Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
Well, I won't claim to know for sure one way or the other, but when I go to the Kilts4Less website and look at their ready-made kilts which have the same basket-weave style straps and leather tab with the rampant lion on it, they claim that these kilts are, "Made in Scotland by Glenisla – Scotland’s foremost quality kiltmaker". Interestingly, they say the material is 16oz heavyweight, but they don't actually say wool. At their price point, I would have my doubts about it being a 16oz wool kilt. And looking at your photos, the lay of the cloth doesn't appear to be like I'm used to seeing with 16oz wool tartan. My guess would be that it's synthetic of some sort, but it is indeed just a guess. The industry is rife with misleading terms like "acrylic wool", or even using the term wool to describe the feel of the cloth rather than the actual material.

To test, you will need to harvest a few stray yarns from somewhere inside the kilt that you could pull without damaging it or affecting the appearance. Take a bottlecap and pour a bit of bleach into it, then place a yarn in there. If it dissolves, it's wool. If not, then it's something else. Second test would be to take a lighter and singe the end of a yarn. If it turns to ash, it's wool. If it melts and curls up to a ball, it's PV or another synthetic. I'm told acrylic is highly flammable and will actually catch the flame like a candle wick, but I've never had the opportunity to test it.

At any rate, it is what it is, and the type of material likely has no bearing on what you intend to do here. I was only interested because the material type may help pin down where the material was woven and/or help explain the sett variation at the bottom.

Was this kilt sold as a new kilt or a pre-owned one? If pre-owned, I wonder if the kilt was hemmed that way in order to shorten it for a previous owner, or whether it was an attempt to hide the sett variation. Of course, if you let it out, there will be a visible oddity at the bottom of your kilt that doesn't match the rest of the tartan pattern. I would guess that 99.9% of people would never notice it. I'm sort of the odd 0.1% who would.
It was listed on Ebay as an "ex-hire" to which new straps had been added. It was also described as having been made in Scotland of wool. Of course, the label on the inside only says "Definitely Scottish" (whatever that means ...) and there is no mention of the material being wool or anything else. So, I presume this is not wool. Regardless, you are correct that letting down the hem will only make the difference in the sett to be visible (which would bother me, as well).

As you've said, "it is what it is." I'll live with it. I have a new 5-yard kilt on order from Rocky in the tartan from the county of origin of my mother's family in Ireland (County Meath). I'm sure the difference I'll see in quality will nudge me to eventually replace my first kilt with another in a Colquhoun Tartan. At that point, I would probably keep the PV in Ancient and consider having a new custom kilt made in the Reproduction.

For now, many thanks to you for going on this "journey" with me over the last few days and for your comprehensive and informative replies and probing questions.

Have a great day!