Congrats on the new acquisition. Once the fell is stitched you pretty much have a Standard model via sweat equity. I've done it myself...bought a used Thrifty for about 15 bucks.
Whether you stitch the fell inside the pleat or on the outside is entirely your call. I did that on my SWK a long time ago. The acrylic material has some give and some "squishiness" to it, which can be used to your advantage.
If you machine stitch it, you will have to do it on the outside unless you want to take it apart, and that's a
LOT of work. If you machine sew it, use a teflon coated foot and just enough presser-foot pressure to make it feed through the machine. Too much pressure and it will skew the pattern where the foot drags. Those nice straight lines will turn into zig-zags. Too much thread tension and it will bunch up, but not much.
If you hand sew it you could put the stitches inside the pleat where they will be hidden, just keep them right on the crease at the edge of the pleat. Use a slight backstitch and it will stay lined up. Don't pull it too tight though. If you stitch it on the outside(
much easier, especially up by the waistband) kepp your stitches even and it will look good.
Either way you go, if the stitches are short they will nearly vanish into the loose weave. I machine stitched the fell on my SWK Wallace with black thread and it's almost invisible, even in the bright red areas. I had to fight to keep the lines straight, which is why I advise a teflon foot(they're cheap too, but the nearest sewing shop is an hour's drive so I just forged ahead) and light pressure. I wasn't too worried about it being perfect since it was a knock-around kilt for hiking, stump-shooting, 3-D shoots, yard work, fishing, etc. I even bought it used!
A few would say to use seam tape, but I wouldn't for several reasons. First, you don't really want that much heat on an acrylic kilt and seam tape has to get pretty darn warm to bond the fabric. Second, that stuff doesn't stick as well to smoother synthetics as natural fibers. Third, seam tape doesn't hold up well to machine washing, so it probably won't last. If you iron this thing, keep the heat really low(try the lowest setting first and increase the heat a bit at a time until it finally works out the wrinkles), press it without moving the iron around, and don't move it until it cools a bit. You'd be amazed how much you can stretch and skew that stuff when it's warmed up.
If you can find low-temp seam tape, it works really well for "anchoring" long stretches of material(especially if it has a lot of give) for machine sewing. It's way easier than pins, and after a washing everything will loosen up and you'll never know it was there. It will all be in hidden areas too, so it won't foul up the look. Just make sure everything is right where you want it, and put it under the pleat and inside the pleat so the stuff doesn't skew on you.
Get one of those $5 "fuzz busters" from Wally World. Acrylic pills and fuzzes up like crazy. I went over mine a while back and had enough to fill two coffee cups...but it had been a long time since I had done it.
Dang...I'm going and getting all long-winded again. Time for Allen to shut up.
However you decide to sew it, take your time and it will come out well.
Have fun BB.
Originally Posted by Whidbey78
Congrats on the new acquisition. Once the fell is stitched you pretty much have a Standard model via sweat equity. I've done it myself...bought a used Thrifty for about 15 bucks.
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