Enough tartan to kilt a king

[Pleater]

That is funny.

I still don't understand the arithmetic behind kilt material yardage, but I recently got my first 8 yard kilt. And is it HEAVY. My other wool kilt, from USAKilts, is a 5 yarder, and it is noticeably lighter. It still looks great, with ample and sharp pleats.

The 8 yard also looks great. But it is so heavy as to be cumbersome. I also noticed the cloth is, obviously, heavy and stiff. Which is generally good. But it also causes the aprons to lie straight when sitting down, rather than draping down into the cavern that is your lap. This can be..........unsettling to say the least.

Any similar experiences or advice ?

For my morris kit with Anonymous morris, which is a Border side, I needed black kit - they supplied the tatter jacket, I had various 'tops' and a top hat, black leggings shoes etc - but I decided that in the interests of not scaring the horses, a kilt would be a good idea, so I made an 8 yard, ankle length kilt in reverse Kingussie style.
Normal fabric would have meant it needed wheels to move around in, so it is lightweight, and the aprons are slightly narrow with deep pleats so they fall straight down even under their slight weight.

A good 'normal' kilt seems to weigh just over 2K, annoyingly just more than the UK airmail weight limit, though the temperatures we have been seeing in late April and May meant that my heaviest winter kilts were put away earlier than usual.
I suspect that heavy fabrics able to support themselves are going to go out of favour despite their quality and craftsmanship. Fabric with some percentage of other fibres, a slightly less compact thread count or adjustment to the number of threads so as to create either a more open fabric or a smaller sett size would all contribute to a kilt easier to wear in hot weather.

Having worn just about all my kilts when caught out in sudden heavy rain, it does seem beneficial to the garment. Perhaps it washed out the dressing and softened the fibres a little.

Anne the Pleater