This is my second attempt at kilt making. I made my first attempt on cheap fabric with a tartan like pattern that I found at Hancock Fabrics. My first attempt was brutal but I managed to finish with confidence that I could in fact purchase wool tartan and give it another go.
This is the Mississippi tartan. This was even harder than the first with the end result being worse than the first attempt. I must have e-mailed Barb one hundred times and I'm forever grateful for her help. I'd like to get my process dialed in before I mess up my 16 oz. wool X Marks tartan. Any comments or criticism is welcome.
I used the book for both attempts. My measurements are: waist 37, hips 44, length 24. My splits are: waist 19.5 aprons 17.5 pleats, hips 21 aprons 23 pleats. I realized that I overlooked that I should split my hip measurement evenly. I only wish I'd realized this before I began construction. I think I may have put too much flare in the aprons. Here are the pics:
Aside from not being a fat *** and using even splits on the hips, what other suggestions would you have?
This sett was small so I chose to pleat to every other sett to give the pleats some more depth. I failed to take this into account for my join which is why the join pleat is shallower than the rest. You'll also notice that my deep pleat is indeed not deep at all. It is almost identical to all of my other pleats. I ran out of fabric so I had to leave it shallow. I pretty much chalked this attempt up to practice kilt number 2. I'd really like to make myself a wearable kilt.
I have 6 pieces of 4 meter length PV from Marton Mills that I would like to make my next few attempts on before going to the 16 oz. X Marks wool. I'm sorry if this post is so long. I await your comments and criticism.
Many thanks,
Paul N. Wise.
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