I just bought a new (to me) kilt!

**Jock Scot** · 19th December 20, 05:05 AM

Originally Posted by Crazy Dave

Ancient is the closest match. Maybe a little brighter.

You are probably right. Remember, colours and shades of colours do vary from one batch of cloth to another, so we are not expecting exact colour matches.

**Crazy Dave** · 19th December 20, 12:58 PM

It must be my week for finding Kilts. Friday evening, I realized I needed eggs for Saturday breakfast and on the way to the grocery store I stopped by the local thrift store. Hanging in the woman's dress section was an Irish kilt. It was the tartan that a lot of kilt sellers call Irish National. This was definitely not a bespoken wool kilt. It is an acrylic "bar" kilt. The label said acrylic wool blend, but from what I've read here, that could mean the shipping truck might have driven past a heard of sheep. The label said, Scottish Designs, but I could not find a company with that name on the web. It seem will made for an acrylic kilt with nice narrow knife edged pleat and good alignment of the stripes on the pleats. It has reasonably thick material and 3 thick buckles. Most importantly it was in my size! I couldn't leave it, since it was only $7 and appeared to be brand new. Pictures to come!

**OC Richard** · 21st December 20, 12:53 PM

That's cool!

I've often checked the plaid/tartan skirts at thrift stores (charity shops) which does get me some strange looks but so far I've not come across a kilt. One of these days!

A girlfriend in my college days did make a wonderful find, an entire Scottish woman's outfit with floor-length tartan skirt, matching tartan shoulder plaid, black velvet vest, and white lace blouse, everything labelled Made In Scotland, and all of which fit her perfectly. I think the lot was $6.

**Crazy Dave** · 22nd December 20, 05:30 AM

This is the second kilt I've found at a thrift store. The other one was also acrylic in the Royal Stewart tartan, but at prices under $10, I think it is a good buy. I've found a lot of beautiful wool kilted dresses, but my wife does not like to wear wool. Oh well! Maybe I should go into business! Yes, I get the strange looks too. This wool kilt I found was at the online version of a thrift store. I'm going to explore that option more. It hasn't arrived yet but I have high hopes! I've gotten some great watches from them and have been enjoying fixing them.

**Crazy Dave** · 23rd December 20, 01:05 PM

The Duncan Chisholm & Sons LTD Kilt arrived to day and the condition is better than I could of hopped for. The tartan is beautiful and the wool is in perfect condition. Looks like it was hardly worn at all. It may have never been worn. There are no odd smells. In fact it smells ridiculously clean. I was concerned that there might be a tobacco smell, but there is nothing. The assembly is first rate and all hand stitched.

There is one problem. It is very small. Too small for kilt extension straps, but there is a a bright spot. The pleat and reverse pleat on either side of the apron are huge. There is more than enough room to make this kilt fit. It looks like they had this in mind when they put the kilt together. Of course it is way beyond my sewing ability to do, so I called the nearest Kilt Makers, Irish Traditions in Annapolis MD. They don't do alterations but the recommended a woman named Deborah Kommalan (deborahkommalan.com), who does do kilt alterations, and is also in Annapolis. Isn't she a member here? I have sent her a message on her contact page. I know the alterations won't be cheap, but I'm willing to put serious money into getting this right.

It front of me, I can see that the tartan is clearly MacDonald modern. It is a beautiful tartan. It was worth what I paid, just to see what a top notch kilt looks and feels like, but hopefully, I will be wearing it too.

**Crazy Dave** · 27th December 20, 02:19 PM

Made an appointment with Deborah Kommalan for tomorrow. I'll see what she says. All indications are she knows her craft very well. I'm looking forward to meeting her! She seems very nice too!

**Crazy Dave** · 31st December 20, 05:37 PM

It turns out, what I have is a woman's kilt. Not a kilted skirt but a Kilt tailored for a woman who was probably in a pipe band. Deborah said that if it was for a dancer, it probably would have been a lighter colored tartan. It could be tailored to fit me but we agreed that it would have been so much work that it would make more sense to start from scratch and make me a bespoken kilt in my family tartan. When I am ready for that, I will get back to Deborah. She showed me some of her work and it is very high quality. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for! She was also very nice. I met the whole family. I learned a lot!