Sewing question

[Ryan Nielson]

My question is this. If I got a sportkilt without the sewn down pleats how hard would it be to sew them down myself or have my mom help me do that?

[Smayniac]

It's probably worth the money to have them do it, much harder to do on a built kilt than on a flat piece of fabric.

Bob

[Ryan Nielson]

Thanks. I must ask the dumbest questions of all. ha ha

But just trying to save some dough.

[Rex_Tremende]

My question is this.... how hard would it be to sew them down myself or have my mom help me do that?

It's easier to have your mom sew them to do them yourself. That was an easy question.

R.

[sathor]

Well, I had to fix two of the sewn down pleats on a stillwater yesterday, and I would prefer not to do it again. Pay them to do it, and if you need to fix it later, so be it, because it can be a pain in the butt.

[12stones]

With a little time, a few pins, and some patience, you or your mom could sew down the pleats easily enough to do a passable job with them.

[Alan H]

They have elastic waistbands, right? You bought it because you LIKE the elastic waistband, right?

Now, *think*....you're going to stitch down the pleats below an ELASTIC waistband?

NOT.

[Ryan Nielson]

They have elastic waistbands, right? You bought it because you LIKE the elastic waistband, right?

Now, *think*....you're going to stitch down the pleats below an ELASTIC waistband?

NOT.

I'm mainly looking at them because they are the only company I've found that I can get a Welsh National kilt in PV material.

[chasem]

last I checked, sportkilts were a poly-cotton blend. Has this changed?

[fluter]

They have elastic waistbands, right? You bought it because you LIKE the elastic waistband, right?
.

Actually, SK's pleat stitching is different. The fell is not tapered, but sewn basically as a cylinder. Then the waistband gathers it in. It works surprisingly well. Of course the great thing about a SportKilt is its light weight and freedom of movement, in case you're tossing cabers or something.


Now, that would be hard to replicate after the kilt is finished, but you could hand stitch a small amount of taper into the pleats. I've done it, but I decided it's worth it to have them build it their way.

See Some assembly allowed...Sport Kilt

If the cost difference is a deal-breaker, then by all means do it yourself. It will fit well, but you will probably have to "unzip" the Velcro closure to take the kilt off/put it on. It should still give you that extra bit of comfort and range of motion about the waist...

last I checked, sportkilts were a poly-cotton blend. Has this changed?

As of last year, I noticed that they say "poly-viscose" instead of "polyblend." I ordered one in Wallace hunting (same rationale as Ryan) for a knocking around the house kilt. The fabric is quite nice; it feels like my earlier SK.

Hmm, the home page says: "... proud of having the largest selection of poly-viscose tartans on hand in clan tartans and universal tartans" which is what I remembered as having changed. The Men's SK page still says "polyester blend." In my experience it's nice fabric, quite light in weight and with no selvedge.

I'm mainly looking at them because they are the only company I've found that I can get a Welsh National kilt in PV material.

Aha! I would recommend the SK as a casual kilt, as long as you're aware of its differences to a more traditional kilt. The nearest thing to SK would be a USAK casual in St. David's tartan, which is very attractive; but if it's the Welsh National you want, I think you'll be pleased with the fabric.

If you can spring the $12 for the pleats, I'm inclined to recommend it. It looks neater than the job I did, but you may do better!