New in the post: Weathered Buchanan

[Barb T]

Hi Shedlock

One or two very quick lines of basting stitches would solve your problem and make the kilt so much faster to press that it would be worth the time. Here's a thread a wrote awhile ago on the topic:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ressing-35190/

It's definitely worth the effort to do it right! Once a kilt is pressed with splayed pleats, it's exceptionally difficult to recover and get the pleats pressed parallel again. And kilts shouldn't actually need pressing all that often - press the pleats only when they stop looking crisp.

[Stilletto_Rebel]

Yup, bog standard US Army webbing belt. I suspend my school bag from it as I hate carrying stuff on my shoulders:

Attachment 12740Attachment 12741

I have just this week found a British P37 webbing belt which I am hoping will be much more conducive to adjustment for when I wear it over my BD jacket.

Hi Shedlock,

I really like your schoolbag. Please could you tell me where you got it?

I use a WWII German breadbag I dyed black:

[Shedlock2000]

Hi Shedlock

One or two very quick lines of basting stitches would solve your problem and make the kilt so much faster to press that it would be worth the time. Here's a thread a wrote awhile ago on the topic:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ressing-35190/

It's definitely worth the effort to do it right! Once a kilt is pressed with splayed pleats, it's exceptionally difficult to recover and get the pleats pressed parallel again. And kilts shouldn't actually need pressing all that often - press the pleats only when they stop looking crisp.

Hi Barb,

This is good information - and thanks for the link that you sent.

I wear my kilts everyday, and I sit on them for most of the day - this means that they get very creased up almost everyday, and I need to iron them at least once a week if not more often.

I have taken a look at my kilts - almost all of them have parallel pleats - except my very oldest kilt (21 years old) which has several pleats which are no longer parallel - but the majority of which are.

Now, how might I recover the few pleats which are out of alignment?

[Shedlock2000]

Hi Shedlock,

I really like your schoolbag. Please could you tell me where you got it?

I use a WWII German breadbag I dyed black:

Your bag looks great!

My bag came from Marks and Spencers in the UK! It was on offer, and was the perfect size for my iPad - so I snapped it up. It is classed as a fishing bag. I suspend mine from S clips on Alice clips from a US webbing belt - but I think yours is probably much less damaging.

Because I occasionally have a fair bit of weight in it, I occasionally use the shoulder strap as additional support - but most often, I pass the strap over my shoulder and tighten it as a belt against my waist; this way i have something to hang my jacket through if I think it will rain or get cooler later in the day.

Hope that helps!

[Barb T]

I have taken a look at my kilts - almost all of them have parallel pleats - except my very oldest kilt (21 years old) which has several pleats which are no longer parallel - but the majority of which are.

This is great news! Now you know what to do to prevent it!

Now, how might I recover the few pleats which are out of alignment?

This requires steaming out all the offending pleats, basting, and re-pressing. This is not always as successful as you'd wish it were, but the more steam you can use and the better job you do getting out the old creases, the better shot you have at fixing it.

A steam iron alone isn't really enough for this task. Get a spray bottle and an old pillow case. Split the pillow case. Hang the fell end of the kilt off the end of the ironing board and open the first few pleats wide and flatten them out. Obviously you can't open them up at the fell end, so you have to work on one small section at a time. What you're aiming for is to press out all of the old creases and get rid of the old pleats. Lay the pillow case over the tartan, and spray it with water. Press with your steam iron - this will generate a lot of steam, which is necessary to relax the wool. Use a clapper (or a chunk of board) to cool the fabric and set the "flat". Just lift up the press cloth, put the board on the tartan, and press - the heat transfers to the board, and all the little plates on the sides of the wool fibers close and lock into position. Although a board works, a real clapper is easier to use (http://sewtrue.com/Store/POINT-PRESS...PER-P2302.html). You'll probably still be able to see the crease a little, and it may help to work your way all across the kilt and then do the same thing from the back side.

Then, baste the pleats together absolutely parallel, making sure that you've made each pleat look the same all the way down as it does at the bottom of the fell (both the width and the part of the tartan that shows in the reveal). Instructions are here: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ressing-35190/. When you're done with the regular rows of basting, flip the kilt over, and run one last line of basting stitches (just running stitches are fine) along the bottom edge to hold the underfolds in place and to keep the pleats from splaying while you're pressing.

Repeat the whole pressing process using a damp press cloth and clapper, and be sure to press the right side first (so you can watch what you're doing) and then the reverse side.

Let the kilt dry thoroughly, and remove the basting. And cross your fingers that your kilt remembers the new pleats, and not the old ones....! ;-)

[Shedlock2000]

That is excellent news! Thanks for your help, Barb! I use an old tea-towel to press with; old military habit! It works well. I generally don't have much issue with my iron and steaming pleats in.

Just out of interest, I was always taught to roll my kilts to keep in the pleats. Do you have a better suggestion? I have 11 kilts, all of which I use interchangeably (apart from my winter weight kilts - which are resered for winter). So i need to get at them daily

[Barb T]

Whether a kilt rolls well depends on how much shaping it has. If a kilt has the same waist and hip measurements, it's basically a big rectangle that rolls well. So, I suppose that's good way to store those kinds of kilts. If the pleats have any shaping, though, the kilt is no longer a rectangle, and rolling it doesn't work nearly as well.

I vastly prefer to hang kilts. The post that the Wizard made under Tutorials and How-tos shows what I think is the best method that I've seen anyone propose:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ur-kilt-28264/

[HippieLee]

Thanks for posting these pics - I believe this is the first time I've seen the weathered Buchanan outside of a swatch on a website and now I have to rethink my initial desire to get Buchanan modern. The weathered one looks great in real life!

[unixken]

HippieLee -

If you like the earthier colors of the alternate color palettes, I can tell you, a Buchanan looks great in D.C. Dalgiesh's "Reproduction" colors, as well. This one, a recent acquisition, instantly become one of my favorite kilts.



For comparison, here's my Buchanan Modern, from Lochcarron.

[HippieLee]

Crap - I love all of them! The modern is the one I'm most familiar with - My grandma had a blanket that my aunt brought back from a trip to Scotland many years ago and that's what it looks like. I need to go over to Grandpa's and take a look at it again...I'm planning a day trip on a weekend soon to drive over to Dunedin, FL... there's a celtic shop there that I might get to see some Buchanan tartans in real life (and maybe pick up a tie or two)


Here's one of the promised dumb questions: What is meant by "reproduction" as it relates to tartans? If seen it listed on sites before when looking up plaids but never thought to find out what they mean by it...

HippieLee -

If you like the earthier colors of the alternate color palettes, I can tell you, a Buchanan looks great in D.C. Dalgiesh's "Reproduction" colors, as well. This one, a recent acquisition, instantly become one of my favorite kilts.



For comparison, here's my Buchanan Modern, from Lochcarron.