Making my first tank

[JamieKerr]

I certainly wasn't lying!

So while I wait for my MacKay tartan to arrive, I've purchased another material to practice with. I went to JoAnn's and they had courderoy on sale! Sooooo I bought enough heavy weight courderoy in olive drab to make a kilt. 10 yards for $30. If it doesn't work out, no big loss. If it does, I have enough for additional projects too. Let the insanity begin!

[vorpallemur]

I certainly wasn't lying!

So while I wait for my MacKay tartan to arrive, I've purchased another material to practice with. I went to JoAnn's and they had courderoy on sale! Sooooo I bought enough heavy weight courderoy in olive drab to make a kilt. 10 yards for $30. If it doesn't work out, no big loss. If it does, I have enough for additional projects too. Let the insanity begin!

Some advice on cord: It shrinks. Pre wash and dry it twice.
Second, as you've no doubt figured out, the wales run the wrong (long ) way for making a kilt. So you'll have to cut it into kilt-length strips, and piece them together. That brings us to the big gotcha: corduroy has a nap. If you look at the fabric from one way, it'll be a different color than if you look it the other direction. You'll want to make sure that you get all your pieces going the same way. The easiest way to do this is to put bits of tape pointing in one direction, and then make sure you get them all aligned properly.

I made a kilt with fine cord this summer, and posted some pictures in a thread about it. The FHCAG also did an xkilt in cord, and talks about these things.

I'd like to do another cord kilt, in a darker color, but there are numerous projects in line ahead of that.