Who says machine sewn kilts don't "swish"?

kiltedwolfman · 3rd November 13, 09:55 AM

I was sifting through some pics from our solids photo shoot and these two do a great job of showing just how well you can get a "real" swish with a contemporary kilt. The khaki kilt is made with "rugged" pleats and the brown one with "refined" pleats and took 7 1/2 and 9 1/2 yards of ploy/cotton respectively.

Click image for larger version.

Name: swish 1.jpg
Views: 43
Size: 144.8 KB
ID: 15141

Click image for larger version.

Name: swish 2.jpg
Views: 36
Size: 146.2 KB
ID: 15142

These were taken as we walked leisurely away from the camera and while we certainly have swagger there was no forced gait to produce swish, just regular old fashioned "Dang we look good" striding.

**Laird_M** · 3rd November 13, 10:26 AM

Yeap, does look good and sure does the 'Highland schwing'.

Learning to use the wife's sewing machine so will be interesting to see if my attempt at a machine sewn will swish and swing as well....

**Mikilt** · 3rd November 13, 11:16 AM

Darn right!

**HarveyH** · 3rd November 13, 03:19 PM

Do people really say they don't swish??

It's not the stitching which makes the difference however the weight and amount of the cloth and the position of the fell line on the body all have an effect on the amount of swish.

New denim is actually quite firm fabric but also usually quite lightweight. It does not easily stretch and is really hard to hand sew because of the nature of the fibres. In addition to being a lighter fabric contemporary kilts tend to have fewer pleats and accordingly less cloth.

Wool fibers are very different and the sort of worsted wool cloth used in most traditional kilts tends to be quite a lot heavier, in addition they tend to be made with a lot more cloth which adds further to the weight (and will therefore have more momentum in its swing) but also wool is easier to sew by hand simply because of the different natures of the fibres.

I don't believe the use of a machine for the sewing will have any great impact on the swing.

My eight yard wool kilts swish more than my 5 yard denim kilt. They are all knife pleated. But the denim is less then half the weight of the wool kilts and so ordinary physics will determine that there is less swing.

**ratspike** · 3rd November 13, 03:37 PM

Quality poly/cotton swishes way better than it's given credit for, especially when there's a bunch of it around back. It twirls and spins nicely too.

**mac** · 14th January 14, 08:59 AM

what brand of kilts are these - look good.

mac

**Carlo** · 14th January 14, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by mac

what brand of kilts are these - look good.

mac

With Kiltedwolfman's signature in mind

J. Wagner
Kilt maker. Freedom Kilts
Be sure to check us out on Facebook!
"Ne Oblivescaris- Never forget!"

I would guess it is a Freedom Kilt

ith:

**The Wizard of BC** · 14th January 14, 12:22 PM

These are indeed Freedom Kilts.

We did a photo shoot recently where the idea was to try to dress up a solid colored, non Wool, kilts. We were showing that you can indeed wear a jacket and tie with our kilts.