"Kilted Skirts" -- fabric weight

[The Wizard of BC]

If by "Kilted Skirt" you mean one with pleats in the back and aprons in the front like a kilt, then perhaps I can add that a man's kilt will use, on average, 4 yards of double-width fabric. If made from 16oz wool that will weigh in at just around 4 lbs.

I once saw a hostess length skirt made out of 16oz wool. That thing weighed just under 8 pounds. It took two grown men just to lift it.
Even when strapped on as tight as it could go without cutting off circulation the pleats sagged in the back just from their own weight.

Most ladies skirts are made from light weight fabric. Many from 10oz or lighter. The pleats are usually far shallower than for a man's kilt.

It's simply about the weight of the thing.

Most of the ladies skirts that pass though my shop are cut from around 2 to 2.5 yards (double-width) of 10oz fabric. If the skirts final length is around 28 to 30 inches long that's a total weight of right around a pound and a half.

[macdonough]

Thanks for the insights. I would agree that a long skirt in 16oz would be a fearsome thing to carry, but as long as the heavy fabric would hang right, short or mid-length in double-wide 16oz versus in single-wide 13oz or 10oz for >50% more $$ might make sense. At least it would be warm ...

Bob

[room2ndfloor]

I love the blue one. I have been looking for a pattern or instructions on how to make one like this for myself. I have some Buchanan ancient yardage, and since Buchanan is an unbalanced plaid, I don't want a lot of seams.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I stuck my wife's long 16 oz. wool skirt (the light blue/red tartan above) on the UPS scale and it came out at one and three quarter pounds. That's not bad, compared to my 8 yard kilt, since the skirt has no pleats with hidden fabric, and no lining or apron overlaps you save considerable weight and cloth. The bias cut without pleats also really hangs nicely with most fabrics in a kind of no-muss, no-fuss, but still pretty elegant way. The pattern is as simple as it could be, as long as you have double-width cloth, just a radiused bottom and top, with a right angle for the side seams.



The edge on the right is lined up with the edge of the cloth. She cuts two of these pieces, sews them together with a short zipper at the top of one seam, adds a waistband and sews a hem. She has skirts cut to this basic pattern from a variety of fabrics, from the heavy tartan all the way down to some sort of silky summer prints (I don't know what those fabrics are called, I'm a sailmaker, not a fashion designer). She says that with single-width cloth it can be done, but you use four pieces, instead of two, and you have to orient them differently (no bias cut) with the weave of the cloth running straight down the middle of each piece.

She is currently finishing up a "test dress" where she combined that bias-cut skirt style with a shirt pattern and made one garment that buttons all the way down to the hem in front. This one is from a hunk of non-tartan plaid wool that we found on eBay. Once it's done and de-bugged, we have a lighter weight piece of our tartan to make one from. It should be pretty neat, and it's always nice to go to highland games accompanied by the best dressed gal in the park.

[Profane James]

Man...you guys are awesome! Love that belt design as well, your design?

[Lady Grey]

This old thread from sydnie7 has some great information

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-tartan-69396/

As does this one

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...67/index2.html

I've found both invaluable in helping me decide on my next project.

[Lady Grey]

Todd & Wife.... That dress is STUNNING!
I'm in awe and can't wait to see more of your work.