SHhhhh! It's a Surprise...

[auld argonian]

...and if you can let me know how you went about hemming it, I'd be grateful...seems like I've got the bloody thing up at the base of my ribcage to get the hem just to the top of my knee-cap...I know that this style should be worn rather high but this might be a wee bit too high. Any special tricks that you could pass along about how to do a neat job would be appreciated.

Also...when you sew the fell, do you sew through all of the layers of fabric or just the two bottom layers (from inside the fold of the pleat)?

best

AA

[tomcherv]

According to my book, the pleats are not sewn from inside, but from the outside.

Start at the bottom and work toward the waist.

I'll see if I can explain the stitch. Since I've learned it, I use it on a lot of things where I want a nice, tight seam.

Start with the fabric on the bottom layer of fabric. Catch a few threads, bring the needle straight up and catch a few threads on the edge of the fold. When you pull tight, the two layers of fabric should snug up together. Catch a few threads from the bottom layer, bring the needle up and catch a few threads on the edge of the fold, and pull snug once again. Since you're pulling the two layers of fabric together, you can use the stripes on the tartan to keep things straight. Hope this helps. I also tried to draw a diagram.

<waist --- bottom>
x x x x x x x x x x x (folded edge on top layer of fabric)
|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/| (Thread direction)
x x x x x x x x x x x (bottom layer of fabric)

[Southern Breeze]

Heres a link for altering the length.
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=13451

[Sherry]

AA, it looks like Tom did a good job of describing how to sew down the pleats--yep, it's handwork. Just sit down with a cuppa & put on a music cd or the boob tube & get to work.

As far as the hem goes, I personally wouldn't want the kilt hem deeper than about 2". I'd serge off the extra before turning up the hem. You can either use a machine blind hem or hand hem it.

I will look for some instructional pics on the web in case you don't understand Tom's explanation.

Sherry

[Alan H]

Thanks for keeping quiet about this, guys. ;-)

Sherry

Oh, I laughed, I did, until the guy in the next cubicle wondered what was going on...

[GMan]

I'm just wondering Sherry, does your son read this forum? Even lurk at all? I certainly hope that it is a surprise!

[Sherry]

Glen, no he doesn't lurk here, so that's no problem. My 9yo did blurt something out about it, but Benj was talking to his sister at the time, so he didn't hear it. Whew!

Alan, I'm glad I made you laugh. But, of course, your coworkers had to know you weren't working at that moment. :smile:

AA, the stitch for sewing down the pleats is called fell stitch. It is pictured here:




The fell stitch is useful for joining two layers of fabric from the right side. Insert the needle directly below where it came out of the fabric, and bring it out 1/8" ahead and opposite where it first came out of the fabric. There will be diagonal stitches on the wrong side.


There is a video of the stitch at HGTV:
http://www.homeandgardentv.com/hgtv/...-PRINT,00.html

Scroll down until you see the pic of the two gloves, & you will see a vid link just about it.

The idea is that the stitches don't show unless you are viewing the seam closely.

Hope this helps.

Sherry

[whiteravenJr.]

Hey Sherry WR was right i was a little bit tentative at first but as sson as i wore it to school once i was hooked for good now i can't wait to get a 9 yard thats what i want to get next i think or maybe a new sporran or maybe a skeendo or a durk i don't know but something. im sure your son will love the kilt 8)

[Sherry]

Hi WRJR,

My oldest son has a traditional kilt in Gunn Ancient that he enjoys wearing to his college classes & to church periodically. He never was shy about it.

I think this kilt will be a big surprise to him, assuming his 9 yo brother doesn't spill the beans!

Sherry

[auld argonian]

Thanks to all for the information. When i have a few spare moments (!) I'll try to start modifying the SWK.

Hemming anything reminds me of when my mom went on an "I'm going to get serious about sewing" binge back when I was a kid. Besides the SERIOUS SINGER SEWING MACHINE she got some bizarre contraption that had a standing ruler and a hose with a bulb on the end...you set a little thingy at the height of the hem that you wanted and turned around while squeezing the bulb...this pufffed little horizontal lines of chalk dust around the skirt at exactly the correct level...take off the skirt and proceed to connect the dots to hem it. Sound like a gizmo? Fortunately tartan seems to have the lines in it already so we can dispense with the little gizmo.

Let's hope the suprise continues to be a suprise.

best

AA