Botch upon botch

For those do-it-yourselfers...
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pelmut
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Botch upon botch

Post by pelmut »

Over the years I've developed a 'kilt' pattern that works well with acrylic fabrics which hang nicely, so I thought I would try it out with some heavy-ish black cotton material instead. The kilt design is in three panels: (viewed from above in anticlockwise order) an outer front, a pleated back section and an underlapping inner front. Where the back joins the two front panels, there is an extra pleat each side, to allow the front to be lifted by normal leg movement without dragging material forward from the back. On one side this forms a double pleat (which faces backwards), on the other side it is reversed in the form of a box pleat, so that there isn't an open pleat 'gaping' forwards.

This simply doesn't work with cotton, the front looks fine, but the pleats don't want to hang right. I have stitched them down to hold the creases in place, but they still won't lie flat.

My first attempt at rectification was to remove the box pleat, which stood out like a fan from the side seam, and move it to the centre back. This meant that all the pleats on one side of the back panel had to be unpicked and made to face the other way. As I had already sewn down the creases, this involved some delicate unpicking work. This didn't give much improvement; it was all right when I was sitting on the back panel and pressing it flat, but as soon as I stood up ...boing! .. a frilly black tutu.

The next move was to wash the material and remove the dressing in the hope that it would then fall properly and at least some of the pleats would look reasonable. That was partially successful, although the pleating still doesn't look right, but the washing has shrunk the material and now the skirt looks a little too short. Luckily, some of the material is hidden inside the waistband, so I could unpick that and set it a bit higher to give a longer drop.

Unless anyone has some good suggestions about how to salvage it as a pleated skirt, I think my best option would be to unpick the pleats and just make the back into a plain panel with a little bit of flair and some darts to give it some shape. If there is enough material left over, I might let down the turned hem and replace it with a deeper false hem to give some extra length.

Over to you lads.
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
pelmut
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Re: Botch upon botch

Post by pelmut »

I finally decided I would have to unpick the pleated cotton skirt and hope that I could salvage enough material to start again with a plainer design. It was going to be a long tedious task, so I put it aside until I had time to spare.

Today I had to visit London, which meant a couple of hours train journey each way, so I took the skirt with me and spent my travelling time unpicking it. I suppose it is characteristic of the British, but nobody in the train took the slightest notice.
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
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r.m.anderson
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Re: Botch upon botch

Post by r.m.anderson »

For all the travelers with you - probably thought that you were a tailor working on a clients piece of clothing.
People do a lot of things on a train; bus or plane - reading - knitting - the younger set playing video games
so why not do something worth while with your time - unpicking this %$#@ skirt that won't cooperate in
laying flat and sporting the pleats in a military fashion - dress right dress -or- is that skirt right skirt -or-
maybe just depress the heck out of them with a steam press.

To truly appreciate a pleated kilt visit this website and look over the "Double Box Pleats" - LINK:

http://www.ladychrystel.com

And remember the second time will be a great deal easier if you don't make the same mistakes again !
"YES SKIRTING MATTERS"!
"Kilt-On" -or- as the case may be "Skirt-On" !
WHY ?
Isn't wearing a kilt enough?
Well a skirt will do in a pinch!
Make mine short and don't you dare think of pinching there !
happykilt
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Re: Botch upon botch

Post by happykilt »

r.m.anderson wrote:To truly appreciate a pleated kilt visit this website and look over the "Double Box Pleats" - LINK:

http://www.ladychrystel.com

And remember the second time will be a great deal easier if you don't make the same mistakes again !
If that link doesn't work (for me it does not) try this: http://www.lady-chrystel-kilts.com/site ... x-ang.html
pelmut
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Re: Botch upon botch

Post by pelmut »

happykilt wrote:
r.m.anderson wrote:To truly appreciate a pleated kilt visit this website and look over the "Double Box Pleats" - LINK:

http://www.ladychrystel.com

And remember the second time will be a great deal easier if you don't make the same mistakes again !
If that link doesn't work (for me it does not) try this: http://www.lady-chrystel-kilts.com/site ... x-ang.html
The first link didn't work for me either, but the second one did. The pattern I was trying to produce was similar to their "Kingussie" arrangement of pleats, but the cotton material just didn't hang right, even when I sewed down the creases; It looked too bulky and 'flouncy'.
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
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Jack Williams
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Re: Botch upon botch

Post by Jack Williams »

Well, I do like a bit of "flouncy" in a skirt, but I have not until now had an actual pleated skirt. But it just happen's that I have one coming from Damart as an experiment. "Check" pattern, quite heavy material as a "winter" skirt. Slightly "kilt-like".
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