Anyone know someone who makes kilted skirts?

[jsrnephdoc]

Yes, I know there's a forum for ladies wear, but it's not heavily trafficked (last new thread about 2 years old).

I've tried to interest my spouse in highlands wear, but the only thing that's sparked her interest is The Nursing Tartan, woven by Lochcarron Mills and sold only in a limited range of products by Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers (no kilts or skirts) as a charitable enterprise (the tartan features the colors of the Scottish National Health Service's nursing uniforms, the registered tartan was designed by Scottish NHS nurses, and my wife is both extraordinarily proud of her nursing career AND fond of the tartan itself).

One cannot purchase the fabric, but there IS a lightweight tartan shawl (I suspect it's 8 oz or 11 oz worsted cloth), and I bought her one of those at Nicolson when my sister and I were in Scotland summer 2023. The edges have a half-inch fringe. Its dimensions are 54" x 54" (not including the fringes). Does anyone here think 2 or 3 of those shawls could be joined to make a proper calf-length kilted skirt? It's pretty lightweight cloth. Is it likely to hold and "swish" its pleats?

[Pleater]

Two shawls, each one cut in half and then the pieces joined would make a strip of cloth 27 inches by six yards, which would make a pleated skirt - but you'd need shawls which were identical and which were two matching halves so that the sett would match when joined up.

Pleated skirts are often made from lightweight materials and pleated without regard for the sett, they lack the impact of a man's kilt which has a certain amount of gravitas with their structure and careful tailoring, but adding in lining and interlining would elevate things. Using spray starch and ironing on the inside of the garment has helped when I washed a finished kilt and found that the fabric was heavily 'dressed' and had gone very floppy.

Small washers sewn along the edge of the pleats will give a swish. I sewed them where their presence would not be noticed so not on the outer part of the pleats.

I line the aprons of lightweight kilts to give them weight - usually I use cotton as that is what I have lots of. I tried satin and that did not work at all well, but that was due to the two aprons sliding apart. A skirt where the edges of the fabric are sewn together with a closure at the top would not have that problem and a good heavy satin would add structure.

Anne the Pleater