Denim kilt?

[Maksim]

I've been looking for some cloth to make an X-kilt for myself. Unfortunately, this little city's textile shops all seem to have close to nothing at all when it comes to the kind of fabric I'm in need of. On the other hand, denim seems to be really cheap, and the sorts they sell do seem to be quite endurable too. I'm wondering, what would it be like 1) to make and 2) to wear a denim kilt. Any comments or suggestions?

yours
Maksim

[kilted trucker]

I think Meinfs has made a couple of kilts from denim. One thread a couple of pages back(5)( had to check) is about making a rev-k out of denim. Going to try it myself soon. Bottomweight rodeo material is a nice fabric to work with, its usually by the poplin at Joanns anyway. It's what I used when they didn't have enough cot/poly twill in the color I wanted.

[sydnie7]

I have made a couple of denim kilts. Some things to watch for:

Color transfer -- wash the fabric two or three times before you begin work, and you still may have blue or black fingers by the time you're done sewing.

Stretch denim -- harder to work with. Usually has to be cut selvedge-to-selvedge so that the stretch direction is up-and-down on kilt.

Multiple layers -- my previous sewing machine got pretty breathless by the time it came to tacking on belt loops.

But a denim kilt can look great! And it is an economical fabric to work with.

[meinfs]

I think Meinfs has made a couple of kilts from denim. One thread a couple of pages back(5)( had to check) is about making a rev-k out of denim. Going to try it myself soon. Bottomweight rodeo material is a nice fabric to work with, its usually by the poplin at Joanns anyway. It's what I used when they didn't have enough cot/poly twill in the color I wanted.

Thanks kilted trucker. best of luck making it


1. Here's my "traditional" design kilt but in denim!



2.


And the reverse-Kingussie denim kilt thread here with photos.


Yes, I agree, don't use stretch denim. Make sure you machine wash the fabric (once or twice) before cutting.

[Paul Henry]

I've made many denim kilts, they are great to wear, but can be a little on the heavy work to sew them. NEVER use stretch denim, it just will always stretch the wrong way, especially when you least expect it, a stretch of any material needs special attention and for a kilt whihc is comprised of pleats you don't need any extra problems.
Got for a mediium weight rather than the heavy(bull) with all the pleats you will be able to have enough weight.
Iron / press it as often as you can when it is being made, it will help to keep the creases in later on, and I stitch the edges both on the inside and outside.
I haven't relaly found much of a problem with colour marking/offsetting of the denims I've used here (UK) perahps they are just made faster.
I wear my denim kilts casually, and although they do creas a bit, it's not much of an issue to put them right.
it's great to make your kilts, enjoy making and wearing it, and don't forget to let us see all the photos

[Maksim]

Thanks for your advice! I´ve promised to my wife that I won´t start the kilt when she is home (we´ve so different ways of working fabric [she´s really good and I´m just learning by error] that she would get frustrated with me very soon), so when she goes on holiday to France in two weeks, I´ll have the denim ready and leap at it. And add photos, of course

[Maksim]

Today I bought the denim (the price had gone up and was now 8,90 €/meter), and now it is in the washing machine. Saturday morning I will begin - I'm lucky to have an extendable kitchen table onto which I'll transport the sewing machine and associated paraphernalia. I can hardly wait, but promise is promise.

[Aldisimo]

Good luck to you. It's going to be good!

[Maksim]

Having worked the kilt the whole Saturday and a couple of hours today, my first X-kilt is now finished, and I've hung it out to dry. Tomorrow I will iron it once more (did already straight from the washing machine, I guess it'll help with the pleats), and see about taking pictures.

The kilt didn't turn out quite like I'd imagined. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) the denim I used was too light and I couldn't get anything to stay put without a massive lot of pins, which I
2) didn't have enough of. This caused some problems, as you can imagine. I've still got fabric (and time) enough to make a second one, but before that I'm going to buy a whole lot of pins more.
3) I'm by nature quite impatient, so I just kept going at it, thinking, well this will be a practice kilt, it doesn't need to be perfect -> which led to me learning a lot by doing things wrong, which is the best way for me to ever learn anything. Next time I'll take more care.

The next post will contain pictures, I promise.

[Dirk Skene]

I have a denium & love it. I did not make mine, I'm not up to that.. I like the weight & the look. I say give it a try.