a little encouragement here please

[The Wizard of BC]

Pins, lots and lots of pins. Here at the shop we buy them by the pound.
We like the extra long ones with the glass bead on the top.

After two or three Kilt all your pins will have a slight curve to them. It comes from pushing a pin through 4 layers of Kilt Wool.

Alternately you can use Quilters Safety Pins. They are the ones with the bend already in them. We use the safety pins in areas where you want the pins to stay for a while and the straight ones in areas that you will be taking out often or soon.

[MacHummel]

I am a lefty also , when i have hand sewn i just took the kilt and did it upside down its tricky but can be done, and make sure you use a ton of pins , you can do it man .

[sydnie7]

Someone who is a perfectionist and who is willing to take pleats out until they look good is going to make a better kilt the first time around. You sound like that kind of person, so hang in.

Oh - and one other thing. I do pin a pleat before stitching it, and, when I do Kilt Kamp, I teach people to use plenty of pins in a pleat to hold it while they stitch. I find I take out a lot fewer pleats if I pin first. My book doesn't say to do that because my co-author is absolutely rabid about stitching without pins. But, I've found that I can't do what I consider acceptable work if I don't pin.

Oh sure, now you tell us about the pins!

Ah well, at least (in my case, and I'm sure others'), there are always plenty more kilts in the pipeline on which to learn!

[Wompet]

My book doesn't say to do that because my co-author is absolutely rabid about stitching without pins.

But Elsie does let us left-handed folk use a couple more pins than you right-handers.
I'm only on my eighth hand-sewn kilt now, so I'm no expert, but I do have a couple of suggestions:

• There are a lot of steps in the book that can be done left-handed. You just have to change the orientation of the kilt from how it is in the book (e.g. top to the right instead of the left).
• Make the kilt completely left-handed. A few of us have already done this. Other that the pleats facing opposite the normal direction, it will be the same as a normal kilt. Plus, this pleating direction works better when sitting in American cars.

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

...snip...

Oh - and one other thing. I do pin a pleat before stitching it, and, when I do Kilt Kamp, I teach people to use plenty of pins in a pleat to hold it while they stitch. I find I take out a lot fewer pleats if I pin first. My book doesn't say to do that because my co-author is absolutely rabid about stitching without pins. But, I've found that I can't do what I consider acceptable work if I don't pin.

Thanks for that Barb! I use more pins (i.e., I use them more than once in each pleat) than the book calls for. Nice to feel justified.

But Elsie does let us left-handed folk use a couple more pins than you right-handers.
I'm only on my eighth hand-sewn kilt now, so I'm no expert, but I do have a couple of suggestions:

• There are a lot of steps in the book that can be done left-handed. You just have to change the orientation of the kilt from how it is in the book (e.g. top to the right instead of the left).
• Make the kilt completely left-handed. A few of us have already done this. Other that the pleats facing opposite the normal direction, it will be the same as a normal kilt. Plus, this pleating direction works better when sitting in American cars.

Does that make it an "abby normal" kilt?


Seriously, some of the steps in making a kilt are actually improved by doing them left handed, so don't get discouraged with the pleats. They are actually a lot less of the kilt than you might think!

Be well,

Star

[blackbeard]

Oh My Gosh! Pins!
I just stitched my first pleat with a bunch of pins and it is perfection. It's not a 1/32 off and the stripe runs exactly down the center.
Thanks everybody for your help.Of course I'll post photos when I'm finished. I hope to be done in time for the Pleasanton Games.

[Kiltman]

Oh - and one other thing. I do pin a pleat before stitching it, and, when I do Kilt Kamp, I teach people to use plenty of pins in a pleat to hold it while they stitch. I find I take out a lot fewer pleats if I pin first. My book doesn't say to do that because my co-author is absolutely rabid about stitching without pins. But, I've found that I can't do what I consider acceptable work if I don't pin.

Oh, the joys of co-authorship.

Once again, thank's for the addition to the book.

[Pleater]

Now the last kilts I made I sewed for relaxation.

Really.

It was in the runup to my week away at the folk festival and I wanted to let my nails grow, for the guitar playing.

I use the same method as the Wizard, safety pins for the folds which are measured and should be kept, then straight pins for the bits that need to be held and smoothed and rejigged and tweeked and then sewn.

They are each 7 yards and required hemming - they have stripes so the fabric had to be cut selvage to selvage.

I sewed the strips together using the sewing machine - as I was sitting next to it it seemed silly not to, but all the rest was hand sewn
when watching TV.

I was glad of the yardage, as I was talked into taking a small van and found that I had to climb over the back of a seat to get into the back in order to sleep in the dry - the rain was dreadful and the mud was worse. I found I could sit up in the back, fasten a kilt around me then climb over into the front and maintain modesty. It was no matter on the nights when I drove out of town, but there were two mornings when there were people about, so a cascade of ample pleats really made a difference to how I started my day.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Robert Lamb]

I also am a lefty and after the 3rd or 4th kilt, I started pleating left handed pleats, they just seemed natural to me and the dozen kilts I have pleated this way no one has ever told me the "pleats are wrong" so I guess I shall continue to pleat backwards.

[blackbeard]

I also am a lefty and after the 3rd or 4th kilt, I started pleating left handed pleats

But what about the kilt police?