Hand sewn?

[Pleater]

In tailoring hand sewn means that the sewing machine was guided by hand rather than a jig or computer.

I suspect that in kilt making the term has to mean without using a machine.

When sewing using a needle the layers of fabric can be manipulated so as to match up the pattern when edges of slightly different lengths are being joined, or if there is a slight variation in the weave of the cloth - I have found some pieces of cloth where the weft is not exactly straight across the warp, but in most cases the fault could be hidden by hand sewing.

On a sewing machine it is difficult - though not impossible, to ease in (shorten) one piece of material to fit a shorter one, but when hand sewing the trick is far easier to do. It is also possible to see both sides of the seam as you sew which makes the accidental sewing in of a fold far less likely.

Making shaped pleats is one of the more awkward exercises in sewing - certainly if perfection is required, though hand sewing is not a guarentee that it will be done well.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

When referring to a kilt as being "hand sewn" I always take that to mean that all visibile stitching is done by hand. This means all the pleats, for the most part.

For instance, on my kilts, the only thing that I might use a machine for would be long, straight, hidden stitches, such as the join in the fabric, which is always hidden in a pleat, or when I stitch the top of the lining, which I then hide beneath a waist band (which I hand sew on).

But the most important element is the pleats. I have noticed here lately that some of the kilts I've been seeing from the larger kilt making firms in Scotland are using more machine stitching even in their hand sewn kilts -- for example, I've noticed more and more buckles being machine stitched on, and this used to be always done by hand. This would be an example of a visible stitch done by machine, but the kilts are still called "hand sewn" because all the pleats are sewn by hand.

As has already been pointed out, the advantage to hand sewing, especially in the pleats, is that you can make the stitching virtually invisible. It's also easier to control the tension and make sure the tartan pattern is perfectly lined up in the pleats.