Little story for you.

Once upon a time I got involved in some whacko web site for people who wear kilts. This project came up where the site was going to have its own tartan designed and woven up. I got involved in this project. When the time came to have the custom tartan delivered, three metres were heading my direction. I wrote to the professional kiltmaker that was coordinating this project...aka Steve Ashton of Freedom Kilts.... saying how excited I was to have the material for my first kilt coming my way.

His response?

OH, NO YOU DON'T. He told me to go find some cheap stuff and practice first. I was sure glad I did. That first hand-sewn took me 47 hours of work. It's hardly a masterpiece, though it's very wearable. After two years (more or less) it's still going strong, I wore it last night. However, I built three tartan kilts and four X-Kilts before I tackled my X-Marks-The-Scot tartan knife-pleat kilt. I'm glad I did, too.

You might try one on less costly material before really diving in, whole hog, on your really nice tartan material.