Pressing and/or basting pleats before stitching

[Mainelydad]

I am just starting my first kilt. My first two pleats aren't picture perfect, but by pleat 3 I feel I'm getting better. I'm thinking that my accuracy (both in measuring and keeping stripes running straight) could be improved by pressing the pleat before stitching. Is this not acceptable? How about basting?

[The Wizard of BC]

I come from a different school of Kiltmaking than Barb. I started as an Engineer.

To my way of thinking it is the end result, not how you get there, that is important.

As you are using The Art of Kiltmaking as you guide may I please ask a question? How many kilts, made in accordance with TAoK, have you seen up close, felt and touched? This is actually vital. How are you supposed to know what a kilt should look like if you have no experience with one?

Barb does not press each pleat. She uses a tape measure and measures as she goes along. She also measures the total as she finishes each pleat. She then bastes and presses all at once.

She is able to do this because she stitches very, very accurately. Each pleat she sews is exactly the size she needs it to be. Or she rips it out and does it over. (of course Barb sews increadible fast so this is only a matter of a few minutes of work).


I came from a different school. To me I decide up front what I want the end result to be. This comes from experience looking at many, many kilts. Of all types and shapes.
I knew up front what was acceptable to me. This allowed me to approach things a bit differently. A different way to get to the end result.

I chose to press my pleats before stitching. I also work very accurately. I mark all my pleats at once. I use a mechanical pencil with a 5mm chalk. I then press each pleat keeping the chalk line exactly on the edge of the pleat. Then I measure and re-measure everything. I work to a shop tolerance of one twill line or 1/32".

If found that this worked for me. I have also found that this does not work for everyone.


Each pleat is marked and then pressed, one at a time. Please note the thin chalk lines.



The entire kilt is then folded on the creases and basted.
A running total of the width of the entire pleated section is adhered to.



When the entire pleated section is basted you can lay a flat strip of the fabric on top of the pleats and everything aligns perfectly.




My suggestion would be is to make your first kilt exactly as given in TAoK. Then, on your next kilt to find a system that works for you. If you are able to press the pleats first and still achieve the accuracy you want then do that.

[Grizzled Ian]

I chose to press my pleats before stitching. I also work very accurately. I mark all my pleats at once. I use a mechanical pencil with a 5mm chalk. I then press each pleat keeping the chalk line exactly on the edge of the pleat. Then I measure and re-measure everything. I work to a shop tolerance of one twill line or 1/32".

Each pleat is marked and then pressed, one at a time. Please note the thin chalk lines.

The entire kilt is then folded on the creases and basted.
A running total of the width of the entire pleated section is adhered to.

When the entire pleated section is basted you can lay a flat strip of the fabric on top of the pleats and everything aligns perfectly.

Steve, I know that a lot of kilts that you make are machine-stitched, but if I recall correctly, you also do some hand stitching, right? So, just to clarify for members, do you use the method described above of pressing and basting before you stitch for both hand-sewn and machine-stitched kilts?

[The Wizard of BC]

Thanks for asking that Ian.
To clarify - Yes, I hand stitch some kilts and machine stitch others. It depends on what the customer prefers.

But regardless of the method I use for stitching, how I make the kilt is almost exactly the same. Only the waistband and a few details like putting the pockets in will change.

I still layout, mark and press the pleats before sewing. At the point in this picture I can choose to hand stitch the pleats or machine stitch the pleats.

[Adrian]

We are taught (at class in Scotland) to fold the pleat and use tacking thread to hold the fold in place then stitch the pleat.
A little trick I also use is to mark a series of dots on the edge of a piece of card corresponding to the spacing of the pleats and use this as a guage to help in getting the alignment right. Need 2 bits of card, 1 each for the spacing at the waist and seat. If I doing a pleat to stripe somewhere in the middle of the card I divide one of the spacings in 2 and put a dot, then I align it in the center of the stripe. Get good results...

[The Wizard of BC]

I love jigs and fixtures. here is just a sample of one of the shop cards we make for each kilt.

The total width of the pleat below the bottom of the Fell is at the bottom of the card, the width of the pleats at the top of the Fell at the top of the card.

[Mainelydad]

Thank you so much for these suggestions. I have never made a kilt before but I do have some tailoring experience. I'm used to "basting the hell" out the garments I've made, and it's always proven to be well worth the small amount of effort. I'm not making this kilt to win a prize or start a new career. I just want to look presentable at my son's wedding. To that end I'll just use whatever techniques give me the best results I'm capable of.

[Barb T]

I'm going to offer the opposite perspective. As Steve says, I do not press or baste pleats ahead of time. There are two reasons for this, and they really don't have anything to do with how many kilts I've made or how fast I stitch. The first reason is precision - once you have folded and pressed tartan, it's almost impossible to press out a crease and fold it in a different place, especially if you want to fold it in a new place only a small distance from the bad crease. So, if you're off by, say 1/16" when you press where you think the pleat will have to be, it's awfully difficult to reposition the fold where it should be. That means the pleat won't be precise in size or positioning of elements or maybe both. And if you have 27 pleats in your kilt, and you're off by 1/16" in pleat size in each, the pleats would be off by over an inch and a half when you get done. I think it's much easier to achieve precise pleat size and element placing by carefully measuring and pinning each pleat as you stitch it. I wrote a post awhile back about pinning to achieve better pleats: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...not-pin-72250/

The other reason is actually time. If you pin a pleat well before you stitch it, I don't think you don't save any time at all by taking the time to baste the pleat ahead of time or press everything ahead of time. And if you press and baste everything ahead of time you have a giant pile of fabric that is a lot harder to sew than stitching one pleat at a time and keeping all of the rest of the fabric out of the way.

[Adrian]

Just had a look at Barbs other post... a good method...always has good reasons for doing something a certain way...

I haven't made it clear in my post of the method being taught to me in Scotland...which is another...I don't even think there is any agreement in Scotland on a method for kiltmaking....with any craft tend to adapt a bit to what suits how you work

What I've not made clear
I've usually marked out the whole kilt with tailor's chalk first and the positions of the pleats
my tacking stitches only hold the folded piece together to form the fold line...they don't hold that to the piece underneath to which you are stitching... stitch each pleat as we go and measure at least every 5 pleats to check on track...use a width guage to help alignment...
I prefer to work flat and actually pin at waist and the seat in the right position before stitching...
I'll have to keep a photo record of the next one I do....