Making a 4-yard, Box Pleat in the California Tartan:an ongoing thread

[Alan H]

I gotta say.... so what if you get a truly perfectly straight line?

I mean, tartan has tons of little lines woven into it, all parallel. It's not like it's hard to get out a good pair of scizzors and cut right along a line, ormidway between two close lines. When I cut it I only vary from dead straight by 2-3 threads, which is totally irrelevant, and there's zero risk of disaster.

Sure it'd be nice to have an absolutely straight cut/tear, but does the 1/16th of an inch variance really matter? No. Every raw edge in a kilt except the end-to-end join is buried anyway, so ravelling is not an issue. No raw edge is seen, because it's buried in the waistband,and I cut a lot more accurately than I sew.. Those end-to-end joins in the back of the pleats are raw edges, too and you know....the folks at the shop that cut your tartan out of the bolt use scizzors. You have to finish off that join by either overlocking the raw edge or folding it under anyway, so once again....no raw edge is really seen.

My In-laws dropped $150 on tartan for this kilt. If there is the *slightest* risk of a tear going awry, there's no way I'm going to take that chance, for no real benefit, when I can cut it out and take NO risk.

Just my opinion. If someone can tell me why tearing and getting a perfectly straight line is much superior to cutting and getting an almost perfectly straight line, I'm willing to listen.

[Barb T]

I commonly cut 16 oz tartan, because I find that the threads are so strong that many of them "pull" before they tear, leaving little tracks in the fabric next to the rip. I've experimented with pulling harder and faster, but I still have the problem. Maybe if I had bulging biceps I could avoid this.

Has anyone else seen this when they rip tartan??

B

[ccga3359]

If someone can tell me why tearing and getting a perfectly straight line is much superior to cutting and getting an almost perfectly straight line, I'm willing to listen.

It make it look like you know what you're doing! I'm with you though it would just make me cringe to do that. I remember installing a roof rack on my car. Drilling the first hole took me an hour an a heck of a lot of sweating bullets.

[Kilted Taper]

...when I can cut it out and take NO risk.

When scissors are involved, there is ALWAYS a risk!

[ccga3359]

When scissors are involved, there is ALWAYS a risk!

As in "I cut it twice, and it's still too short!"

BTW you didn't get your screen name from a tartan ripping incident did you?

[MacWage]

I seem to have no problem ripping 16 oz. What gets me is the "burnt" smell afterwards as the cross threads are shorn in twain.
Somehow, I LOVE IT (one reason I have 3 KILTS kilts in process (for me) and seem to be getting nowhere on any 1 of them).

[Alan H]

OK four more hours today and a LOT of experimentation. This is by no means "production speed". I put in, then ripped out and sewed in again, several of the box pleats.

OK, I started with the pleats pinned in and the over-apron pinned in and chalked. I had one HECK of a deep pleat under the over-apron.

Anyway, I un-pinned and tapered and re-pinned in two of the pleats, then hand sewed the edges together. They didn't look very good so I ripped 'em out, and pinned them again. Then I got an idea and tried basting the edges together with white thread. That looked good so I dug out the sewing machine and sewed the edges together from the inside. The result... a PERFECT taper and totally invisible stitching . YES! so I did the rest of them this way. I also did the reverse pleat, and pulled out the basting thread.

Then I used the machine to finish the raw edge of the under-apron and turn up the selvedged edge of the under-apron. The dark blue thread I'm using is nearly invisible in this tartan.. I got lucky, there's a dark blue stripe at the selvedge and the thread just disappears. This kilt will be 3/4 sewn by machine and not a stitch is going to show.

Anyway, I went and stood in front of the mirror with the thing on (no waistband, yet) and realized that I was a full inch and a half off somewhere. That's a lot! I think it's because figuring things out for a box pleat is a bit different than figuring them for a knife pleat kilt. Anyway, I didn't want to open up the box pleats and make them wider, they're plenty wide enough already so I just made the over-apron 3/4 of an inch wider at each side (ripped out the joint between the left edge of the over-apron and right hand edge of box pleat #1, and then sewed it again. The right hand edge...the flap where the fringe is will be a little bit skimpy, but I have ideas on how to work around that and still have a nice double-fringe.

total time for all of the above...4 hours, so I'm up to 7 now.

I'm gonna only put two straps/buckles on this one. I do all my underapron buckles/strap the way that Matt Newsome does. I figure this kilt will be a bit of a homage to Matt. Box pleat...his buckle method, two buckles in stead of three...basically what he does except that a lot of it will be machine-sewn.

[Angus]

I commonly cut 16 oz tartan, because I find that the threads are so strong that many of them "pull" before they tear, leaving little tracks in the fabric next to the rip. I've experimented with pulling harder and faster, but I still have the problem. Maybe if I had bulging biceps I could avoid this.

Has anyone else seen this when they rip tartan??

B

13oz rips clean for me, was allot easier than cutting. Have you noticed that it makes a little edge that is impervious to unraveling? I haven't ripped 16oz yet. Kinda shy of ripping $80 Scottish wool, its stupid I know, but I just see that tear going off sideways and ruining the cloth.....When I get the nerve Ill let you know how it went.

I think that you cant be gentle, you gotta put some muscle into it. YMMV...

Alan H.
I know I am the wrong person to be saying this, but I would really like to see some pics of you putting it together.

[chasem]

I had some issues with the threads pulling at first, but I started pulling quicker, and in shorter bursts. I'd only do 2 inches or so at a time, and that alleviated the pulling somewhat.

[Barb T]

I agree that 13 oz rips fine. It's just the 16 oz that I have trouble with. Even when I pull hard and fast, I have trouble with the little tracks. Maybe it's because I'm little and don't have much leverage.

B