Panache vs. The Great Kilt!

[Jack Daw]

Manipulating yards of cloth to fit comfortably and handsomely is not easy. I like the way you did it! When I get a chance, I will post a pic or two in my non-sewn, hand-pleated great kilt.

[Panache]

If your cloth is 6.5 yards long and 36" wide, no wonder you are having problems.

Better demensions would be about 4 yards long and 54" wide (at minimum, 60" if you can get it).

I think you'd find a much easier time of it.

Matt,

I double checked trhe measurements this morning

The width is 61" (which is good) but the length is actually 7.2 yards !

It makes me feel better that perhaps the extra 3+ yards of material was the likely the problem.

Since this isn't my fabric I'm not going to cut it.

However I will keep an eye out at the fabric store and see if someday I can find a suitable bit of wool or wool blend tartan cloth in the right size.

And give it another try

Cheers

Jamie :ootd:

[Kid Cossack]

Panache:

What can you tell us about the sword? I make free to ask this question since, from some of my readings, "Highland dress" pretty much included the sword for long stretches of time.

[Jack Daw]

P.S. - Jamie;

I'd go without a woolen bonnet, as reading indicates none were wore by the Scots then, unless you wear a battle helmut in its place.

[Panache]

Panache:

What can you tell us about the sword? I make free to ask this question since, from some of my readings, "Highland dress" pretty much included the sword for long stretches of time.

KC,

I bought this one at a Renaissance Fair a number of years ago. I don't believe it was a specific copy of a particular sword, but represented a style used throughout Europe for a few centuries. I liked it because I thought it would be pretty flexible for use in a number of costumes.

I will make sure to get a photo of it out when I complete my Macbeth costume and post the pictures.

Cheers

Jamie :ootd:

[Panache]

Richard actually sewed two pieces of this tartan together to make this long length.

He said if I wanted to, I cut the cloth back in two pieces.

I am currently undoing his nest double row of stitches to try this again with a 3 1/2+ yards of fabric.

Wish me luck

Cheers

Jamie :ootd:

[Panache]

Well using half of the material seemed to work a bit better

I didn't feel as if I was drowning in tartan!

I even found a neat (though huge) plaid pin I had bought from Rocky at USA Kilts to secure the two parts that went over the shoulder.

One concern is how low the front aprons hang (past the knees) is this acceptable?

I'll try to get my lovely Flame-Haired Celtic Amazon Goddess to take a picture this evening and you can judge the results.

Cheers

Jamie

[Monkey@Arms]

Well considering I still can't tie a bow tie, you have nothing but my respect for your persistence. Can't wait for the pics. (His and hers.)

Best regards,

Jake

[Alan H]

Um....nobody REALLY knows how Scots "back then" wore a great kilt. I mean there aren't instructions written down on how to do it, from 1600. If you can figure out a way to get the thing on that wraps the stuff around you, with some folds in the back and so on, I figure you're good to go.

Look at it this way... Shakespeare lived from 1564 - 1616. MacBeth was supposedly written around 1605. Seeing as the first references to anything kilt-like aren't more than a decade older than that, seeing as the first illustration of anything kilt-like (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...hus,_1631.jpeg) dates from fifteen years after Shakespeare died...seeing as that illustration shows tartan fabric worn a number of different ways, and different lengths and actually to my eye seems to show a mercenary in tartan breeches.....and seeing as Shakespeare probably didn't know any of this, anyway.... and seeing as that's a modern tartan you've got on, not an ancient one... and seeing as nobody REALLY KNOWS (as is pointed out to us, often, in this forum).

...I'd say to just wrap it around you in whatever manner seems good, and GO. I think you look good.

AND BESIDES....if we're going to raise a fuss over the Great Kilt and the precise manner in which it is worn, how about those shoes, eh? 'taint no such historical thing as those shoes, though they look good. In the 1600's most Highland Scots either went barefoot or wore simple turnshoes. If you had the money, you got latchet shoes.

http://www.freewebs.com/spun_measure...ows/shoes.html

There aren't really anything quite like the usual "ghillies" that we wear at Faire in the historical record for the 14th - 16th centuries, though apparently there are some things from earlier than that.

Anyway, like what's the point of fussing? It's a halloween costume and you look great. Go have fun.

[fluter]

Look at it this way... Shakespeare lived from 1564 - 1616. MacBeth was supposedly written around 1605.

... and Macbeth was a historical figure, who died in 1057. Not that I'd ever go all pedantic on you, Alan, but that was the anachronism to which I alluded.

We are in agreement: It's Hallowe'en. Have fun.