How do you press pleats on a wool kilt

[Daneel]

Hi All, I have just had my wool kilt dry cleaned and pressed. The cleaning is great but the pleats are out of alinement. How do I repress them. Do I need to stitch them together first. Help I don't know what to do. My kilt shop takes two weeks to clean and press and charges a fortune, and I can't bear to be without my kilt.

[bubba]

I lay the kilt out on a big bath towel, line up the pleats carefully, lay a press cloth over them, and hit em hard with a steam iron. Do not slide the iron over them, just pick it up and press it down along the pleats. Then put a board on top of the pleats and pile books or something on for weight til they cool and dry. You'll have very sharp pleats when you're done.

[bear]

I was experimenting with this when I made my first wool kilt.
Ironing while the pleats were basted didn't give me the knife edge I wanted. Too much padding from the other pleats I think.
I found the best way was to iron each pleat individually on a hard, flat surface. Hit it with lots of steam, then gradually reduce the steam setting on your iron until the pleat is dry.
Works for me.

[bubba]

Bear, that gives me an idea. I have a couple of very thin kitchen type cutting mats. Thin enough to be rolled up. Could lay the kilt out, align the pleats and slip it under each pleat to press. Have to try that. It's heat resistant plastic so it might work well.

[bear]

Bear, that gives me an idea. I have a couple of very thin kitchen type cutting mats. Thin enough to be rolled up. Could lay the kilt out, align the pleats and slip it under each pleat to press. Have to try that. It's heat resistant plastic so it might work well.

I used arborite because that's what I had on hand.

[Blu (Ontario)]

As Bubba suggests, make sur you use a press cloth and watch the iron temperature... wool can burn. You might also try using a cold pot to "pull" the heat after you apply the hot iron. A bit of vinegar also helps create a more permanent crease. (I was sure there were previous posts discussing some of this stuff.)

blu

[Rufus]

Burnt wool! That's got to stink!

[bubba]

That's why irons have a wool setting

[ggibby]

Would the same process apply to cotton and poly-cotton materials?

Any tricks for Happy Laundering of non-wool kilts?

How did the pleat-sheet (plastic thingie) work out?
That's a GREAT idea.

Is poly-acrylic heat sensitive? I've got one on the way that will eventually need this, too.

I'm trying to get my head around this whole process, and preparing to do some kilt maintenance myself. If anybody has photos of Best Practice, I volunteer web space to post 'em.

-G

[bubba]

Haven't pressed any pleats with the cutting sheet yet. I knoe it's heat and cut resistant so it should work fine. No thicker than an envelope