Silk kilt

[phil h]

like I said in my first post,silk does'nt have to be silky and girly

[bubba]

From the looks of it, it'll be a project for late fall anyway since that's when Fatima is going to visit her family. Getting the silk at about 1/8th of the US price is worth the wait

[Rhino]

Just a thought for the guy's who think silk effeminate, a Hakama is the traditional samurai's garment, normally skirted and always made of silk as enabled freer movement so they could fight better. Also it was easily recognisable in battle, so the serfs knew who the boss was. Alaskan probably knows more about this and while I'm pretty sure I'm right,I'll stand corrected if needs be.
Cheers Rhino.

[Alaskan]

I'll stand corrected if needs be.

No need for corrections. The hakama are traditionaly made of silk. This silk is much thicker and sturdier than the kind of silk that we tend to think of which gave us the expression "silky smooth."
The bifurcated hakama are more common as hakama were originally designed for horse-back riding. Now hakama are used in Japanese archery, aikido and jiu jitsu, in addition to mens traditional formal wear. Just like the kilt, the hakama are traditionaly worn without underwear.

[bubba]

There are many types of silk and different grades from the smooth almost sheer types used in lingerie to heavy weights used for draperies, suits and upholstery. A good suit or upholstery grade of silk will wear like iron and can take alot of abuse.In natural silk the quality depends on the length of the fibers and how well it's cleaned during the manufacture. There are also alot of poly "silks" that immitate the feel of the lighter silks with the heavier weight and, frankly, the way people think of silk is of the light weight silk or the poly immitations. Natural silk is superior to the poly immitations particularly in the heavier weights and has a rougher texture.

[Brasilikilt]

Hey guys

The silk kilt is certainly an idea to be tried out at the risk of producing something too feminine for our tastes.
Since people in recent years have been making more modern non-traditional/non-tartan kilts it has really opened up many avenues in which to explore in the jolly world of kiltdom!
I say make the silk kilt!! If you don't like it, or think it looks too girly, there's no law which forces you to wear it.
I have a couple of those traditional loooong white shirts the middle eastern men wear which I think are called (Lawrence of Arabia) "thobes???" from Egypt which are made of very high-grade cotton. If the silk you get from Egypt is inexpensive and of similar high quality, I think you'll be quite happy with your choice of fabrics.
You might be bringing an old idea back to life.
"The Silk Road" from our history books was an incredibly long and far-reaching trade route which started in and around The Hangchow/Nanking area where the silk was produced, snaked its way through Mongolia which connected to roads coming from Persia and India, around the Caspian sea and then on through between the Black and Mediterranean seas and then on into Europe.
It is entirely possible (although pretty unlikely) that the wealthy could have opted towards the more exotic silk for their kilts over the native coarse-woven wool.
As was mentioned in this thread, there are various grades of silk such as the thin girly stuff for lingerie and the heavier "nubby" silk which would probably not bring your masculinity into question, especially if it's in black brown or even a tartan pattern :-)
Please post pictures of your kilt during and after construction as I would love to see it, as I'm sure many others here would as well.

Take care and good luck with your project
Brasilikilt

[bubba]

Brasilikilt, thanks. The stuff she's going to get is suit weight and she said the quality silk. The price is low, but all fabric prices are much lower over there compared to the US. She told me the best grade silks cost there about what cotton broadcloth costs here, I specifically asked for black or navy blue so I don't think it'll look in the least feminine.

[Rufus]

Bubba,

I bought a sweater on clearance this weekend, which I thought was wool. When I got it home, I was shocked to learn that it was actually 60% silk, and only 40% wool! I never would have guessed that it had much more silk to it.

Rufus

[bubba]

Rufus, that's a new one on me. Never heard of silk in a sweater before. The only blends I've seen have been wool/polyester. Must be a very nice one.

[Rufus]

Yeah, I'd never seen that blend before either. It's a really nice sweater - definitely not as nice as my Aran, but that sweater's so hot I can hardly wear it.

Rufus