At Long, lo-o-o-o-ong, long...did I say "long"..last

[Alan H]

OK, here's how I do it, once the right-hand edge, and fringe of the over-apron is done...and the pleats are all hand-sewn in.

1. cut out the hair canvas such that it fits the top 1/3rd (roughly) of the over apron.
2. finish the edge of the hair canvas by stitching a deep zig-zag around the edges
3. pin the hair canvas into the inside of the over-apron, so that the upper edge of the piece lies directly on the upper, raw cut (or torn) edge of the over-apron.
4. machine-sew the hair canvas to the top of the over apron. The line of stitching is about 3/8ths of an inch from the raw edge, so that it won't show...the tartan waistband will cover it.

5. measure the total length of the waistband of the kilt. Make a cloth strap that's a few inches longer than this. This is the "load bearing strap" that will take the loads put on the kilt by buckling it tight.

6. pin the "load-bearing-strap" to the inside of the kilt such that the edge of the strap is even with the top, raw edge of the over-apron, pleats, and under-apron. The strap tucks underneath the folded-over tartan near the fringed edge of the over-apron, so it's hidden, there.

7. Machine-sew the load-bearing-strap to the kilt. This means sewing it on top of the hair canvas, in the over-apron. The line of machine stitching is about 3/8ths of an inch from the top edge and runs the full length of the kilt. This whole "load bearing strap" is NOT described in the Art of Kiltmaking, it's totally my own invention.

8. Fabricate, fit and sew in, the pleat stabilizing strap, that goes in the area where the pleats are cut-out in the fell. This bit of work is outlines in the Art of Kiltmaking. This is a totally separate piece of cloth from the strap described in steps 5, 6, 7

9. Cut several pieces of tartan cloth, about 2 - 2.5 inches wide, to function as the tartan waistband. Join them end-to end to make one long tartan waistband strap.

10. Being careful to align the tartan stripes on the over-apron with the stripes in the tartan waistband, pin the tartan waistband strip to the outside of the kilt.

11. Machine sew the tartan waistband to the outside of the kilt. The line of stitching is about 1/2 an inch from the raw edge of the over-apron + the strip I put there. IN other words, it's a little bit further away from the edge than the line of stitching that attaches the load-bearing-strap....and for that matter, also a bit farther away from the raw edge than the line of stitching that holds on the hair canvas. This is so that when the waistband is turned over, the earlier lines of stitching are hidden underneath it. This is typical, standard waistband construction, like any skirt y'all have ever made!


12. Turn over the tartan waistband to cover the raw edge of the over-apron, pleats and under-apron. Pin it, and hand-sew it down. (I actually machine sew this down on my athletic kilts, but not on this "traditional" one)

13. Attach straps, buckles etc. THIS IS IMPORTANT. My kilts do NOT have a strap/buckle on the right hip. Most "traditional" kilts have three buckles/straps. Mine have two. I stitch both of them into the load-bearing strap, so the strap takes all the buckling loads, rather than any stitching in the tartan.


If I were to use three buckles/straps then I absolutely would have to extend the pleat-stabilizing-fabric far enough to be able to sew the hip-buckle strap into it. In fact, I've even modified a kilt, once, so that the stitching for the hip-buckle-stap tied into another strap, which went around and tied into the pleat stabilizer. But that's not the case here, as I won't be putting that third buckle on this kilt.

[Alan H]

BTW, why don't I put that third buckle/strap on my kilts?

Well, originally I did it because Matt Newsome does it that way, and Matt is a savvy guy! LOLOL...that's the honest truth. I do my under-apron straps /buckles the same way Matt does, because it works great and it's a ton easier and less risky than cutting a hole in the waistband of a kilt, for the under-apron strap to fit through.

But then I started wearing these kilts and discovered why I think there is no point to the third buckle. I note that other people may not agree with this, eh? Anyway, here goes.

1. You don't need this strap to keep the kilt on you.

You have to be able to attach the under apron edge, somehow. OK, so you need a buckle, or buttons or whatever, over there. Buttons work great, BTW. You also need to be able to attach the over-apron edge, as well. So you need another buckle/strap on the right-hand edge of the over apron. OK...got that.

But with my kilts, which have very little "rise" at all (maybe an inch) that hip buckle doesn't do anything to help hold the kilt on.

Now, it could be said that the hip buckle/strap helps hold down the right hand edge of the over-apron, so that it's less likely to fly in a breeze....that's legit.

