Help!! from the locals.

[sanddog28]

After a local pub crawl in Downtown Orlando I was in need of having my SWK Kilt cleaned, now as I take it in to my local cleaner(who by the way has always been great) she immediately asked me if there were any spots or problems with my Kilt... so I figure this is a good start she knows what it is so I am not thinking anything bad about this situation... well I go pick it up a few days later and once I am home and pull the plastic off to put her back on the kilt hanger and as I do I see that the pleats are totally wrecked, my kilt is no longer pleated to the sett, its more pleated to whatever the he|| they felt like... so now I am in need of help.... suggestions on anywhere to take it to get the pleats pressed properly, unfortunately I am not confident in my own abilities to fix the problem ... any help would be greatly appreciated.

[auld argonian]

Well....I always figgered that I'd try to find the cleaners that did all of the pipe bands' kilts and go there...but it sounds like you got a wee bit of a problem there.

May we ask if it's one of the wool or acrylic Stillwaters?

Somewhere here there are threads dealing with cleaning and pressing...sounds like you'll have to at least wash it and iron out their pleats, baste it to the sett and re-press it. Press, not iron...hopefully, one or another of the true kiltmaking masters will offer some detailed instructions. Hope it turns out okay.

Best

AA

[sanddog28]

Its one of the acrylic SWK standards, this is my beater that isnt afraid to be around the drunks and crazies on pub crawls etc, but knowing the way it looks right now i would not stop thinking about it if i wore it out, even if 99% of the people i bumped into wouldnt know there was anything wrong with it.

[McMurdo]

I'd second the advice above, as it acrylic I'm not sure what you should do, I'd almost suggest chucking it. I've never taken my kilts to a cleaner, I hand wash mine, best to baste stitch your pleats before sending it to a cleaner in future.

[Lyle1]

I would take it back to the cleaner that messed it up and explain exactly how it should be done.

For future, basting sounds good!

[MacLowlife]

Touch not the acryl-cat bot a cool iron.


It may be just about ruint. If you can prevail on the cleaners, you might discuss with them what has gone amiss. Chances are, they will give you some tale of depreciation and show you the sign where it says they charge for re-pressing pleats, and you will leave frustrated. If that be the case, why not go home, get it soaking wet in warm water, hang it to dry, and see what you can do to help the pleats. They may have been heat-set when it was made and may revert to their natural state upon being wet. Not that you sound interested, but you may be able to correct the pressing from the inside with a lot of patience. Otherwise, to the costume bin it goes.

[Zardoz]

I don't think I've ever heard a positive "I took my kilt to the cleaners" story here.
I'd never trust one with any of my kilts. My SWKs, I throw in the washing machine for a short warm wash cycle on gentle or handwash, spin dry, and lay out flat on a sheet to finish drying. I bet if you did that and then laid it out while carefully smoothing the pleats, it would come back.

[sanddog28]

I think I am going to try the warm wash and flat dry then go ahead and just move it to costume bin as suggested, I have a few pennies around and have been looking at a Casual Balmoral, moving out of the acrylic land all together. But staying with the 5 yd'er because generally it is just way to hot here 9 months out of the year...

[billmcc]

Yes, a USAK Casual is the way to go during the summer here in Florida.

[xena]

Yeah, I discovered something similar in my time with the Highlanders. In Greater Vancouver Regional District (with a population of approximately 3 million) there was one dry cleaner that knew how to do a kilt right. And I suspect that was because they were the closest to the Armoury.

And if my memory serves, they've gone out of business. Sigh.