Kilt making 101

OK....... kilt making and pleat sewing has begun in earnest.


This is a photo of the sewn pleats on the inside of the kilt. There is an awful lot of fabric involved, so you cut the pleat back to 1" at the top to reduce the bulk.

My kilt maths mean:

waist - 76cms
hips - 90 cms.

All subsequent measurements are taken at the hip and the waist bit is just taken in a bit to end up at the right size. Hopefully.

The front apron is 5/12 of 90 cms - so about 38cms. And taken in about 2.5cms at the top on each side. Each pleat measures about 2cms, meaning there are 26 of them. They taper a bit at the top so that the waist measurement is right. I didnt measure this at all - just guessed. So that mean it turned out about 1cm too big round the waist but I think that is going to be fine. THere is going to be a belt worn with it in the end so there is no falling down danger. All the sewing so far has been done by hand - the routine is pin a pleat (so that the pattern matches) and sew. Pin the next pleat and sew. When draped around Dr Sweetpea they look like this.....



And a veiw of the front looks like this.

Now... you see that tiny little waist? Well there are about 7.6m of fabric wrapped round that! The pattern repeat on this tartan is 20cms so there is an awful lot of body in the back.

And I found out that I hate sewing with a thimble, but my middle finger on the right hand is now rather sore and has an attractive red dent in the end of it. Knitting is so much more civilised.

The next task is to sew all the pleats to each other at the hip - with the inside end of each one lifted a little so that they dont show when they hang down. Tomorrow I am going to take it into work for an inspection and further instructions on how to make the trim at the front, line, stiffen, fix buckles and straps, make holes for the straps, think about belt loops, waist band etc. etc. etc.

The wedding is on 25th August - so thats 24 days and counting!