Stick it!

[Todd Bradshaw]

Thanks folks. Yep, set it lightly and let the spokeshave glide along the surface taking long fine slivers, work your way around the piece slowly and it's hard to get in trouble, even just doing it by eye. I've always been intrigued by Scottish dress and the whole idea of tartans, but until we started messing with them I never realized how much additional fun could be had by producing some of your gear yourself. My wife and I are "project people" and always making something, just to keep from getting bored. She grew up in Latvia during Soviet occupation and even had to make her own blue jeans. When I was a little kid I was always getting in trouble for taking things apart to see how they were made and how they worked. I guess it paid off for both of us though.

In the outfit above, she sewed the waistcoat from a pattern we developed that actually would fit me at 6'4" and have a shorter, squarely-cut bottom, similar to the ones Dalgliesh makes. You can't wear it with jeans due to shirt hang-out, but it's long enough to do well with a kilt, and is free of the pointed bottom that can interfere with the rounded top of some hunting sporrans. It also won't hang out the bottom of a kilt jacket looking goofy, like many do if it happens to be chilly out and you want to button the jacket for a bit more warmth. We know a lot about chilly here.

I made the wild boar fur sporran and strap, inspired by an old design I saw a photo of on the web, and have done all of our current leatherwork aside from shoes myself. I designed our tartan, but had Barb make the kilt. Her work is so gorgeous and perfect that I just like owning some of it, like pieces of art. The hose were a color I wasn't fond of, so I dyed them navy blue. They didn't come out the color I was expecting, which happens a lot when dying things, but they came out a dark teal that actually is nicer and more interesting than what I was shooting for. You can't see them in the picture, but the solid red flashes are typical Velcro/elastic, but we wove the flash parts ourselves on our inkle loom to look like the ends of traditional garter ties. Tan brogues, dyed a slightly darker, more reddish light brown to go a bit better with most of my leather stuff and a new stick wind it all up.

I think a lot of this stuff means more to you when you've had a hand in its creation, and if there is a upsided-downside to it, it's usually that you can't stop. As you're finishing up the first stick, waistcoat, jacket, sporran, etc. you're already thinking about what you want to try on the next one - and you know very well that there will be a next one.