The best advice I can give is learn to baste. It's not hard. Really it's not.
Learning how to baste a press a kilt will go a long way towards your enjoyment of your kilt over the years.
Lay the kilt out on a table or the floor. Notice please that the kilt will not want to lay flat without the pleats splaying out.
So what you do is lift the top portion that is sewn down. This part is called "The Fell" and is the part that is tapered.
When you lift the Fell the pleats will now be able to lay flat and parallel.
Most kilts that have not been basted and pressed will have the pleat crease running all wonky.
Look at the first pleat up at where the sewing stops. Notice the Tartan pattern at that point. Now insure that the Tartan pattern stays the same distance away from the edge of the pleat all the way down to the bottom hem.
If it doesn't you may need to steam out the crease and re-crease so that the Tartan line is straight down the pleat.
Repeat this for all the pleats.
Then - with a tape measure - find the width of the first and second pleats up at the bottom of the Fell. Pin the second pleat to the first keeping the same width all the way down to the hem.
Thread a fairly large, long needle with some plain white sewing thread.
Make large snug but not tight stiches through the first pleat into the second. The idea is not to be super neat but lock the width of the pleats so they don't move around.
Repeat this process across the back of the kilt. Bast the second to the third and then the third to the fourth.
As soon as you get all the way across the back of the kilt you can even pick up the kilt and it should stay. All the pleats nice and parallel.
You can now send your basted kilt to the dry cleaners. Tell them to clean but no press the kilt.
When you get the kilt home lay it out again. The Fell raised and the pleats nice and parallel.
Heat up your iron and set to wool with steam. Get a pillow case and a spray bottle of water.
Lightly mist water on the pleats. Lay the pillow case over the pleats and with the iron Press down. DO NOT MOVE THE IRON OVER THE PLEATS. Lift the iron - set it down - Press down hard.
The water you sprayed will heat to steam which softens the wool allowing it to take a crease from the pressing.
Go over the entire back of the kilt. One section at a time. Lift the iron, set it down in a new place - and press down.
When you are done you will see nice sharp crease edges and the entire back of the kilt will have nice straight and parallel newly pressed pleats.
You will notice the difference the moment you put your newly pressed kilt on. The back will look like the section of a cylinder. The pleats will lay nice and flat and from a few feet away you should not even notice that there are any pleats.
This one simple garment care skill will save you a lot of time and money and will insure that your kilt always looks great as you now know how to keep it looking its best, anytime it needs a touch-up.
Bookmarks