7yds of 60" weathered black watch

**FatherWilliam57** · 20th September 11, 09:10 PM

The coloring in those pleats would make that a very handsome kilt! (I think one of the seven deadly sins may be lurking at my door...)

**Pleater** · 21st September 11, 02:32 AM

You could put more fabric into the kilt by taking a piece from the part of the fabric which will eventually be cut off and using that to create the under apron and part of the large pleat beneath it - or make the join wherever it is going to be easiest for you.

You are not limited by whatever fabric you have in one continuous piece.

Just be sure to check that the piece you cut off is a perfect match. I have seen fabrics where the selvedges are at different points on the pattern, which then brings up the difficulty of to hem or not.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**Damocles** · 23rd September 11, 05:33 AM

Originally Posted by madmacs

Well in the absence of instructions, engineers tend to play around...

Havent ripped the fabric to single width or anything like that yet, but figured i'd see what it looked like pinned... Of course calculations are a little "bag of a fag packet"

It's a 10.25" repeat, so 7 yds makes the pleats about 1.25" each with 18" ish aprons... Now when is this calculus malarky going to be useful for something?

i just thought of an idea, you can mount light wait fabric to make it more durabal. this is a process of adding a second layer of fabric on the back side. there is a special stitch used to sew the pieces to gather. its similar to a tailors tack you take small stitches each stitch splits the treads so it dosn't show threw to either the inside or out side layers vary time consuming. and of course iv not heard of any one doing this for a kilt but its done all the time in woman's catura when a fabric is to light for its intended perpes IE Jackets or paints. its like sewing two fabrics in a way that makes them act like one solid piece if your interested MSG me and explain the stitch to you.

**Paul Henry** · 23rd September 11, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by Damocles

i just thought of an idea, you can mount light wait fabric to make it more durabal. this is a process of adding a second layer of fabric on the back side. there is a special stitch used to sew the pieces to gather. its similar to a tailors tack you take small stitches each stitch splits the treads so it dosn't show threw to either the inside or out side layers vary time consuming. and of course iv not heard of any one doing this for a kilt but its done all the time in woman's catura when a fabric is to light for its intended perpes IE Jackets or paints. its like sewing two fabrics in a way that makes them act like one solid piece if your interested MSG me and explain the stitch to you.

The sort of thing you are describing is a tailors padding stitch,many of the traditional kiltmakers use this at the back of the on the cutout portion of the pleats to secure all the loose bits and it helps to stabilise and secure all the remaining cutout parts. When finished the whole back of the kilthas effectively become one piece of fabric again,and looks at bit like this

I'm sorry , but I don't think it would work very well in trying to thicken up afabric that is a little (or a lot) to light for a traditional kilt, any fabric that is less than 11-12 oz is really on the edge of being useful of kiltmaking ina traditional sense.Having to pad the entire length of fabric would be a major undertaking, and padding stitches are most often used for areas that need stiffening such as collars, and like, not for complete areas.
Sorry to be the bearer of this news...

**madmacs** · 23rd September 11, 07:43 AM

I have 2 tanks, and hopefully another soon, so a heavy last a lifetime kilt isnt neccesarily the main object for me here... it would be nice to construct something that is presentable and useful for Missouri's 100+ temps in summer though.

The option of purchasing fabric isnt one that will be available to me, and I suspect that i'll be struggling to find $$ for Barb's book... So is really a case of working with what I have...

The only potential issue I see with the weight is the aprons...

I would like to try and make the brown show in the pleat flash, and the pinning was my first attempt at trying to figure that out

**piperdbh** · 23rd September 11, 09:17 AM

I want you to make a box-pleated kilt out of this, using roughly 4 yards, which would leave 5 yards of 60" wide fabric. From that, you could have enough for a plaid, a vest/waistcoat, and some left over for other small projects. Or, you could commission me to make you an Inverness cape from it. Wouldn't that be coolness itself?!

**Damocles** · 24th September 11, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by paulhenry

The sort of thing you are describing is a tailors padding stitch,many of the traditional kiltmakers use this at the back of the on the cutout portion of the pleats to secure all the loose bits and it helps to stabilise and secure all the remaining cutout parts. When finished the whole back of the kilthas effectively become one piece of fabric again,and looks at bit like this

I'm sorry , but I don't think it would work very well in trying to thicken up afabric that is a little (or a lot) to light for a traditional kilt, any fabric that is less than 11-12 oz is really on the edge of being useful of kiltmaking ina traditional sense.Having to pad the entire length of fabric would be a major undertaking, and padding stitches are most often used for areas that need stiffening such as collars, and like, not for complete areas.
Sorry to be the bearer of this news...

nope that's not what i was talking about. i was talking about a fiber conservation technique called "Mounting". were by two pieces of fabric are joined back to back using a hidden internal stitch that can not been seen from ether side. its also used some times in dress and suit making when you have a piece of fashion fabric that is to light for its intended use or were body is desired with out shaping. its like pad stitching that you are describing but instead of doing on the back side its done between the ceprit layers to mount them together. this is done in museums all the time to conserve tapestry, clothing,and many other types of fiber that are to fragile to hold up under its own wait normally a muslin is used but it can be done with any kind of fabric. in this case i would recommend Wool it would make the care much easier.
Ps i did say it was a lot of work and it was more of an academic comment rather then advice on what i think he/she should do