Moved buckles, now the under apron shows - What do I do?

[Barb T]

I also tried holding the inverted pleat closed as suggested. Unfortunately that then pulled the first normal pleat open so I didn't stitch it closed.

Well, it was worth a try! I'll know not to suggest it again!

Oh and as for the "successful tackling" I have to confess that for the underapron strap I stitched through the whole kilt. Had I tried to sew it on without going through the lining, there would have been only one layer of fabric to hold the whole weight. Would that have been right? Are there any reasons not to stitch through the lining (besides aesthetics, of course)?

Aesthetics is the only one. For our band kilts, I commonly sew right through the lining if I'm moving the strap a lot because there isn't much to support the strap once it's very far from the edge of the underapron.

[gealach]

How far should you be able to move the straps and still have some layers of tartan to stitch through on a crappy vs. well made vs. high end kilt? Is there supposed to be any difference on the better end of things?

[Barb T]

When I make a kilt, I fold the canvas interfacing so that it's tripled at the edge of the underapron where the strap will be sewn on. The part that's tripled extends on the order of 3-4" in toward the center of the underapron. The tartan in the facing on the edge of the underapron is also more than one thickness. So, if the strap needed to be moved, there's a couple layers of tartan and three layers of canvas to stitch the strap to without going through to the lining. That's pretty stable. If the strap had to be moved more than 3-4", there's only one layer of tartan and one layer of canvas to stitch the strap to. At that point, I would neatly stitch all the way through the lining and explain to the customer what I'd done and why.

I can't speak for kilts made by others. But the lining of a kilt shouldn't be stitched to the apron except at the top band and sides, so you can always lift up the lining and see what's underneath.

Does that help?

[gealach]

This does indeed help, thank you very much.

It gives me confidence, that my kilt is at least somewhat meeting certain quality requirements. I wouldn't have expected anything else from a HoE kilt, but then again... how would I know?

As someone who hasn't grown up around kilts and everything, I sometimes have a rather hard time figuring out what to look for.

[Barb T]

You aren't the only one by any stretch!