Pleat Splay

[RockyR]

Rolling a kilt only works if you have a kilt that has about the same hip and waist measurement (i.e., very little pleat taper between hip and waist). Otherwise, it doesn't roll very well.

B

It *can* be done with a waist measurement larger than hips, but it DOES take some coaxing. Also, when you UNROLL it, it may need a pressing.

To address Colin's point... I don't think PV kilts really need to worry about it TOO much. Also, if you WEAR your kilt once a month or more, it shouldn't be TOO much of a problem. I think this is geared more toward people who hang their kilts up and wear them once a year.

[Barb T]

It *can* be done with a hip measurement larger than waist, but it DOES take some coaxing.

It can be done, but it's hard to have a nice tight package when you do so. If the kilt has identical hip and waist measurements, you can just roll up the apron and continue rolling right through the pleats, with the stiff part of the kilt (the fell, canvas, and lining) serving as a guide so that the pleats just roll with the same diameter "tube". If the hips are bigger than the waist, the top band can be rolled into a tube of much smaller diameter than the pleats. If you roll with a diameter that's good for the top band, then the kilt has to pucker at the hips to make the same diameter tube. If you aim to roll a tube that is big enough to avoid puckering the kilt at the hips, it makes kind of a floppy tube.

That's a terrible description. Best thing to do is just try it. The _critical thing_ is making sure that the pleats do not splay when you roll.

Cheers,

Barb

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I think he's talking about hanging your kilt from one of those skirt hangers with the two clips on either end. I know a lot of men are tempted to use these, and what I see is them folding the kilt shut (as if it were being worn) and then just clipping either end of the hanger to the top of the kilt, causing the heavy pleats to pull down in the middle -- which I believe is what causes the effect he's talking about.

But I don't use those hangers -- I never find that they are strong enough to hold a heavy weight kilt up well anyway. I use the pants hangers that utilize the long, flat clamps.

Begin by closing your kilt as if it were being worn, and then fold it in half again, with the pleats on the outside. Then attach the clamp hanger to the top. The kilt should hang perfectly, and you'll never have to worry about messy pleats.

I've hung even regimental weight kilts this way and never had a problem -- the only times the hanger wouldn't hold them up it was because the hanger was faulty.

I've never had a problem with pleats going awry!

M

[Ruanaidh]

Begin by closing your kilt as if it were being worn, and then fold it in half again, with the pleats on the outside. Then attach the clamp hanger to the top. The kilt should hang perfectly, and you'll never have to worry about messy pleats. M

Matt, Dosen't this cause the kilt to have a crease down the middle of the apron?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

If you leave it hanging there for long periods of time, then yes it might. But each of my kilts gets a wearing about once a week, once every two weeks at the least, and only rarely do I have this problem.

And when I do, it only takes a few seconds with the iron to get the crease out of the flat apron, versus all the time of re-pressing the pleats if it had been folded the other way 'round.

[GlassMan]

I have to admit that I use the hangers with the 2 clips, but I've solved the problem of the weight by using 2 hangers per kilt. One hanger is clipped to the rear of the kilt and the other hanger is clipped to the front and back apron.

And since I wear my kilts constantly and still don't have a collection as large as Hamish' I don't have a problem with splay.

[Hamish]

In all my years of kilt wearing, I have always hung them folded as if being worn (with all the buckles/straps done up) and, until fairly recently, I used the wooden clamp-style hangers that Matt mentions - except that mine were 14" or 16" long. These were ideal, but I can no longer find these hangers with such long 'arms' and have been obliged to use the 2-clip hangers. There is no sagging of the waistband problem with the lightweight kilts - the clips hold everything taut and straight - but with the heavier kilts I add a spring-clip clothes peg near the centre of the hanger to support the waistband at that point.

Each kilt is in a transparent plastic cover which not only protects the kilt, but also prevents the pleats from getting caught-up on the kilt hanging next to it!