All in the finishing

Kilt making is just like knitting really - you sew and sew and then you have pleats. When the pleats are done you think you must nearly be there. But no, not anywhere near, first you have to do all the faffy finishing.

You need to sew down the pleats at the waistline...... (notice that you have to lift the back of each pleat slightly so that they dont hang down and show when it is worn)

you need to tack the pleats down at strategic places - for me that was along the white lines.


You have to line the kilt with 2 layers of lining, one thick lining (can be hessian, but I used plain cotton with interfacing ) and one that is comfortable against your husbands delicate bottom. I wouldn't want to cause bottom chafing.
You have to make belt loops and you have to make little straps to hold the buckles on. At this stage I have to admit that I was making it up as I went along, but it seems fairly secure and doesn't look that bad.
And sew on the leather straps......

And make a little fringe for the front apron.......

And then it's time for the grand trying on............


As you can see this morning there was some enforced shopping for kilt socks (there really really isn't enough time for me to make them and I don't think that I like knitting socks anyway), a pin, a sporran and a sporran chain. We are still debating whether a belt is needed, but getting husband to buy even this much has to be counted as a major victory.

All I need to do now is take it to be pressed (apparently it really is worth it, and the pleats will remain for ever if it is done properly) and then that is his outfit sorted for the wedding.

And it leaves me just a little bit of time to sort out the cardigan.


But a new project looms..... this is the harebell lace fichu from Victorian Lace Today. Now, I dont think that I am ever likely to want to wear a little lacy collar, but fundamentally the interesting and lovely lace border is just knitted on, and I reckon that it can easily be altered knitting a scarf. It might just be the perfect answer for the left over skein of lovely silk from Kerrie at Hipknits. Or maybe an excuse to get some lovely harebell blue lovelieness.......

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!

Busy weekend.... and an even busier week

Well........

The guests arrived and we had fun and now they are gone. We have had 2 lots of friends to stay so there was too much drinking, too much food, plenty of fun in the sun (sorry to those of you who are living in slightly damper areas), days scrambling, a day sea kayaking, beaches, pubs and tea shops. All in all a perfect weekend.

There was time for knitting though, and the cardigan is progressing apace. I am nearly at the armholes now, only another 10 rows or so to go. This weekend I am going to the hen do, so I have 6 hours on the train to progress this.


But I have a distraction. A really really really big and important and urgent distraction. Here is a picture........


Yes - that's tartan. That's 3.7m of Strome double width Graham of Montrose Modern tartan. And yes, I am making a kilt for the husband. The above photo is the really scary cut the tartan to length tear - there is no hem on the bottom of a kilt so this bit is quite important. So, I have torn 2 lengths that are 58cm long.


Here I have assembled the tools of attack - pins, tacking thread, notebook, calculator, tape measure and a print out of the instructions that I found on the internet. I am not doing this entirely blind, the secretary at work used to be a kilt maker and she is giving lots and lots of advice, and has shown me a half finished kilt so that I know what it looks like.



And here I have made a bit of exploratory progress. I have cut the front apron and pinned some pleats. If the pleats were straight then everything would be nice and simple, but because the desired waist is 77cm and the desired hip measurement is 90cm, you have to taper each and every one of them. These are also a little bit to wide. I am doing 2cm pleats (each one taking one repeat of the tartan - so about 20cm) and the pattern has to match up. Nightmare.

Off to bake brownies and make some supper.