish. When sewing the basting in you can sew through individual threads of the cloth (this is perfectly normal). Pulling a length of thread through such a stitch can abrade the thread itself. I have heard of people doing this to save the thread, but frankly a couple of yards of cheap basting thread is not worth saving by comparison to the cost of a kilt. Using a stitch ripper or (carefully) scissors and snipping through each baste and then removing is much safer for the kilt.

But of course this does not help our Robgiv and his swing...