Box pleats

[way2fractious]

I have some Weathered Ferguson strome (overkill for California) which would make two fantastic four-yard box pleated kilts. The pleating seems simple enough (even the tapering) and the overall construction would require only minimal adaptations to Barb's instruction book.

The one sticking point is sewing down the tapers where they butt up against each other. Do you sew one down to the fabric beneath and then sew the other next to it? or, do you sew the taper lines to each other from the front, and then sew the seam to the fabric beneath?

[Alan H]

The 4.5 inch set could be box pleated with one set as the visible panel then one set folded under it at each side, so each complete panel takes 13.5 inches of fabric. You narrow it to the waist, but work to the panel, not pleats

That it the trick which took me so long to fathom out.

The hemline of the pleats is three layers. Wide or narrow, the pleats are always three layers, so there is no using more or less fabric with simple box pleats. I supose that narrow panels would use up a small amount more than large ones for the folds, but it would be fairly insignificant.

With a large set it might look best pleated to the stripe - with a 12 inch set you could have the centre of every set as a panel, 4 inches wide with 4 inches folded under it at each side.

I can kind of see this, but I'm still confuzzled on the specifics. I think I'm going to have to buy some inexpensive stuff and just *TRY* it.

The Scottish Weaver sells Gray Stewart in a small sett, and that's mighty tempting, but before I dive into $75 worth of material I want to practice on $10 worth of material, first.

[chasem]

The one sticking point is sewing down the tapers where they butt up against each other. Do you sew one down to the fabric beneath and then sew the other next to it? or, do you sew the taper lines to each other from the front, and then sew the seam to the fabric beneath?

This is what I've been wondering. The concept of how the 4yd box pleat is put together is fairly simple, but I've been wondering about exactly how it's sewn too.

[Pleater]

The one sticking point is sewing down the tapers where they butt up against each other. Do you sew one down to the fabric beneath and then sew the other next to it? or, do you sew the taper lines to each other from the front, and then sew the seam to the fabric beneath?

I am not sure that this is the right way to do it - but it seems to have worked.

I started at the hem and pinned in the first four box pleats. I pressed the right side pleats then removed the pins and opened out the cloth.

As it was just an experiment I did not tack, just pinned, but I did make sure that everything was lined up. Even so I needed to redo - but I used a long stitch so as to make it easier to pull out the errors.

Fold the cloth right sides together, to bring the pressed lines together.

I joined two pieces of cloth, and I had an even number of panels.

A panel is a section of the visible part of the kilt, don't think pleats, think of coffin lids - the head end at least.

I started by folding the cloth on the seam line where the two panels met centre back, and putting the sewing machine needle through the pressed lines at hip level.

I sewed towards the waist, guessing how the slope should look. I knew that the seam I was sewing should move away from the join half an inch in total, and I had marked that on the cloth with fabric marking pencil - though I have read that soap is good for marking when the bar is used thin and dried out.

I used the pressed line as a guide and moved away from it gradually at first then curved more quickly towards the waist mark in the last couple of inches. That joins the two centre back panels.

I have an even number of panels. Having an odd number and a centre back join would be a problem - perhaps with a little extra fabric the join could be moved into a pleat and hidden. I would put it into the pleat behind the right half of the centre back panel, so it is in the centre back of the finished kilt but behind the panel.

When I'd sewn the first seam on this kilt I brought the seam joining the two halves of cloth to the sewn seam, to make the two pleats which meet centre back. You have _\/_ with the joining seam at the bottom of the V, as you look down on it from the waist.

Now the sloping join is longer than the straight seam (it is the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle situation) and things would not match up, but I laid it over the ironing board, (the waist at the narrow end, for those unfamiliar with this device), and pressed it under a cloth until it gave up and looked right.

I then went on to sew more joins, and when I reached the apron I put in a fold larger than the rest so as to make an under apron pleat.

The cloth was not level at the top of the waist - but pulling it straight distorted the shape I had worked so hard to create, so I let it stay uneven, sewed the pleats in place and called it a kilt. When I lose another few kilos the apron will be wide enough for me to wear it 'properly', but around the house with a belt it is fine now.

The pleats are not sewn down the edge to join them the cloth underneath them. The fabric is fairly heavy and it does not seem necessary.

So far I have made kilts and then reduced them - this is the first 'incentive' kilt. I could have made the pleats all equal and then there would be more fabric for the apron - but I think that the under apron pleats will be necessary - though I do have another 4 yards of the same fabric still on the shelf so I could make another one to wear now.

!! this kilt making is dangerously addictive.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Just make the pleats as regular knife pleats, just like the instructions in Barb's book, only much wider (1/3 the sett size is ideal). Then, once all the pleats are sewn in, you'll want to open them up on the inside to make your boxes. Pin them down like that and sew them in place with a line of straight stitching across the top of the kilt. You'll also want to baste them in at the fell line and again about half way up from the fell.

Clear as mud, right?

M

[chasem]

actually I think I understood

thanks

[way2fractious]

Pleater, I agree that kiltmaking is dangerous AND addictive. I even considered something similar to your procedure, but...

Matt, thanks for the clue. It makes sense to sew it as a knife pleat, as long as *only* the three layers of fabric are involved; otherwise the box could not be opened up. In effect, one is sewing the butted pleats to each other. I hope this little sketch shows up.


Perhaps you could ask Barb T. to include some box pleat instructions and illustrations in a subsequent edition of her book.

[Pleater]

OOh - multiple use of shift and top line of keyboard for badwords!!!

No no - deep and calming breaths - I have simply discovered a different way to box pleat.

I have the other half of the fabric, I will now just go away and create another kilt with straight edged pleats.

Yes - I can do that, no problem, it isn't as bad as when I did 33 tiny little pleats and when I got to the centre back found I had measured wrong.

All part of the joy of kilt construction.

Yeah - right.

[way2fractious]

OOh - multiple use of shift and top line of keyboard for badwords!!!

No no - deep and calming breaths - I have simply discovered a different way to box pleat.

C'mon, cheer up! All kiltmakers (successful and otherwise) reach out to you with sympathy for we have all been there. Like drinking your milk and eating your vegetables, it builds your character. Sew on!!!

[mudd]

Clear as mud, right?
M

Huh?