Difference in Kilt Makers

[Tartan Tess]

If you get a kilt from them there is a good chance that the sewing will have short cuts i.e. machine sewen parts that a 'custom kilt maker" would do hand sewen.

[paulhenry]

If you get a kilt from them there is a good chance that the sewing will have short cuts i.e. machine sewen parts that a 'custom kilt maker" would do hand sewen.

I'm not sure I follow this logic, many custom kiltmakers use a little bit of machine sewing to help attach the waistband as sewing through as many as 8-12 layers by hand, while very possible, is not easy, and machine stitching helps to compress the layers as well.

I would also say that machine sewn kilts are not neccessarily less good than hand stitched ones, it very much depends on the maker, you can get great machine sewn kilts, and very poor hand sewn ones.

[dcrook]

I would have to agree with Paul henry on the sewing part, I would think if there was a combination of handwork and machine work that would make for a quality kilt.

[bonnie heather]

Recently I altered a kilt made by Lochcarron. As I was working on it, I took some notes on the sewing methods. The pleats were neatly hand sew, the top band was machine sewn. There was a twill tape waist stabilizer, hand sewn. The canvas (drill cloth) was 3.5" wide and serged on the bottom and sides, hand basted at the bottom, but no tailor basting. The apron canvas was 5.75" wide and tacked onto the deep pleats. The belt loops and straps were machine sewn and looked sturdy. The lining was 9.5" wide in a long, continuous piece, which had several tucks. It was machine sewn to the top band, and hand sewn on the bottom and along the sides.

[madmacs]

The other thing to take into consideration is the cloth availability, just because a mill .weaves it doesnt mean they have it in stock... That can add from a few weeks to a few months to the time it takes for you to get your kilt.

When I got my latest Maclean of Duart in 16oz Lochcarron Strome it was out of stock, but working with the kiltmaker (Bonnie above) I was able to explore the other options available... In my case I opted to wait for the mill to weave again, but it was nice to have options.

I would say that picking your kiltmaker is as important if not more important than picking the fabric. Your kilt maker should be able to get swatches of the fabrics your considering for you too.

[Cathy McWilliams]

The major mills have a group of kiltmakers in UK (I know LochCarron has some in Canada) that they use on a regular basis. As to which mill, while they are all comparable in quality, there is a difference. LochCarron's stuff is smoother than the other 2. They weave in 10 oz, 13 oz and 16. The "light weight" from other mills is 11oz. LochCarron has a larger variety of stock tartan but House of Edgar mills the Irish Counties, Strathmore mills the US military (most) and right now DC Dalgiesh has the best selection for Highland Dancers.
Each mill, each master weaver, has their own interpretation of what the hues- modern, ancient, weathered & reproduction- should look like. The best way to select is to go to a kiltmaker/import shop who has a swatch catalogue from those companies. Most catalogue books with photographic images are hard to judge by because, like showing up on a computer, the images are darker or distored but I do have my favorite website for showing customers who don't have the option of popping over to my shop: http://www.tartan-finder.com/TartanView.php.
It compares LochCarron, House of Edgar, Strathmore & Ingles Buchan.
As to the kiltmakers themselves? Most import shops do not make their own kilts. check out the kiltmaker's website and ASK FOR REFERENCES. I hate to "bad mouth" anyone, but (and thankfully they are defunct) but one person comes to mind: (no name mentioned) used double-fusable interface strips to glue the seams along the fell together and then machine stitched it down. They claimed it was "hand sewn." This is the worst case I have seen. I have seen a lot both praiseworthy and fit to be called butchers, so ask for references.

In reference to who has what available - even if a mill has a tartan regularly stocked, they still run out of it from time to time. And then, out of over 6000 registered tartans world-wide, less than 2000 are regularly stocked. If it is registered, or if you have a depiction of the thread count, DC Dalgliesh will mill it, single width, 5 meter minimum. of course, there's a 12 week turn-around.....except Dalgiesh always puts me at the front of the queue and I get it in 8.

Hope this helps.

Cathy Mac

[xman]

I asked the same question a couple of years ago. Here is the thread with some awesome answers. http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...y-plaid-58052/