Bit of help on what to work for?

[River]

I recently got a USA Kilts 5-yard "semi traditional" kilt.

It's the first kilt I've ever owned that isn't a traditional kilt (6 to 8 yards of wool kilting fabric, handsewn pleats, the full traditional cutting out of pleats, steeking, stabiliser, lining etc).

My impression is that the 5-yard "semi traditional" kilt falls pretty much halfway between "casual kilts" and traditional kilts, as the name says.

It looks pretty much identical to a traditional kilt on the outside. The differences are on the inside, in how it's constructed.

The feel of wearing it, and how it looks when worn, is very much like a traditional kilt, especially like a traditional kilt made with less yardage (which my traditional kilts are).

BTW traditional kilts weren't always 8 yards: in catalogues from the 1930s you can order your kilt with 6, 7, or 8 yards. My handsewn traditional kilts have around 6.5 yards in them.

About being washable, I know nothing about modern fabrics like Marton Mills' PV but you can read all about them here on XMarks due to their popularity.

My kilts are all 100% wool.

As Father says you don't dryclean a wool kilt very often. For me, it's about every 20 years or so.

And yes there are numerous horror-stories about kilts being pressed incorrectly! The people at a drycleaners have no clue how to do it properly. It's best to baste the pleats in place before taking a kilt to the drycleaners.

Thank you for your in depth description of the semi-traditional kilt! I infer that the dry cleaning is a pretty risky venture at times for a kilt, so I will definitely spend some time on lookin up proper dry cleaning information for a wool kilt!