How long does it take to make a kilt?

[Hothir Ethelnor]

Methods may vary among makers and from garment type to type -- but isn't the end result the thing? I'd rather see/purchase a beautifully made garment than a poorly finished garment no matter the process involved. I can't imagine the use or non-use of pins during construction has any long-term effect on durability or other purchase considerations.

Very true, I was speaking tongue in cheek...

It's the finished product, not how you get there that matters. Now there are "better" ways and we could argue about those 'til kingdom come...

[xman]

It's the finished product, not how you get there that matters.

I thought it was the journey that mattered, not the destination.

[bricelythgoe]

For me, it is the destination i.e. product. As long as it looks good and is well made, not too worried about the details.

[Paul Henry]

Very interesting chat on time taking, altough the pin thing has got me bugged, tailors do not use pins, they tack and baste, dressmakers use pins. Thanks had to get that off my chest.

Every dressmaker/tailor/kiltmaker/costumier works slightly differently I don't think you can say that "tailors do not use pins" some might some might not.
I admit when I was learning to sew clothes I did use a lot of pins, but as I got more experienced I found I was using fewer and fewer , but more stragedically placed!
Certainly tailor tacking is worth the effort in garment making, certainly with jackets and collars.
With kilt making I usually only pin the pleat I am sewing just to position it correctly, I don't like to have a lap full of pins all over the fabric which might be dangerous!
But when I am working out the pleat arrangements I often use pins as a temporary guide.

[Hothir Ethelnor]

I have found that I pretty much only use pins while basting the pleats. I find it faster and easier to measure and pin each pleat then run through with my needle and thread and get the final basting done.

[Dixiecat]

A pin in the pleat can be very useful, but I don't actually use it to pin it in place, but as a guide to aligning the sett when sewing the pleat.

Here's what I do:
Pleat must already be folded ready to sew. Find a point on the top of the pleat, for me it's usually the boundary line between two colours, push the pin through the next layers keeping the pin as vertical as possible. When it reaches the bottom layer, the pin should hit the same boundary point (but not the same spot of the sett) as the top. As I sew the pleat, I try to keep that pin as vertical as possible, it it starts to lean in any direction then my pleat has skewed a bit.

I developed my little guide pin method from sewing darts.

[fluter]

Very interesting chat on time taking, altough the pin thing has got me bugged, tailors do not use pins, they tack and baste, dressmakers use pins. Thanks had to get that off my chest.

Thanks for sharing that. You may lighten up, now. :ootd: We were, in fact, not discussing tailors, nor dressmakers---though we have both in residence---but kiltmakers, a separate category.

As to broad, categorical, and useless generalizations----no, I shan't make one after all. :ootd: Nor am I sayin' how many pins I use, primarily because I can't remember what I did on the last pleat.

but isn't the end result the thing?

It's the finished product, not how you get there that matters.

For me, it is the destination i.e. product..

I thought it was the journey that mattered, not the destination.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;

I developed my little guide pin method from sewing darts.

Very slick! thanks for another fun and useful nugget.

[Barb T]

Hi all,

Personally, I think this business of whether someone pins pleats or not is a complete red herring. The one-pin method uses one pin at the waist and the first stitch at the hip and the needle as a "pin at the hip". So, someone who pins the rest of the pleats is adding maybe 3 or 4 extra pins in between those two points. Remember that the finicky part is getting the waist and hip right to begin with, so adding 3-4 pins takes only an additional minute at best. If your kilt has 30 pleats, that adds only 30 minutes to your kiltmaking.

So, pinning pleats can't possibly be the explanation for the difference between a professional who makes a kilt in 20 hours and a professional who makes a kilt in 10 hours - there must be genuine differences in construction to speed the process up by 100%.

And I understand the argument that, for someone who does nothing but kiltmaking and for whom a half hour is really critical, not adding extra pins makes sense - you could make 41 kilts in the time that it took the "pinner" to make 40 kilts.

But that's definitely not most of the people on this forum. What's really important is the quality of the work. If someone can better meet high standards and is willing to spend the extra half hour (out of a total of 20-30 hours) to add a few pins, what is the big deal?? I hope we stop all this chest-pounding about "the one right way".

[Ancienne Alliance]

Thank you, Barbara.

Best,

Robert

[James C]

I hear that some people can make a hand stitched kilt in only ten hours, but I don't know how that's humanly possible.

We here at Burnett's & Struth can make a kilt all handsewn (bespoke) in 10 hours. We have been doing it for over 40 years and quality is the highest. Our Master Kilt maker is Margaret Struth-Gaff and she was trained by Kinloch Anderson of Edinburgh the offical Kiltmakers of the Royal Family. Our experience allows us to make kilts in a timely fashion without sacrificing quality.

Just ask any of our customers. They include Pipe Bands, Regiments, Celebrities, everyday people and of course X Mark the Scot members.

We are professionals at our trade and quality is never sacrificed.