Newbie from France

[Juan]

Hello everyone,

I'm glad to find this forum about kilt.
Because of our Festival Interceltique de Lorient, I started to know kilt and its culture. Recently I want to make a kilt for and by myself (I often wear the kilt borrowed from friends for the festival, shame). It will be a challenge because I don't have sewing machine so handmade 100% ^^
I have one basic question here about the fabric. I checked a lot online about the composition for tartan. I won't use the expensive tartan like wool. It seems PV is perfect for me to make my first kilt. After the improvement of my kiltmaking skills, I will go to wool without doubt :-). Generally it is said the kilt should be made by the tartan of at least 12oz. That means the weight of tartan should be 570glm/407gcm. What I found concerned P(65%)V(35%), the heaviest is 375glm/260gcm, that means 7,7oz. I'm confused by some seller's description about their PV tartan, kind of 11oz or 12oz with 260gcm. That is far away from 11oz (373gcm) or 12oz (407gcm). Do they have the different method for calculating weight?
I want to make a casual wearing kilt so I will only use 4-5 meters tartan. Can I use this PV 260gcm tartan for kiltmaking? or you guys have other options?

Thank you a lot for the advice in advance.
Bisous from France
Juan

[Father Bill]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble"!

The advice that I read here is two-fold:

1. Start with wool. It is indeed more expensive, but you'll learn more easily with wool tartan material

2. Get Barb's book The Art of Kiltmaking. It will save you a lot of heartache! https://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/shop/g...of-kiltmaking/

[Kiltedjohn]

Welcome from a Scotsman living in the English midlands.
I have no experience of kilt-making, but all the best for your project. Look forward to seeing the results.

[Liam]

Welcome to the forum from Western Canada!

[Troglodyte]

Bienvenue sur le forum!

Il est toujours préférable d'acheter le meilleur matériau possible, pour un kilt. Plus lourd est meilleur pour le drapé du kilt.

Le poids du tissu est indiqué en grammes et en onces (ounces ou 'oz') et correspond au poids approximatif pour un mètre linéaire de tissu. Donc un kilt authentique n'est pas léger !

En France, peut-être le meilleur fabricant de kilts est Chrystel Amyot (Lady Chrystel Kilts) en 18260 Vailly-sur-Sauldre (lady.chrystel@orange.fr 02 48 58 01 50). Elle est très gentille et très sympa. Je pense qu'elle serait votre meilleur point de référence pour la discussion et les détails pour vos besoins.

Et pour fabriquer un kilt vous-même, on pense que le meilleur livre sur la fabrication du kilt est 'The Art of Kiltmaking' de Barbara Tewksbury - vous pouvez voir ses contacts sur le panneau à droite.

Bon courage !

[Jock Scot]

Welcome, from Inverness-shire.

[Tomak]

Hello and welcome from Southern California.

[Shinenotburn]

Hello from Windsor ON Canada, Welcome!

[MichiganKyle]

Welcome from Michigan, USA!

I have several kilts in P/V fabric, and I've found that the material does tend to be a little bit light. I have no basis for comparison since I don't have any wool kilts, but some people say a kilt pin is unnecessary but with my P/V kilts it makes a huge difference in not having the outer apron catch the wind, so I take that to mean it's lighter than usual for wool.

I've been preparing to make my first kilt as well. Barb's book The Art of Kiltmaking is very well-written, and she's regularly here on the forum if you have questions. That said, although wool is often recommended, I plan to make my first kilt from P/V as well because even though it's likely to be more of a challenge, I want to actually be able to wear it without the red itchy rashes I get from wool.

[Juan]

Thank you all for the kindness and the advice.
I found this book. I will order it. It will be nice to follow the guide to make a kilt step by step. I hope I can do it perfectly (damn I'm so compulsive ).
For the tartan part, I still hesitate. Because this is my first time to make clothes, and I will make it by hand 100% (with my basic sewing skills ), it will be a big challenge to make everything perfect...
Thank you again for all the information, I will show you my works after...
Gros bisous de la France