Sewing Help Needed

[Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

Greetings Rabble,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I need some help. I have started a kilt using Barb’s book to make my first homemade kilt. It’s an 8 yard “Blue watch” (all the fabric store had that I could use) Poly-wool kilt. Now I have never sewn in my life. I have ripped the pleats out a few times and now I am getting a little frustrated.
Could a DIY’er that has made a kilt, please show me a detailed picture of their pleats or how to correctly perform the stitch used in sewing pleating. It’s hard being a visual learner.
Thanks!

[JimB]

I don't think I know quite how to help you. There are lots of threads on kilt making in this forum. As far as the sewing part of it, what I do is basically just a straight stitch. Nothing hard about it at all. It's getting the pleats where you want them that's the trick.
Are you doing your pleats to the stripe or to the sett? Get them how you like them, then pin them (pins go sideways to the line of sewing) and then sew them up. I'm assuming you mean stitchin on the side of the pleat to give them a sharp edge. You can do this or not, depending on the look you like. I always stitch the outside edge of the pleat, but I may or may not pleat the inside edge depending on the material.
If you mean the part that is sewn from the top of the kilt to the fell., then just mark about 8 inches down from the top of the kilt and after adjusting the it at the top for the waist measurement, just sew each pleat in place at the pleat edges. You can only do this if your fabic is fairly lightweight. If your machine won't cut it, then you will HAVE to handsew that part.
I hope that helps a little. I had to do a lot of reading before I understood how to do it. It also helps to have a kilt already to see how the stitching is done, then if you're like me, you will alter the techniques to suit your likings.

Also, know that ripping out stitching comes with the territory. We all do it.

[JimB]

Here's a good look at the pleats on one of my kilts.

You can see the edges that are sewn on the outside (they are also sewn on the inside but you can't see that). You can also see the stitching done from the top to the fell. On this particular kilt that was done by hand but you could do it with a machine if the material was light / thin enough.

Oh, and welcome to X-Marks by the way!

[turpin]

The fell stitch is useful for joining two layers of fabric from the right side. Insert the needle directly below where it came out of the fabric, and bring it out 1/8" ahead and opposite where it first came out of the fabric. There will be diagonal stitches on the wrong side.

Also, Barbs book does have an illustration of the stitch.

[The Wizard of BC]

The illustration in Barb's book is on page 76. The felling stitch is basically an overhand, rollling, or pinch stitch. (depends on what it's used for, but exactally the same thing) Disregard the little dotted line shown in the drawings, those are the basting stitches.

Imagine using a needle to wrap the thread around a pencil. Hold the pencil in your left hand with the eraser tucked in the crook of your little finger The shank of the pencil rests in the palm of your hand and the point comes out between your first finger and your thumb. With the needle in your right hand, bring it up from under the pencil on the side closest to your body. Now bring the needle over the top of the pencil and down the side away from you back to the bottom.
One stitch complete. Wrap 'round and 'round working towards your left hand.

Now imagine fabric in place of the pencil. Your needle will catch the fabric each time you bring the needle upwards and then downwards again.

The needle is brought up from behind through four layers of fabric. Catch only the very edge of the top two layers. then reinsert the needle back down through the bottom two layers only. Then move left slightly and start another stitch.
The thread of the stitch coming up is straight and underneath is slightly angled.
This angle underneath is what will cause the pleat alignment to be off slightly needing you to offset the alignment with your fingers holding the pleats as you stitch. How much of an angle is a matter of practice. Within ten or so stitches you should be able to tell how it looks and rip out if necessary.

The length of these stitches should be 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch. The width should be almost nothing. When you pull the stitch tight it should completly disappear. The total number of fabric yarns caught in each stitch should be only two or three yarns of each layer.

Here is a pic of some sample stitches. I did them on solid colored fabric with thick white thread only for demo purposes.

On the right are six finished stitches.
On the left you will see six more stitches done loose and wrapped around the pencil.

I wasn't trying to get these stitches perfect so they aren't. For demonstration only.



I hope this answers your question.

[Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

Thank you All!
I am sorry I was not as clear as I should have been (See never try to sneak around the internet at the office, even if it is faster then your home service!!)

I am handsewing this kilt and I was wondering about the stiching for the fell. I don't own a sewing machine.
I enjoy Scottish history and thought that this would be a neat project to do on my weekends. I only own one machine stiched kilt, which is some help in this project, but not a ton. The pictures and discriptions given in this thread have been very helpful.

Thanks again.
Humm now that I have come out of hiding I should post more.

[pdcorlis]

Brilliant Steve!