DIY Rob Roy Style Sporran help

[MacRob46]

I am still researching the Kilt I am going to buy, but I am also researching Sporrans. There is a lot of variations out there! Since I will be wearing my kilt to the renaissance festival I wanted to get a more hand made looking one like the Rob Roy. I actually found this one (https://www.etsy.com/listing/2161642...f=user_profile) I was thinking about getting, but my wife is giving me a hard time about spending money. The kilt I am looking at should cost me about $80, the belt and buckle will run me up another $30, then with the sporran being $72 (without straps), and straps for another $10-20....this is really adding up. This doesnt even include, socks, shoes, and all that other stuff. So all said and done, it is getting up their in cost.

Anyhow...I had a few questions about making a sporran. Where can I get a Rob Roy sporran pattern?

Where should I buy the leather?

And is there any youtube video tutorials you all would recommend?

OR should i just skip all the work and buy the sporran without the wife's consent lol.

Also, I'm up to buy used ones people have for sale!

Like you, when I started out in this "Scottish business," I had to look very hard at the cost of everything required to get outfitted. One item I wanted very badly to be neat and useful was the sporran. Fortunately I had a friend who was very handy at most everything and a product designer by profession. He took the pattern in Charles Thompson's book, "So You Are Going to Wear the Kilt," and simplified it. From the modified pattern we made sporrans for ourselves and I later made one for my son, who was a toddler when I made the first one, and a friend. I also shared the pattern with the Appin Regiment reenactment group and it can still be found on their web site at www.appins.org. It is the second pattern in their sporran section. One of the best things about this pattern is that properly made it is very secure and very roomy as well. While I now have six sporrans, four made by other folks, I still wear my homemade sporran from time to time.

Leather is best secured from a shop where you can look at what you are getting...and it is not cheap! Plus you will have to have a certain number of tools to get the job done as well as leather dye and finishing supplies. In short, you are not going to truly save much, if any, money by making your own. Aside from the fact that you can reuse the tools and make more leather stuff later - I have made numerous belts and baldrics as well and non-Scottish stuff over the years - pride in what you made is important.

Another source of very nice and quite inexpensive sporrans is www.vikingleathercrafts.com. Sporrans are found under "pouches." I know the owner and he does very neat work at very reasonable prices. However, he is often out of stock.

As far as the kilt goes, I did not scrimp on my first kilt. In fact I paid close to $300 for it and that was thirty-five years ago. In order to spend that much on the kilt, my wife and I made most of the rest, flashes, sporran, belt, Jacobite shirt, etc. Had to buy a bonnet and hose. But, I am still wearing that kilt, which has survived some significant weight fluctuations over the thirty-five years I have had it. I also have bought two more kilts.

Anyway, best of luck with your first outfit and keep us informed on it.