Ironing and Pressing a Buzz Kidder

[Bugbear]

Today I went through the epic adventure of ironing and pressing my Buzz Kidder canvas kilt. Not sure exactly what fabric it is made from but the web site says it is a "10-oz. Army duck canvas kilt," what ever that is... It does get wrinkled when it is washed. Laying it out on a clothes drying rack and arranging the pleats helps with the major wrinkles, but it needs to be pressed with lots and lots of steam. If I werent used to dealing with cotton dress shirts, I can see how it would seem quite the ordeal.

Here's what I figured out a while back. The inside and outside of the pleats are sewn in from top to bottom. When it is wrinkled from being washed, the edge of the pleat on the inside of the kilt tends to curl to one side or the other such that it isn't the edge of the pleat anymore. If you line up all the outside edges of the pleats in a way that looks correct, then press the kilt, you end up making new edges of the inside parts of the pleats. This makes the outside edges curl a little when you put it on.

It is not possible to press the Buzz Kidder as you would press a regular kilt. The only way to resolve the problem is to start at the reverse pleat next to the underapron; straighten and lay flat the whole pleat from inside and outside edges; then, with a wet press cloth and as much steam as possible, press one pleat at a time on it's own. That means feeling up under the kilt on the sewn in edge of the inside of the pleat and making sure that inside edge is lined up correctly. Possibly even holding it down while lining up the outside edge. The pleat that you will be pressing next is folded back out of the way.

After you press that pleat, you have to do the same for the next pleat and so on from the underapron side to the apron side. It doesn't seem to be possible to line up the pleats working in the other direction. There tends to be a few wrinkles here and there that are stubborn, and sliding the iron across the press cloth once or twice seems to help get those worked out a bit in addition to the pressing.

Hope that gives some ideas to anyone who has been having problems with pressing a Buzz Kidder. Guess it is a bit of work, , but that's cotton for you, and I kind of enjoy the task. At least I don't have to worry about it melting when standing next to the pit fires and raku kilns.