Novice tailor tackles X-kilt

[Pleater]

Well I wouldn't mind walking along behind that - admiring the swing, of course, and the sewing, naturally.

Mind you, I might also be thinking 'sheesh thats the first one? What's the fifth one going to be like?'

I have given up sewing the edges of aprons.

I make a small fold, usually 2 inches deep,on the edges of the aprons and then press it so it narrows to nothing at the lower edge or top of the hem, but sewing it just meant that every edge of every apron was not quite right. I blame the flare of female hip bones for throwing the line completly off, so you'll have to think of some other excuse for it happening on your kilt.

I let the inner edge of the fold dip at the waist, just slightly, so it does not pull the fold under the apron, and the apron lies flat when the fold is pressed in. (Actually that could be what is pulling the left hand of your apron, the top edge of the fabric underneath is pulled too high for it to hang straight).

After most of the construction is sewn though, I usually let it sort itself out.

Sometimes I wear the kilt for a while around the house, then put a pin where the aprons are folding and press in a line up from that. I do sometimes have to unpress the carefully made straight fold because it is just not wanting to fold there in wear. As long as it looks OK, why fight it?

[Moosedog]

Fluter,

It looks great! You have made the perfect first X-kilt: good enough to wear with pride but with enough little "imperfections" to learn from and to make you restless to make the next X-kilt. Bravo!

Moosedog

On edit: ditto what tartan Hiker said. Also I often find that when playing with the width of the overapron I end up needing to secure it not only at the waist per Alan's manual but again 4-5 inches further down. I know, it's like the dreaded "unnecessary second hip buckle" on a traditional kilt. But whereas with a wide apron (approaching 1/2-way around you) the second buckle is superfluous, on narrower-aproned kilts I find they often don't hang and move right unless I secure it, either with a second bit of velcro (practical) or a strap and buckle (looks sharp.) This is aggravated is someone with muscular thighs. That's why kilts with really narrow aprons (UK or AK) have additional securing points via snaps.

It looks as if you built enough taper in to minimize this on your first one, just a heads up for the next.

[Alan H]

Fluter,

It looks great! You have made the perfect first X-kilt: good enough to wear with pride but with enough little "imperfections" to learn from and to make you restless to make the next X-kilt. Bravo!

Moosedog

On edit: ditto what tartan Hiker said. Also I often find that when playing with the width of the overapron I end up needing to secure it not only at the waist per Alan's manual but again 4-5 inches further down. I know, it's like the dreaded "unnecessary second hip buckle" on a traditional kilt. But whereas with a wide apron (approaching 1/2-way around you) the second buckle is superfluous, on narrower-aproned kilts I find they often don't hang and move right unless I secure it, either with a second bit of velcro (practical) or a strap and buckle (looks sharp.) This is aggravated is someone with muscular thighs. That's why kilts with really narrow aprons (UK or AK) have additional securing points via snaps.

It looks as if you built enough taper in to minimize this on your first one, just a heads up for the next.

I've taken to stitching down the left hand edge of my over-aprons on my X-Kilts to the fell line, for exactly these reasons.

[fluter]

I've taken to stitching down the left hand edge of my over-aprons on my X-Kilts to the fell line, for exactly these reasons.

Yup, I did that, too. I was considering adding a velcro patch at the right, as Moosedog suggests.


Thanks to all for the ideas and encouragement!

[The F-H.C.A.G.]

There are some faults, but this is why we learn with inexpensive cotton! I understand my brethren's references to kilts for yard work! but as a first project, I feel good about it.

As you should-this looks great!

...

I have pretty good sized under-apron pleats on both sides (5 and 6 inches). Perhaps a bit more would be better.

About half the size of the over apron on the left seems to be good, but deeper is fine-never hurts to have more coverage!

Almost forgot my most pressing question: with a 9-10 inch over apron, what is optimum size of the under-apron??? I'm about the size of the hypothetical guy in Appendix 1 diagram, but was not very sure what was included in the 16 inch allocation for the under apron. I extended a bit with a deep (6") apron pleat, then made the apron 10 inches wide. I'll wear it a while and see what happens.

I find that the underapron should be about half again as wide as the overapron if you want to avoid embarrassment!

I've taken to stitching down the left hand edge of my over-aprons on my X-Kilts to the fell line, for exactly these reasons.

As a woman, I find that if one sews down the entire fell line it is too tight at the hip, but for a man, I imagine this works out fine.

Be well,

[Eric Peterson]

Nice kilt!

[george7]

That looks good