X-Kilt 2.0 (Beta)

[Pleater]

Camo kilt:


Fabric


selecting the dark stripe


With the pleats pinned


pleats pressed


Pleated to the lighter stripe and the edge sewn down

[Packhound]

I like that "gillie kinguisse". For us lefties you only have to be handicapped for the "wrong" facing pleats. (As opposed to the left facing pleats.)

[Pleater]

I wonder if my being ambidexterous in sewing influenced my choice of pleating methods.

I am naturally left handed, but practise most things in either hand, unless there is some mechanical reason not to - scissors are one thing I have to have the left handed option, and I usually write left handed, though often I have something in my right hand so it is easier.

I am thinking of changing the light kilt to something different - perhaps to the sett - it means taking out the stitching, but I'd rather lose what I have done and go on to make a kilt I would wear.

The kilts are 6 yards - the 'right' side is brushed, so I cut it across the fabric and used the inside so the diagonal of the twill weaving runs in the right direction. The brushing makes the fabric thicker than the weight might suggest, and I think I will have to cut out the back of the fell of these kilts, unless some heavy pressing will flatten it down. If it will not I might try a military box pleat with the back cut out, and add more material.

[turpin]

I like that "gillie kinguisse". For us lefties you only have to be handicapped for the "wrong" facing pleats. (As opposed to the left facing pleats.)

That was my thought as well.

[dwmoffatt]

Just a thought here as I read the posts but wonder if all of us south-paws must be doing / thinking the same thing???
It started with Packhound but Pleater seemed to fall right in.
I Write left handed (I can still print right handed but that was from the early years of school and the teacher not letting me be a lefty), hunt (bow and rifle) right handed though.
I wonder if the kinguisse was nothing more than a left handed kilt-maker??

F-H.C.A.G. - I'll do my best to get some pictures up over the weekend.

[Pleater]

It might have been a left hander just thinking outside the box, which is something we do tend to do because (I think) we find that we are thrown problems which others just don't experience.

I have one Kinguisse style kilt with the box pleat centre back, made from a fabric with a jungle print - and although the forward facing pleats can be a nuisance it is just the thing for showing off the pattern.

I also find that if the centre inverted pleat of the reverse kinguisse is large enough I do not sweep the pleats to sit down but spread them and sit on the central pleat opened out. Then when I stand up and the pleat closes any creases are hidden.

I do not sew the fell on my kilts now, not in the conventional way anyway. I find that for most fabrics the pleats laying one over the other and properly pressed will keep them in place.

For lightweight fabrics I sometimes sew the pleat horizontally, across the inside fold to encourage it to stay as three layers of fabric rather than expand into single layers.

It might not do for those of the male persuasion, having hips of a different shape, but having started off with conventional knife pleats and supresssion I then tried various experiments until I found my own preferred method of pleating.

[Kid Cossack]

snip!
It might not do for those of the male persuasion, having hips of a different shape, but having started off with conventional knife pleats and supresssion I then tried various experiments until I found my own preferred method of pleating.

There is much to be said, I think, for starting out from the "generally accepted place" and then doing some cautious experimenting and exploring!

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

Yay, lefties! I am still hesitating to start my traditional kilt (by The Art of Kiltmaking instructions) due to my left handedness, but I will get around to it. And rest assured, you all will be able to follow along with me (ad nauseum) via my usual photo documentation of the process!

Be well,

[Pleater]

I have just realised that the 'plaid' pattern kilt is wrongly assembled - it is made by cutting the material across from selvage to selvage to get the twill to flow the right way - so it is four pieces joined. The pleats are mirror imaged, but I joined the fabric so the three colours of stripe were continuous.

This means that the underside of the pleats on one side is dark and the other it is light.

They should of course have been joined mirror image - half the fabric turned through 180 degrees, so that the underside of the pleating flashes the same colours each side. I have pressed it now, only lightly but it is not going to lose that crease easily.

Ah well - that decides what I am going to be doing with the material I started to pleat to the light stripe and did not like - I will separate it and use the two halves to make the correct orientation for the one that is wrong.

Oh the joys of kiltmaking - always something new to consider - just when you think that you have been clever and got it all worked out you take a photo and then sit for ten minutes thinking - what is wrong with that image.

Then it hits you, that 'Oh noooooo' moment.

New adage for self - measure twice, check twice, make once.

[dwmoffatt]

Happy weekend all. Being the only one home I can't get a good pic of the black kilt but (wearing it right now) but here is the tan kilt made in the X-Kilt 2.0 (Beta).
Box pleats below


Hopefully you can see the aprons and first 2 pleats layed over the pleats before them. The thought was to pull the waist in (42 inches) but leave the hips (50 inches) without shaping the box pleats but by shaping them like a TANK. 1 inch at the waist, 3 inches at the hips.
Thoughts? Advice?