Highland Granite

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 27th December 07, 05:08 AM

So I took a couple of days while I was off work over Christmas to
tackle a project for myself I've been thinking of doing for a little
while. I took apart the "tailored belted plaid" that I wore to one of
the Burns Suppers I attended last year and remaid it into a modern
tailored kilt.

You can see the belted plaid version here.

I made it as an expirament to see how well a belted plaid could be
adapted to modern dress. I think it worked out quite well as a formal
outfit (would have looked even nicer if I had a Montrose or
Sherrifmuir doublet, I think), but it just was not practical for daily
wear.

So I decided to remake it into something I could get more use out of.
Here are pictures of the end result, taken yesterday (on the Feast of
Stephen). The kilt is knife pleated, made from 6 yards of cloth. I
decided to do something a little different (different for me, anyway)
and add a fringe on the apron edge. (I almost always make my kilts
with a plain apron edge).

The tartan is Highland Granite, which is one of Lochcarron's more
recent fashion designs. It is 16oz weight wool.

Being a rather plain colored tartan (composed only of various shades
of grey) I decided to incorporate color into my outfit with matching
shirt and garters, in this case red. Because the kilt is such a
nuetral tone, I could use lots of other colors to the same effect.

The charcoal grey sweater vest was a Christmas gift from Eddie Bauer
(ok, it was from my parents, who bought it from Eddie Bauer!). I
matched it with charcoal kilt hose, and chose a plain black leather
sporran and shoes to round the whole thing off.

The kilt is very comfortable to wear, and I think I'm really going to
get a lot of use out of this one in my wardrobe!