2. I wear a traditional sporran strap with my sporrans. The sporran strap is rather lower on my hip than the belt is, and helps hold down the right-hand edge of the over-apron. Also....kilt pins, though I often don't wear a kilt pin.

3. On kilts for Highland Athletes, mobility is everything. We go through some serious contortions to hurl that stuff. I want my kilts to be NON-binding around the hips. Putting that extra buckle there, adds a potential stress point, right at the hip....and believe me, I generate a LOT of power in my hips, when throwing a 28 or 56 pound weight.... plenty enough to rip out a buckle...or worse....to compromise the distance of my throw!!!

In fact, while the average fell is around 8 inches, I sew the last pleat on the right side, and the reverse pleat on the under-apron, and the sew-down of the left side of the over-apron, only down about 5, maybe 6 inches. That slightly compromises the loveliness of the drape of the reverse pleats, but it also means that there's no way that line of stitching will be below the flex-line of an athlete's hip joint. .....Have that line of stitching go below the flex line? It's fine on some Joe that spends his days sipping whisky in the Clan tent. It's NOT fine on some guy doing a double-spin throw with a 56 pound weight in his hand.


And there you go.

[Alan H]

On the one non-tartan (solid black) kilt I made for an athlete, I actually bar-tacked the left hand edge of the over apron, two inches above the fell line..... and the bottom of the last pleat on the right side, and the bottom of the right-side reverse pleat.....again, about 2 inches above the fell line. Why? strength and mobility.

I've seen lots of torn-out reverse pleats on athletes kilts. I've also seen a lot of torn-out hip buckles. But never have I seen a torn-out waistband-buckle.

BTW< I'm NOT sewing the reverse pleat, last pleat and left-hand edge of the over apron up, higher than the fell on this "traditional" kilt, that this thread is mostly about. I'll never throw a hammer in this kilt. I'll walk around in it, sip whisky in the clan tent, address the haggis, and sit down to dinner in this kilt.

[Alan H]

Got some more done.....another row of attaching the pleat stabilizing strip to the cutout sections of the pleats. So now I'm halfway done with this. I also did some various other attaching of bits and pieces to help hold the kilt together, via hand-sewing. I've made the pleat stabilizing strip rather long, so if I DO happen to decide that I just gotta have a hip buckle/strap down the road, I can do it.

[Alan H]

Finished stitching row #2 of the pleat stabilizer. One more to go.

I also repaired some loosened stitching on my Gray Stewart kilt, which is why I didn't get more done on the MacNaughton.

[Alan H]

Finished row #3 of the pleat stabilizer, so that's done. I cut out and pinned in the tartan waistband, didn't quite have time to machine stitch it to the outside of the kilt, tho. However, progress is happening.

[David Thorpe]

...progress is happening.

So is global warming. Sheesh.

[Alan H]

So is global warming. Sheesh.

... yeah, but compared to the previous three years....

[Alan H]

Heartache and confusion.

I sewed the waistband on tonight, everything went great, the kilt is looking fantastic on the table and it is truly BUILT. This is by far and away the best-made kilt I have ever turned out.

Then I dropped the kilt I was wearing and belted it on me. Nightmare...disaster.

It's about 5 inches too small. ...about 3-4 inches too small in the waist and 5-6 in the hips. I have no idea what went terribly wrong. Those numbers will probably shrink by 3/4 of an inch to an inch after I press the fell, that always stretches things out, but this is incredibly disappointing. I have no idea what I did wrong, this has never happened before. Sure I might have not tapered the pleats correctly but FIVE INCHES?

This really bites. Hard. And no, I'm not taking it apart and rebuilding it. That would be a ridiculous amount of work, this thing is seriously stitched up and the pleats are cut out in the fell.

I will finish the kilt. It's almost done anyway, it just needs pressing, some tidying up of the selvedge with an electric razor, liners and buckles. Not a big deal. When it'd done I'll evaluate what to do...sell it, in which case someone is going to get one damn fine kilt, or stash it away for a couple of years. After I stop throwing and hit a serious weight loss program my butt and hips will probably go back to the size they were 5 years ago...which might have this kilt fitting pretty well.

-> Really sucks.

I won't be updating this thread further. Thanks for reading, those who followed along.

[usonian]

Oh, man, I am so sorry to hear it. I've definitely been there with other projects, where something got out of whack early in the process but didn't get noticed until much later. Such a bummer! But, selling the kilt isn't a bad option; you'd still have something to show for it, and it wouldn't be hanging in your closet to irk you every time you notice it.