Pressing PV Kilts

[ChattanCat]

This is my first PV kilt. I am making three kilts out of some light weight material that I got on ebay. One for each of my brothers and one for me.

I have been working on a knife pleated traditional kilt with PV (or Polester Rayon for us americans). I found the PV to unravel a lot more while I was doing the sewing. Everything else seemed to be nearly the same as wool.

I am now ready to start the pressing. Do you press a PV the same as wool? Do I turn the temperature to the polyester setting? With or without steam? Do I still use a pressing cloth or go with the iron on the material?

Wallace C.

[emolas]

The only advice I can give (and this is from experience) - Don't put the iron heat up to where it generates it's own steam or you will melt the fabric (not pretty). I believe the polyester/rayon setting is "1" and irons don't create steam until "4". Use a damp pressing cloth.

[Pleater]

Don't put the iron directly onto the right side of the fabric at all, or it will become polished and look really bleah! Particularly at the temperature
required for pressing.

The easiest option is to press in the pleats before you sew the kilt together, so you can fold them one by one and press just the double thickness of fabric under a cloth, first the outer then the inner folds up to the edge of the fell.

If the kilt is alreasy completed then using some strips of thick cardboard or a sleeve board will help to isolate single folds for pressing.

If you have a spare piece of material use it to test just how hot the iron needs to be to make a good crease but not so hot that the fabric is altered. Do be sure to press/lift/press, not moving the iron over the pressing cloth as it will stretch the material underneath and induce waves on the edges of the pleats. Allow the material to cool before handling or lifting it, or you can make permanent finger dents in it. You can also inflict hand prints by 'patting down' obstinate bits of cloth.

Once you have the kilt pressed then don't use an iron set so high again unless you want to remove one of the creases you made.

For ordinary ironing you can smooth out the cloth on the wrong side at the lowest temperature to make a difference, then refold on the pressed folds and use a bit more pressure, so as to neaten the pleats. The inside of the fabric might become polished, but it shouldn't show. It might also improve the swing as fluffy material can cling to itself and behave as though Velcroed.

Different manufacturors use raw materials with different softening/deforming/melting points, and different resistance to heat and pressure, so you need to treat your fabric carefully until you get to know it.

[ChattanCat]

Pleater,
That sounds a lot like making a kilt. There is no pattern...
Thanks for the advice. I guess trial and error is the best method, and not on the kilt.

Wallace C.

[ChattanCat]

Well, I pressed the kilt using a heavy duty ironing board with the iron set to just below the wool setting. I used a pressing cloth and the traditional method of pressing. It worked great.
I posted the results in a new thread:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=31102

[Pleater]

And very well done too.

The iron, and different pressing methods are just as much tools in the construction of a kilt as the needle and thread.

You can make or mar the whole thing by making right or wrong choices.

Several of the lighter kilts I have look like something best used for wiping the floors when not hung up carefully after washing. I get the spray starch and put water into the iron, and before long they are transformed.

[James MacMillan]

I get the spray starch and put water into the iron, and before long they are transformed.

New sign shingle for Pleater's front door.

"Kilts Transformed - Inquire within"

[emolas]

And very well done too.

The iron, and different pressing methods are just as much tools in the construction of a kilt as the needle and thread.

You can make or mar the whole thing by making right or wrong choices.

Several of the lighter kilts I have look like something best used for wiping the floors when not hung up carefully after washing. I get the spray starch and put water into the iron, and before long they are transformed.

I've been thinking about using a little starch to help keep a few of the more obstinate wrinkles from returning but I was afraid to. Doesn't starch affect the swing of the kilt?

[Pleater]

You'd have to use a lot of starch to reduce the swing. A lot.

I think that the swing is actually improved by a light starching. The fabric is made slightly less inclined to stick to itself by the smooth surface so it oscillates more freely than before. I think that there is silicone added to the sray too, and that reduces the friction both for ironing and in wear.

I shall have to get my shingle maker onto the new sign right away.

As soon as I find out what a shingle would be doing by my front door.

Hmm - 'Every tum ti tum ti tum is a shingle or a rafter tum ti tum ti tum ti taa taa, when we build our little home'

Yes - two nations divided by the same language.

It would have fallen off the roof?

[James MacMillan]

I shall have to get my shingle maker onto the new sign right away.

As soon as I find out what a shingle would be doing by my front door.

Sorry, sometimes I forget that we speak the same language, divided.

I think the term shingle, in this context anyway, stems from our westerly expansion, where the towns were springing up very fast. A craftsman, lawyer, doctor, whatever would move into town and to announce his presence, grab an unblemished shingle (small square of thin wood that goes on a roof) write his/her profession on it and post it at the front door. Thereby announcing to the town that he was ready for business.

The phrase stuck over here, and now when someone says that he is "putting out his shingle." he means that they are starting a new business.