Hemming a kilt

**BonnieT100** · 28th April 06, 08:14 PM

There's a kilt on eBay that comes 27" in length. That's obviously too long for almost everyone I know. So it's gotta be hemmed. Is this something I could entrust to an ordinary tailor or would it be better to send it to a trained kiltmaker?

**HeathBar** · 28th April 06, 08:46 PM

I would guess that anyone who could hem a skirt, could hem a kilt.

**The Wizard of BC** · 29th April 06, 12:47 AM

Just caution your tailor person not to fold over the selvedge. Leave it flat and sew it in that way.

**mkmound** · 29th April 06, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by The Wizard of BC

Just caution your tailor person not to fold over the selvedge. Leave it flat and sew it in that way.

Steve,

You mean just turning the selvedge up once, instead of turning twice, like you would need to do with a raw, cut edge, right?

**The Wizard of BC** · 29th April 06, 12:41 PM

Yes, that's correct.

It keeps the hem as flat as possible.

Also caution your tailor to be very careful when reversing the pleat pressing.

DO NOT fan out the pleats. Insure they are parallel and straight.

**Tartan Hiker** · 30th April 06, 07:56 AM

So, Steve, what you're saying is that if you are hemming a 27" length to 24", you don't cut down...just turn over 3" and hem?

**beerbecue** · 30th April 06, 08:10 AM

It is actually quite easy to do the hem by hand.

You just use a herringbone/catch stitch after turning up the selvedge.

You should then baste your pleats, and after ironing the hem, it should lie very flat and be practically unnoticeable. I have one kilt that is hemmed and you really can't tell unless you were to pick it up and look. When it is worn, no one notices.....

**Barb T** · 1st May 06, 04:46 PM

But, if you're going to do it right, you'll need to take out the apron and underapron facings and edges, put the hem in, then re-do the edges. If you don't, the apron edge in particular will look odd.

Also, turn up the first deep pleat to the left of the apron about 1/2" more at the point so that the point doesn't hang below the bottom of the apron, and taper the underapron hem from the center of the underapron to the underapron edge so that the edge is about 1" shorter than the rest of the kilt. That keeps the underapron from drooping below the apron.

And, yes. Don't fold the selvedge edge over. Just turn the thing up 3", and don't cut it off.

Barb

**AtagahiKC** · 10th May 07, 06:33 PM

Barb/Steve: Would it be better to reduce the length of the kilt from the top? I know it involves reworking the kilt and probably increasing the fell.

I'm wondering if preserving the selvedge edge at the bottom and the flatness is more important than the time to rework the kilt from the top?

I obtained an ex-hire saltire kilt for about $200, but it is 27" (now). It was badly hemmed, so I removed the hem and pressed it to return the pleats to normal.*

I am waiting for the Kilt Kamp to learn more before tackling shortening it from the top. In my case, I'm sure I'll have to rework it from the top to preserve the saltire design in the pleats, but I do wonder if as a rule it is better to rework from the top or not.

What are your thoughts? Thanks!

*By badly hemmed, I mean that although it probably was executed well, it eliminated some of the Saltire design in the pleats, making the design look oddly shortened and incomplete. It bugged me for some time before I realized what had happened and found that there was more design that should be showing.

**The Wizard of BC** · 10th May 07, 07:15 PM

AAHH the dreaded hemming of a Saltire Kilt.

In the case of this kilt you will have to completely re-build the kilt from the top. This includes re-stitching the tapers and re-positioning the Fell and Steeking.
You will also probably need to re-taper the aprons.

Bring it to Kilt Kamp and let Barb show you how to do this one.