My First Kilt Just Arrived

**arrScott** · 18th September 07, 10:51 AM

I'll post pics when I take 'em. The kilt actually arrived last week, a bit of a custom job from the nice folks at Sport Kilt, owing to the extra rear safety padding I seem to be carrying around putting me between standard sizes. Even so, it was still a bit too big in the waist, though the hips fit perfectly, so I had my miracle-worker of a tailor take two inches off the front panel. Now it fits perfectly! Picked it up over lunch today and the first thing I did was change into it and get back to work.

Granted, I work from home most days, so only my canine intern will see me this afternoon.

Anyway, I'm thrilled and so far have nothing but good things to say about the kilt. First off, the Hawaiian state tartan is ridiculously beautiful. It's almost unfair to other tartans for this one to look so good. (Though I've seen Matt Newsome's photos of my native state Iowa's tartan, and it looks darn fine too.) Somehow, the Hawaiian is both vibrant and subdued at the same time. Oh, and it's pleated to the sett, which I had not expected from a Sport Kilt. The pleats are roughly 1.5" wide and 1.25" deep, but I'm eyeballing those measurements against my thumb. The bottom line is that the over- and under-pleats do not quite overlap, so there are only ever three layers of fabric around the sides and back.

Something I was really wondering about was thermal characteristics. I've worn a hand-pleated greatkilt from time to time in the last decade to events in all kinds of weather, and even in the depths of a Minnesota January it is a hot garment. I've wondered whether skirt-only tailored kilts would be as warm. Now, it's a mild day here in Our Nation's Capital, only about 70 degrees as I type this, and I'm sitting in an upstairs room on the shady side of the house with the window wide open and a cross breeze blowing through, and I am warm. Will I be able to wear this Sport Kilt around the house and the yard this winter, as I had planned? Absolutely. That's good to know, and it also reduces my desire to buy any heavier kilt in the near future. A Freedom Kilt, a UK, or a box-pleat may be in my immediate future, but nothing along the lines of a tank or even a heavy wool knife-pleated kilt.

So, after an hour of wearing my first standard-ish kilt, I'm comfortable, happy, and looking good. A big kudos to the fine folks at Sport Kilt for making my beginner's kilt such a success!

**Dirk Skene** · 18th September 07, 10:55 AM

Story of a new kilt & no pictures

That is just wrong

Now get with the program Pal

**McMurdo** · 18th September 07, 11:27 AM

Congratulations on the first kilt. I've not seen the Hawaiian Tartan, and so I am looking forward to the pictures.

**James MacMillan** · 18th September 07, 10:48 PM

I had to go to the Tartan Ferret for that one. I am surprized it is so subdued, even weathered might be a description. Waiting for the flix!

**ardchoille** · 18th September 07, 11:14 PM

Pics! We like pics

**Mr. MacDougall** · 19th September 07, 12:09 AM

Welcome to the ranks of satisfied SportKilt customers.

**acstoon** · 19th September 07, 04:23 AM

Originally Posted by Mr. MacDougall

Welcome to the ranks of satisfied SportKilt customers.

Ditto!

**beowulf67** · 19th September 07, 04:52 AM

Sounds like a nice kilt. PICTURES!!!!!

**Riverkilt** · 19th September 07, 08:15 AM

Sport Kilt - Custom??!!

Sport Kilt - Hawaiian tartan??!!

Guess I gotta go back and check their website....sounds like a great way to get my little brother kilted...he's a Maui junkie trapped on the mainland until he retires.

Ron

**arrScott** · 19th September 07, 09:12 AM

"Custom" may have overstated it, but what I did was I told the folks at Sport Kilt by email that I'd tried on an L and an XL and found that the waist on the L fit just fine but my bum made the pleats all ruffly in back, whereas the waist on the XL was hopelessly too large but beneath that the rest of the kilt fit fine. They told me they could do up an XL with a bit of a shorter waist.

Don't have pics of me in it yet, but here are pics of the front and back of the kilt on a hanger. Looking more closely, I see it's not really pleated to the sett, but rather it's pleated to a repeating pattern of double-stripe, brown-stripe, thick-stripe, brown-stripe that preserves the look of the sett as far as the bright stripes and the brown stripes are concerned, but the bigger blue and green stripes are all mixed up. Still more regular pleating than I'd expected.

I chose the Hawaiian tartan in part because I love the colors and the pattern and in part because my wife and I are both Maui junkies (and I'm a Tiki aficionado and ukulele player). We're trying to figure out a way to get there full time before we retire.