Canvas Kilt, ACK!!!!

[Canuck]

I have a question for folks out there who have made a mess of kilts. I assume that the more you make the bettter you get at it. I want my X Marks kilt to be a NICE kilt. Would it be wise to go buy 3 yards of PV and stitch up a PV kilt using Barbs instructions before biting off the wool job?

Yes with each one you improve. On a side note that double pleat is there for a reason check Barbs book out for that.
Depending on the length of your kilt, are you planning an 8yd xmarks? (buy 4yds)
I would check out a number of fabric stores and see if you can find a tartan with the same size sett. I would buy wool. There is a fabric store in Toronto where I bought wool tartan for $12 a yd for 13oz. I would think there may be other outlets available to you. By finding a tartan with the same size sett as xmarks it will give you a better idea how to construct the kilt. Likewise working with wool is different from PV. my 2 cents
Cheers
Robert

[The Wizard of BC]

DO NOT start in on the X Marks Tartan as your first try.

Get any plaid fabric you can find cheap and sew pleats, sew pleats, sew pleats.
I would advise you sew at least 50 and perhaps 100 pleats for practice before attacking expensive kilt fabric.

That little reverse pleat you want to leave out on your canvas kilt - Don't. There is a reason it's there. If I have the chance, I add more of them and make them bigger.

[Alan H]

OK gentlemen, advice taken. I have to sew the "extra"....the other half of the double-wide material that I bought, onto my kilt, so I'll make sure to put enough in for a good-sized reverse pleat as well. I've pleated up to the end of the fabric I have right now, so I'm going to trim a couple of inches off so that the seam where I join the two pieces is hidden at the bottom of one of the pleats. That'll be a little bit tricky, but should'nt be too hard.

Robert, I'm sewing this baby up my mothers 1940's vintage Singer straight-stitch! Well, OK. I admit that I finished one raw edge with my wifes Husqevarna, doing three rows of zig-zag. But that edge is hidden inside the kilt. Everything else is courtesy of Mom's machine. I LOVE mom's machine. It's the best non-commercial straight-stitch machine I've ever sewn on. My ONLY reservation is that there's not a whole lot of room under the arm to squeeze fabric through, so I spend time rolling up stuff pretty tightly so that it fits.

OK, I will look around for some budget material to build a practice hand-sewn kilt with before I bite off the X Marks tartan. Hmmm, maybe two. I've had a hankering for a Holyrood tartan kilt, anyway.

Robert, I asked for 3 yards of X Marks tartan, so I'll have a 6 yard kilt.

[LordDamax]

Few things as I read this thread... Barb's book is a moderate help in making a modern kilt. Some pleating techniques, some troubleshooting techniques... but it's more geared on how to hand-sew a traditional.

You're gonna want a large hidden pleat, it helps with a curling apron. I need to fix one of my kilts that curls.

If you intend to sew in the pleats so you dont need to iron it, IRON THE PLEATS FIRST.

I did that with my first kilt, and it worked great. I got lazy and didnt iron it for the second, and my lines were off andhad to rip a bunch of seams and re-sew them.

When you measure your hips, measure them, THEN SIT DOWN. I learned that from Rocky's website I believe. My first kilt is tight and the pleats pull when I sit. The second I made fits perfect when sitting. If your fabric doesnt stretch, as canvas doesnt, you're gonna be in trouble.

Some cotton canvas shrink like hell. 4 yards shrinking and losing 16 inches sounds about right to me.

Um thats all I got. I'll have to post pics of my homemade kilts soon.

[chasem]

This just sparked a question I had, when making a 6 yard kilt from 3 yards of double width (for example), its it possible to keep a selvedged edge, or will it nearly always require a hem?

(Speaking of tartan fabrics, I mean)

[Alan H]

This just sparked a question I had, when making a 6 yard kilt from 3 yards of double width (for example), its it possible to keep a selvedged edge, or will it nearly always require a hem?

(Speaking of tartan fabrics, I mean)

The canvas I bought has a slightly fuzzy-edged, but acceptable selvedge. It wouldn't cut it on a real traditional kilt, but on this canvas one, it's fine, so I'm not hemming it. Besides, I think the extra thickness wouldn't look so great, but I'm just guessing on this. In a lighter twill maaterial I think a hem would work out just fine.

But I'm just mouthing off on that aspect of it, 'cause I've never done it.

Lord Damax, the stretch in the material is a very good question/issue. Well, we shall see, eh?

Looks like I will have made three kilts before I bite off the project with the X Marks tartan.

[chasem]

Well yes, I presumed it would work on solids, as the color would match perfectly at the selvedge. But right now I'm operating on the assumption that the tartan will not always, or more accurately - rarely, match up at the opposite selvedges, therefore they would require a hem if using double width cloth.

Is this accurate?

[Canuck]

This just sparked a question I had, when making a 6 yard kilt from 3 yards of double width (for example), its it possible to keep a selvedged edge, or will it nearly always require a hem?

(Speaking of tartan fabrics, I mean)

You shouldn't have to hem it. A lot of traditional kilts are made out of two pieces. The join is buried in a pleat.

[chasem]

I really appreciate the help, I may not be following right, or may not be explaining clearly, so I did a quick image to help illustrate what I'm confused on.



Here, we have a simple, yet beautiful (humor me) double-width tartan that will be used to make a kilt, it's taken in half, and rotated to be joined. However, the selvedge doesn't contain the same portion of the tartan, which would not look good, if sewn up that way.

Does this happen, requiring a hem with double-width tartan, or is the fabric woven in such a way that both selvedges are the same?

Hopefully that helps explain my confusion a little better.

(Edited for proper image code)

[Alan H]

Ah, now I see.

Answer... Flip the top piece over, reverse side-up, and put the opposite selvedge at the bottom. Then, when you join it, the selvedges will be the same and the pattern will line up..

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OK, OK. Now that it's the next morning, I see what you're getting at. Yeah,that's a problem. Good question.

Me: brain-faded! Oyyyyy....