Corduroy X-Kilt

[Arlen]

Just two things to say:
1: I have wanted a cord kilt for years now. If this works out then I would likely be willing to pay you to make one after my wedding when I can afford such things. Seriously.
2: I'm glad my fiance and I aren't the only couple who watch Shogun together.

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

Question; If you are using a piece of solid color cloth couldn't you do some reverse engineering?...

...Did I just make this very confusing....

Exactly as Alan H said..."Because it's complicated". Turns out, at least in this particular corduroy, it is almost impossible to see the seams anyway, as you will see shortly (once my pictures finish uploading).

Just two things to say:
1: I have wanted a cord kilt for years now. If this works out then I would likely be willing to pay you to make one after my wedding when I can afford such things. Seriously.
...

Seriously, if you want an affordable corduroy kilt, I would recommend checking with Utilikilt or Amerikilt. This is just a part time hobby for me, and I suspect you would get a more affordable and consistently made kilt from one of those two.

I will be posting further progress shortly...

Be well,

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

Today, it was 80 degrees out and a beautiful sunny day with a light wind, perfect for kite flying. So we took the convertible to the beach and played in the sand and the surf, flew some kites, etc. I spent the whole time thinking about the next step of this kilt. Last night, I ripped out a small portion of the hem, added another panel and blind stitched that portion of hem.

This afternoon, I laid it out again, brushed off the old chalk marks as best I could and marked it out again-this time with a 9" apron and 13 3" pleats.



I A-shaped the front apron again-much harder to get a straight line when going diagonally on corduroy, but the general idea is chalked in.



Here I am sewing the outer portions of the pleats. Again, note how corduroy has its own guide lines so it is very easy to stay consistently close to the edge.



This picture is to show just how close to invisible the joins are between the panels of fabric. The seam is just to the left of the sewing machine foot. Really, I swear.



Here it is with all the "ridges" sewn in-it took about 1 hour, 15 minutes to do 13 pleats. The hem is to the left and the waist band will be to the right.



Tomorrow, the next day and the day after that, I will be working my real job. The following day (Thursday), I will iron in the pleats, bar tack 'em, and taper the fell. Maybe I'll even get the waistband on then-we'll see.

Until then...

Be well,

[Arlen]

Seriously, if you want an affordable corduroy kilt, I would recommend checking with Utilikilt or Amerikilt. This is just a part time hobby for me, and I suspect you would get a more affordable and consistently made kilt from one of those two.

I will be posting further progress shortly...

Be well,

Honestly, I never really thought I'd be able to find an affordable one to fit online because I'm quite short, but I just found one on Union Kilts!
Oh the luck.

[Alan H]

I'm smiling, reading this thread...

[Kiltman]

I'm smiling, reading this thread...

Me too. I'm waiting to see the finished kilt. Thanks for sharing the adventure.

[Dreadbelly]

X-Kilt in Nagahide!

Made from real imported Nagas!

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

Ok, here we go again. Another beautiful day with temperatures in the 80s and I spent a large portion of it sitting in front of my sewing machine (I also walked the dog twice, had parent teacher conferencing, etc).

Today, I started by sewing the fabric with the velcro onto the over apron. Seeing as how this was about 10:00 am, I had not yet been drinking and now understand the concept

Here, pinning it into place, matching the A shaping



Sewn along the top (raw) edge



Trimming the edge to match the left hand edge of the apron



Here, I've pinned down the edges of the apron-this was a challenge, since corduroy wants to be STRAIGHT, not diagonal, but I managed to tweek it



Here it is sewn down-with measuring tape to prove it is indeed 9"



More...

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

As Alan says

...y'all gotta think of this X-Kilt how Tartan Hiker thought of it...as a guideline, and from there, do what you want. ...ONe thing you can do is more-or-less follow my instructions to the letter (there are a few goofs) the first time, and then go hog-wild on whatever you want the second and thrid times when You're comfortable with it.

Obviously, I've needed to make some minor adjustments for the corduroy, but I'm otherwise trying to follow the directions to the letter. Soooo, let's see, what next?

Marking the centers of the 5.25" underpleats




Here it is with some pleats ironed in. The corduroy is so regular, you can hardly tell there are pleats! It just looks like a flat piece of material. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but it does look pretty good (who can find the pleat with the seam running down the middle of it?)



I went ahead and pinned in the pleats, because this corduroy does not hold them well. Also, I wanted to measure and be sure it was right BEFORE sewing them in-I hate seam ripping! Yep, a nice even 48"



Bar tacking them down. I was able to easily fit all the material underneath the arm of the machine-it's very flexible.



Here, I've ironed the underside in preparation for sewing the inner pleats (this is a must with the corduroy-it does not like to hold a sharp pleat edge)



More coming...

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

If I thought that hand sewing the hem of 6-7 yards of a Stillwater kilt was tedious, I stand corrected. Sewing up the inner pleats edges was more tedious. But I must admit-necessary. Otherwise the recipient would have a helluva time getting the pleats to stay ironed in. Corduroy barely wrinkles, but this also means it does not like to hold a crease.



Here, I've pinned in the taper. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the process, but Panache was writing more of his story and was not available to hold the camera. Given that my victim has a 44" waist and a 48" rump, there are only 4" of taper needed. This means that I was able to taper without any overlap of the inner pleats. But, I chose to overlap two pleats (at each hip) and have no taper for the back 2 pleats (actually, no taper for the back pleat and half of each one to each side of the back pleat). Then ~1/2" taper for the rest of the pleats. Once this was done, I measured to be sure I had a 44" waist. Yes indeed! To be absolutely honest, I had to play a bit before I reached this perfection



Then, I sewed them down



My mother-in-law was over and her measurements are almost identical to my subject's, so I wrapped the kilt around her at this point. I'm sorry, there are no pictures-she forbade it

That's all for today. Tomorrow I work, and we have guests over the weekend, so there is not likely to be another installment until next week. We'll see. I have decided on my next project-I'm going to make a box pleated kilt (or more likely a kilted mini-skirt) with one color or pattern on the outer pleats and another on the inner. Since I'm allergic to wool, I was thinking of doing an inner cotton cloth in black and an outer pleat of X-Marks tartan. Then I'll look like an X-Marks cheerleader!

"There's only one site
With the best sight
And it feels right
And we love it a lot
X..X..X
Marks the Scot!"

Be well,