Surprises inside a custom Scottish-made kilt

[bonnie heather]

Uh-oh! Now I'm thinking... Where do we draw the line? In addition to 8-9 yard "tanks", I also make a variety of lower yardage woolen kilts. For 7, 6, 5, and 4 yard kilts I automatically do the waist stabilizer, steeking and canvas with tailor basting.

But when it gets down to 3 yard kilts for children or for mini-kilts... then my mind-set changes. For kids, I want to keep the fabric in tact for future alterations and don't want to do the cut-outs. For mini-kilts... there's so little fabric that I don't think it needs heavy reinforcement.

So that all comes to the question of when is a kilt.. Not a kilt? I'd say if it's a Real kilt, it needs all the time and effort necessary to build it right and keep it in good shape for now and for generations to come.

[ThistleDown]

...if it's a Real kilt, it needs all the time and effort necessary to keep it in good shape for now and for generations to come.

clap, clap, clap

[Alan H]

Last year at the Pleasanton Highland Games I happened to get into a "kilt discussion" with several of the Professional athletes. These gents whipped off their kilts and showed them to me. I discovered a couple of things.

A well-known Canadian athlete...in fact the Canadian national champ, had a wool kilt in the tartan of one of the Canadian provinces, made by a very well-known Canadian kilt company. The liners lower stitching had broken, so that the liner was "floating". Hey, athletes are hard on their kilts, it doesn't suprise me. Anyway, this lovely wool job had: No pleat cutouts, no steeking, no stabilizer... so the straps load was transferred directly to the pleat stitching. This lad was quite proud of his kilt. I complimented him on the lovely tartan and let it go....no reason to mess with his head in the middle of the competition.

The two other wool kilts did not have the torn stitching such that I could see under the liner. However, what they DID have was ripped-out lower hip-buckle stitching. By this I mean that of the two buckles that lie on the kilts right side, the lower one was completely ripped out of the kilt. Either the stitching had failed or the fabric had failed.

The lesson of discovery #2 was obvious....when making a kilt for a Highland Athlete, leave off the lower hip buckle/strap. As for discovery #1, I decided that I wouldn't be purchasing a formal kilt from that Company any time soon.

[Dileasgubas]

After reading this thread, I rushed to the closet to have a look at my new kilt fresh from Forfar. I yanked on the buckles and felt through the fabric to ensure that all the necessary parts were there. I looked at the selvedge and the stitching throughout. To my relief, it appears that the manufacturer delivered the goods - the kilt has nice structure, it is very solidly built, and they have even added a little white strip of material that helps keep the shirt tucked in. The straps and buckles are of a good quality and it fits like a glove. Even the belt loops have been lined up to disappear into the stripes at the back.

There was a note inside indicating that 5.5 yds of double-width cloth had been used in 29 pleats + one reversed - does this mean 11 yds of cloth overall?

Anyway, all this to say that whoever made this particular kilt appears to my untrained eye to have done a great job and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a quality kilt made in Scotland.

[Tenmiles]

Last year at the Pleasanton Highland Games I happened to get into a "kilt discussion" with several of the Professional athletes. These gents whipped off their kilts and showed them to me. I discovered a couple of things.

Sorry... just can't shake from my head the mental image of what else may have been revealed in a spontaneous "whipping off of the kilt".

[Reiver]

Lol, athletes at the games always wear underclothing, usually gym shorts....so much 'maneuvering' going on and all.