Self designed self made Kilt for Blacksmithing

[twandawg85]

First off I have no idea what I'm doing. So as long as its not malicious, criticism is welcome. If you don't get offended (which I don't easily) that's a great way to learn.

For a bit of background. I am a new blacksmith and I have been looking into kilts to keep cool in my shop. I'm a 6'6" 330 lb man so I have a hard time finding clothes in general, and quickly learned there was not much of anything that would fit me in my price range. I used to be active on hammockforums.net where I learned to sew hammocks. So I decided I had the skills to sew a kilt. And went about purchasing materials.

Its not finished, but thats part of why I'm here. GIMME SOME IDEAS/ADVICE/CRITIQUES/CRITICISM. Just let me know what I can do, and what you think of what I've done so far.

This is the first piece of clothing I have ever made. And really the first thing I've done that took more effort than a simple rolled hem.

Made this kilt to wear blacksmithing so being close to fire had to be considered. Its made out of 100% cotton canvas. Needed to be natural fibers, synthetics melt before they burn, and burning plastic on your skin is not fun! Cotton will just burn and get holes. The Apron is 18 inches. I wanted a good wide double layer on the front for extra burn protection.

There is no taper anywhere. Just a big rectangle with box pleats. Although I have no butt to speak of so it doesn't matter much. And I do mean BIG rectangle. From end to end its 70.5 inches(not including the belt straps on the end. Those add another 8 inches to each side). From top to bottom its 27 inches. All the pleats are the same including the ones by the apron. Now that I know better I think I'm gonna add some fabric so the first pleats on both sides are deeper. Not exactly sure if/how I'm going to do that yet.

I don't trust velcro or snaps to hold things on my large unforgiving frame, so it secures with straps more like a traditional kilt. Although I wanted it to be super secure, and I like symmetry so I put 2 buckles on each side. Right now there are no pockets, but I am gonna LOAD this thing up with pockets. side pockets, back pockets, cargo pockets, hidden apron pocket, hammer/tong loops, other hidden pockets that I may or may not share the location of...... ;)

Its a bit longer than I was aiming for. I was aiming for mid knee, and this ends up right below my knee

I haven't decided if I am going to tack the pleats together at the top or not. Or how far down I will if I do.

So far I have learned pleats are a lot harder than I expected. Which was exaggerated by the fact that I had a REALLY hard time finding a place to lay all the fabric out to make the pleats. And I have learned Kilts are a lot harder to make than hammocks.

Let me know what you think! Good, bad and ugly!!





The marks are a temporary line I made to tape it together at that point to see if I wanted to sew the pleats together down that far. After I taped it I decided that was a bit too far.

[derosa]

Got pics? Sounds interesting. Stitching down the pleats will make them easier to re-press when the need arrives, other then that good luck with it.

[twandawg85]

I thought I posted them. I uploaded them. Not sure what happened. Ill try again.

[twandawg85]

So I went in and tried to edit the first post. When I go into edit they are there as attached. But I apparently don't know how to make them show up. Maybe its because I don't have 10 posts yet?

[twandawg85]

The cotton fabric would not actually take a good crease so I sewed the edge of every single pleat, Top to bottom. I just don't know if/how far down from the top I want to secure them to each other.

[twandawg85]

Ok. I did something. Im sure thats not the way I'm supposed to add pictures, but I made it work!

[Mipi]

Very good. I like wide waistband and how you made a simetry with buckles.
You can be proud of your work.

[derosa]

Pics work now, looks good.

[Taskr]

that looks good!
You asked for critique, so here goes.. minor stuff

the mark you made for the distance you thought you'd sew the pleats down to is called the fell. That is measured at the greatest point around the buttocks/hip. Sewing down to that point makes for a better look as the pleats fall from that point. The deeper pleat at the apron is something you want to lessen constriction of movement. the length, of course, can be resolved with hemming which looks fine on this type of kilt/fabric.

That you put this together yourself is pretty impressive. I really like what you did with the waistband, straps and buckles. I think if you take a look at the Xkilt it would help refine the pleats and aprons while you would keep your design elements. https://web.stanford.edu/~ahebert/X_Kilt_adobe.pdf

[twandawg85]

The x kilt pdf is where I noticed the deeper pleat by the apron. I saw it and went "THATS HOW THEY GET THE APRON TO STAY IN PLACE WHEN THEY SIT AND/OR SPREAD THEIR LEGS!" Havent noticed any restriction of movement, the front apron just moves with my leg.

The problem with just a simple hem to fix the length is I sewed the edge of all the pleats already. It could def be done, but I would have to tear out the thread on the bottom couple inches of every pleat. I even sewed the inside folds of the pleats because this fabric just would not stay creased. I might take the effort to do it eventually, but right now its a function over form thing. Gotta get the pockets in so I can use this thing in my shop.

Your explanation of the fell just made it click for me. Dont know why it wasn't making sense before. But I still don't know what to do for mine. My chest is 54 inches, Just under my ribcage it goes down to about 50, then my gut at the largest place is 53, then my hips are 49(if I lift my guy out of the way), largest measurement around my rear is 49. The top of the waistband of this kilt sits a couple inches above the 53 inch measurement. I have a hard time keeping my pants up. Gotta get my belt so tight it just about cuts off circulation to my legs.

I really like the way the waistband turned out as well. I didnt realize this until after I bought them, but the buckles and the heavy duty D rings I got were actually supposed to be for making dog collars. I was just looking for something STRONG. I think they look great though. I've got an extra buckle and 48 extra D rings(the cheapest option was to buy a 50 pack). Not sure what I'm gonna do with em. Might make some sort of weird buckle closing sporran to go with it. No idea what im gonna do with 48 heavy duty welded D rings.