I finished my first kilt! And it's ruined! (Kinda)

[LordDamax]

Well I finished my first kilt. Looked good. Attached the snaps, threw it in the wash to shrink it... and the edges where it was hemmed frayed like the dickens! The hemmed edges of the apron frayed apart (but are still hemmed down, it's fixable), one side pocket (UK-style) is totally destroyed, the seams totally ripped out (I need to replace it), and some areas where my seams did not have a lot of an overlap pulled apart a little.

So, it's not ruined... but requires some more work to be wearable, and it was designed to be a work kilt (I made it from a lightweight canvas/duck cloth, it's a lot lighter than my UK workmans) so some frayed seams arent a big deal, I'm sure I'd do worse to it in short time just by wearing it on a jobsite.

Once I get someone to snap some pics I'll post em.

And Im getting a serger to better do the seams/hem on the next one (UPS says it'll be here monday!), and shopping for some cammo fabric monday night to start kilt #2... this time with many lessons learned... not the least of which is the pleats aim the other direction! Oops!

[Archangel]

FWIW, my wife got some advice on washing wools and stuff like that, I note that you're not talking about wool. It was to use the washer this way: use machine to fill with soap; turn off machine; wash by hand in the washer; use the spin part of the cycle only; fill to rinse; turn off machine and rinse by hand; not clear on last stage if it is spin or not. The point here is to avoid the agitator cycle, that is what wrecks your stuff.

[Blu (Ontario)]

... threw it in the wash to shrink it...

Silly question here...

Would it not make more sense to pre-wash, pre-shrink, pre-condition the fabric before you start the build!??


:-?

[Barb T]

Ditto the comment about pre-washing. A pre-wash and dry can help you avoid any problems with shrinkage.

I don't make contemporary kilts, so it's not clear to me what caused the fraying. But, if it is a function of the way the kilt is designed (i.e., not a question of workmanship), you can buy something call "Fray-check" that kind of glues the fibers together invisibly.

Barb

[LordDamax]

Hey, imagine that, PRE SHRINK the fabric. Whoah. You'd have thought that I'd have thought of that. Especially considering I MADE the kilt slightly larger than necessary to account for shrinkage. Sometimes my foresight astounds me. ;)

But given how badly the edges frayed, pre-washing the fabric likely would have totally destroyed it. I guess a gentle cycle or maybe just a soak and a dry woulda done it.

Either way, live and learn. Like I said I have a serger on the way which will take care of any future fraying issues.

As for the next one, yeah I may try pre-shrinking the fabric, thanks

[RockyR]

Making a nice looking kilt isn't quite as easy as it seams (pun intended), is it?

To address the point Barb brought up... I've made both (casual and wool) and the fraying is just the unhemmed/unserged edges of the fabric in the wash.

My suggestion (same as Blu's)... Wash the material FIRST and THEN make the kilt. Our carhardt material that we used for our victory kilt shrank something FIERCE. If we cut a 6 yard section and washed it (in hot and dryed in a dryer on high to preshrink it as MUCH as possible), we'd end up with a 5 to 5.25 yard piece (no exaggeration).

To stop the fraying that will occur AFTER you wash it the first time... BEFORE you make the kilt... Use a serger for the exposed edges or hem them. If you don't have a serger and don't want the bulk of double hemmed edges, use the zig zag setting on your machine and CAREFULLY run a WIDE zig zag stitch close to the edge of the fabric (actually sewing THROUGH the fabric on the zig and sewing JUST OVER the edge of the fabric... missing it... on the Zag)

Good luck!

[bubba]

Fray check does wash out. It isn't permanent. There are fabric adhesives used for hemming that cure clear and flexible that are permanent.