Starting on my first kilt

[Southern Breeze]

Hemming isn't necessary. What you do is use leave the selvedged edge and take material from the top. Look on page 53 of the book,the section on marking the length.

[haukehaien]

I think the OP's point is that the fabric doesn't have a selvedge edge.

You could try making a selvedge; run a line of stitches along just inside the plain weave, then cut that part off. I have no idea how well that would work on this fabric, but I've seen it done before.

[mddock58]

You can Zig-zag or serge the edge to prevent the fraying, but you need to pay attention to the tension. Also you want to find a thread that will not show terribly.

That should be enough, and then if you choose to hem, you can still do it as well.

[Alan H]

16 ounce polyester-viscose? Are you SURE it's that heavy?

Personally, I'd just hem it. Do it by hand of course, so that you can hide the stitches.

[Schultz]

16 ounce polyester-viscose? Are you SURE it's that heavy?

Oops, guess I wasn't clear in my origina post. This isn't PV, but actual 16 oz. wool.

[Barb T]

Hi guys

You _don't_ want to serge the edge, because the bottom edge of the kilt will look really odd, particularly if you do all of the rest of the trad kiltmaking. I wouldn't hesitate at all to put a hem in this tartan. All of our band kilts are 16 oz tartan, and, while the adults have kilts w/o hems, all of the kids have hems in their kilts so that we can let them down. Pressed well, you can't really tell. The real key is a good iron, a wet press cloth, and lots of elbow grease to get a good press. No problem, though!!

Barb

[Schultz]

Okay, hemming it is, then. Thanks, Barb!