Make a Kilt Weekend: a proposal

[Farlander]

I just got some fabric for my very first X-Kilt. The fantastic X-Kilt manual suggest cotton/poly twill. I have decided that finding cotton/poly twill is a bit of a snipe hunt. Retail fabric outlets seem to rarely carry this. I checked out Jo-Ann (great for quilting, but not much else). I then went to some of the better fabric stores in the Bay Area, Hart's fabric in Santa Cruz and Stone Mountain Daughter in Berkeley. Still no cotton/poly.

Finally, my wife suggested Discount Fabrics (in San Francisco and Berkeley). They have a fantastic selection of kiltable twills, bull denim and canvas (and all at really good prices). Still not much cotton/poly, but they do have some amazing lime green cotton/poly twill (~10 oz too)! It almost glows in the dark, and is only 2.98 a yard!

I paid a little more ($4.79/yd) for a more conventional tan 10 oz bull denim. Have others tried bull denim yet? I think it should last for ever, but I do not know how well it will hold a pleat.

The lime green though... It might make an OK alternative to pale lavender or lilac? It sure would make one stand out in a crowd!

[Alan H]

I've wanted to make an X-Kilt out of bull denim, just havent gotten around to it. I think it will do very nicely.

[The Wizard of BC]

Some of my very first kilts were made from Bull Denim that I got at a fabric clearance house. It was listed as 14oz. but when weighed out (60 in. wide x 36 in long) it weighed 22 oz.
I lasts like iron and those kilts are still in daily use. But it was a royal bear to sew. Putting on a waistband would cost me 10 or 12 needles each. Sewing through 13 to 16 layers required modifying my machines to enable the pressure foot to raise up to over 1/2". Luckily I had industrial machines that were capable of it.
I still have two of those 5 year old kilts. They weigh in at 9 lbs. each. No swish but virtually bullet proof.
The fabric will not wrinkle but it does curl something fierce.
Wish I could find a source for some more of it.

[Alan H]

I paid a little more ($4.79/yd) for a more conventional tan 10 oz bull denim. Have others tried bull denim yet? I think it should last for ever, but I do not know how well it will hold a pleat.

Poppy Fabric in Oakland is a good place to try thought they mostly have pricey designer stuff and a lot of home decorating fabric, like upholstery. Also, Bri-tex Fabric

http://www.britexfabrics.com/

is ruddy well amazing if you're over in the City.

That said, and keeping in mind what the Wizard just said, when making your X-Kilt, go to pains to not have to overlap in inside edges of the box pleats if you possibly can. In the instructions it describes leaving a 3/8 inch gap between the inner edges of the folds in the box pleats. I would DEFINITELY do that with bull denim so that you can work in a decent taper without overlapping the inner edges of the pleats in the waistband. In fact, I might consider sewing my pleats in, and then going through later and cutting out the overlapping edges/corners where the waistband is so as to avoid piling layer upon layer of material..

With lighter stuff like the camo I built my X-Kilt and Panache's X-Kilt out of, it's not really a concern.

[kfreeouf]

Britex looks amazing! I will definitely check out the next time I'm in the Bay area. It looks like a place you could spend an entire day and then some. Great website too.
Always learn something here!
Semper Fi,
Keith