Pleating options and double-checking calculations for kilt-like kilted skirt

[Balaamsass51]

Wouldn't the amount of fabric needed also have to take into account the total length of the skirt? Surely the longer the more material needed regardless of all this discussion about how to pleat it? Or did I miss that in the previous posts? Just a male butting into a very interesting discussion between the ladies.

[Barb T]

"I get closer to 3" depth per pleat if I alternate a blue stripe with the triple stripe, which will have a distance of around 6.5" between them and a pleat width of 1.4"."

If you look at your tartan, and you put a

[hmonroe]

Wouldn't the amount of fabric needed also have to take into account the total length of the skirt? Surely the longer the more material needed regardless of all this discussion about how to pleat it?

This fabric is supposed to be 31.5" (0.8 meters) wide. I believe that the House of Edgar Mediumweight Old & Rare Clan & District Tartans are all finished with a true selvedge and therefore I won't need to lose any length to a hem. To maximize the length while having a more feminine 1" waistband, I could use a ribbon to finish the inside of the waistband. This is often done in women's skirts when made with heavy or precious fabrics. If I did this, I could have the skirt be 29.5" long which is mid-calf on 5'7" me.

Here is a picture of the inside of a women's wool skirt with this technique:

petersham-waistband.jpg

Because the ribbon is thinner than the wool and does not need to be folded to hide raw edges, you reduce bulk.

You can use ribbon to do all of the facing and therefore avoid the visible waistband seam or binding altogether and have a 31" skirt in this fabric. That would look like this at the waist (though perhaps all of the pleats would make this a bad option):

Enlight233_large.JPG

If I wanted a skirt longer than 31" and were stuck with this fabric, it would be a nightmare! I would have to piece together many lengths and the grain would be flipped from lengthwise going around the body to crosswise going around the body (which is more usual in dress-making, actually). I think one would just find a double-wide fabric instead! Then you could make a floor-length skirt in the usual way.

[Barb T]

I believe that the House of Edgar Mediumweight Old & Rare Clan & District Tartans are all finished with a true selvedge. I could use a ribbon to finish the inside of the waistband.

Yes - HoE medium weight tartan has a kilting selvedge. All kilting tartan of medium and heavy weight does, and many 11 oz tartans now do as well (although this is not universally true).

You could use a ribbon for the inside of the top band, but you wouldn't gain anything. A top band on a kilt is put on differently than the waist band on a skirt, and all you need to have is enough to stitch a seam at the top edge of the kilt and fold it just over the top. The lining is stitched by hand about 1/8" below to top edge of the kilt on the inside, so all you have to do is have enough tartan to come just over the top edge and about 1/4" down on the inside of the kilt (i.e., it doesn't get folded double like a waist band). So I've made do with a strip of tartan less than an inch wide for a long kilt in the past. And, on one occasion, I had a guy who was so tall that there was NOTHING left for a top band, so I used a cross-wise strip and just didn't match the tartan in the apron. It's under the belt anyway, so that's an OK last ditch resort.

And if you're making something kilt-like, and not a trad kilt, it wouldn't occur to anyone to notice that the tartan in the top band doesn't match the tartan in the apron.