DIY Kilt #3: MacPherson Red

**sirdaniel1975** · 9th July 08, 04:24 PM

OK Folks, what incredible luck I have. I'm working on an baby kilt for some friends of mine and their son Ian. The father is Celtic Cowboy, he joined up here not so long ago. When I'm finished with Ian's kilt, I'm on to make my 3rd DIY in MacPherson Red.

I had to budget my finances a little because I recently took a vacation to NC. I wanted to get some wool to make my first DIY wool kilt. Well the Scottish Weaver, www.scottishweaver.com had some MacPherson red on their clearance page. 3 yards, 13oz, 54" wide for $99.99. Well I've been watching their page to see if anyone would nab it. No one did....

So I ordered it Monday morning and it just arrived an hour ago. I immediately opened it up to inspect and I was pleasantly surprised. The tag on the tartan said Locharron of Scotland. I was expecting it to be their stuff they have woven in Canada. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I just scored a real deal!

have a look:

Folks I will keep you all posted as my work ensues.

**Scrapscot** · 9th July 08, 04:48 PM

Cool! Look forward to seeing a great looking kilt! Macpherson rules!!

**Arizona Scot** · 9th July 08, 05:19 PM

That is an awesome looking tartan, the MacPherson is on my short list of wants and that picture just goes to reenforce my desire for that tartan.

**Scrapscot** · 9th July 08, 05:29 PM

and I would expect nothing less than a good deal from Peter at Scottish Weaver!

**pdcorlis** · 9th July 08, 05:30 PM

Oh Yes!!!!!!!! Another kilt build-along! Smooth sailing my friend.

**ChromeScholar** · 9th July 08, 05:44 PM

And, of course, you're making it to my measurements and sending it to me when you're done, right?

Sorry, baby kilt, isn't it (I have a teddy bear kicking around who needs a kilt).

**sirdaniel1975** · 9th July 08, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by ChromeScholar

And, of course, you're making it to my measurements and sending it to me when you're done, right?

Funny guy....

Thanks for the compliments folks, I'm excited.. I'll be wearing this tartan to honor my Gow ancestors. Of course in the future I'll make a Gow tartan kilt as well.

Just for kicks: THERE'S NO FEAR IN MacPHERSON!

**sirdaniel1975** · 11th July 08, 07:50 PM

I've already cut the 3 yards in half and mended it to make 6 yards...

Here I'm cutting off the excess to make a 22.5" drop.

Here I'm finished doing the removal of excess.

**sirdaniel1975** · 11th July 08, 07:58 PM

Time to work on the apron...

Laying it out on the table...

I've marked out the apron with exacting measurements. Notice the "Art of Kilt Making" book, And some other tools I used.

And the basted apron. Because of where I centered the tartan and all, there was some extra excess on the aprons edge that I removed.

I also marked the other apron in a way so that I will have to remove the same amount of material on the other side. I've done this to keep everything symmetrical as I construct. I didn't want the center of the kilt to end up slightly off either.

**sirdaniel1975** · 11th July 08, 08:07 PM

Setting the pleats!

Through the help of "The Art of Kilt Making" I've really changed a lot of what I did in my last 4 kilts I made (2 for me and 2 for the Smith's). The forming and the math involved, let's just say I'm being a wee bit more precise.

I know that the total inches in the back (where the pleats are) should equal 18" for me. Luckily the number of red stripes outlined by black & white stripes in the back equate 18. So from pleat to pleat should be 1".

Here I go:

Look... 18 pleats!

The last three posts are one nights work for me. About 4 hours worth.

To Be Continued.....