Kilt Hem Project Great Results

[CMcG]

The stitch is a herringbone stitch that catches the back of one single yarn on the back side of the kilt, then crosses over the hem turn up edge, like a zig zag, attaching there, then repeats ten million times along the length of the hem. This allows the hem to move just a little in relation to the kilt, and it is not a regular blind hem stitch. Barb T. explained it once.

It's also important to NOT press right along the turned-up edge (the selvedge, in most cases) where it hits the inside of the kilt. That pressing is what creates the relief line on the outside, making the hem most noticeable. You can press along the fold itself and right up to the edge, just don't apply the iron across that "difference in thickness" area.

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Ted Crocker, while I'm sure Barb T. knows what she is talking about, a blind hem stitch works just fine. Perhaps a herringbone stitch is superior? I'm not sure why one would want "the hem to move just a little in relation to the kilt" but I'll mention it to my lass because she is soon planning to hem one of her kilted skirts...

And syndie7 is quite right about pressing around the "difference in thickness" area. It works great

[Scotcop]

Very nice!

[Bugbear]

Ted Crocker, while I'm sure Barb T. knows what she is talking about, a blind hem stitch works just fine. Perhaps a herringbone stitch is superior? I'm not sure why one would want "the hem to move just a little in relation to the kilt" but I'll mention it to my lass because she is soon planning to hem one of her kilted skirts...

And syndie7 is quite right about pressing around the "difference in thickness" area. It works great

Ok, sorry.

[Dixiecat]

When dealing with heavy weight fabrics, it's best to use the herringbone or as I call it the catch-stitch when hemming. Blind-hemming just does not carry the weight of the hem as well as the catch-stitching and it allows for the natural 'springiness' of the thick fabric much better than blind-hemming. Also, one of the benefits of the catch-stitch is that you work the stitch opposite to the direction that you are stitching in, which acts like a 'stop' if the hem thread ever breaks. If your blind-hem thread ever broke, it would not only unravel quite a ways, but if you caught the hem on something, you could damage a section of hem by the thread pulling instead of one spot when using the catch-stitch.

[Pleater]

Ted Crocker, while I'm sure Barb T. knows what she is talking about, a blind hem stitch works just fine. Perhaps a herringbone stitch is superior? I'm not sure why one would want "the hem to move just a little in relation to the kilt" but I'll mention it to my lass because she is soon planning to hem one of her kilted skirts...

When the layers are folded over eachother to form the hem, when they are laid flat, they can be placed so the threads are aligned, but when pleated the three dimensional shape of the different layers makes a small but noticable difference - the one layer has to go around the other - over the whole kilt the differences even out, because some folds are internal and others external, but trying to match up the threads exactly would result in small puckers along the sewing line.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Barb T]

I was wondering if it was frowned upon to change the portion of the sett the kilt ends with by hemming. That was my biggest concern when I decided to have a kilt altered.

Where the sett ends is truly decided by the weaver. There isn't any "traditional" way of breaking a tartan at the edge of a piece of fabric. This is so dependent on ppi (picks per inch) of the weave, how wide a piece is being woven, and whether the fabric is single or double width that I can't imagine a "rule of thumb".

And, even in band kilts, which ought to be exactly the same, differences in what's at the bottom of a kilt and even what center is chosen for the apron isn't immediately noticeable in a lot of tartans. Our band wears the Modern MacGillivray, and I've hemmed several of the kilts. Our dress and deportment officer couldn't spot which ones were hemmed until I point out that the bottom of the hemmed kilts weren't at the same place in the tartan as the others. Not only hadn't he noticed, I had to point it out twice before he got what I meant. And he also hadn't noticed that some of the band kilts had different pivots for the apron centers.

Having said all this, there are certainly some tartans where two kilts would look very different if one was hemmed and one wasn't and two people were standing together. But, on the whole, it's a minor point compared to someone wearing a kilt that is too long.

[Eleazar]

Barb,

I really enjoyed your book and always learn from your informative posts.... even the ones about cats.