Where do you buy Tartan material?

[Nile]

That's great news Seasaidhlinne. Sounds like you found the perfect material for your project and help too so, good luck with it. We will be awaiting pictures when you are done.

Nile

[usonian]

Congrats on scoring a length of Nova Scotia tartan! If you get the kiltmaking bug, I'll echo what Matt said as far as starting with quality tartan material versus cheaper solid material; I made my first (traditional, following the AOKM book) kilt out of solid black denim reasoning that it would be better to make a "practice" garment with inexpensive material... if I had it to do over again I would have sprung for tartan the first time out. Denim was really hard to sew, and without the built-in grid of a tartan pattern as a guide my pleats wound up a little bit skewed. The fabric was heavier than 16oz wool (despite being labeled '10oz denim') and didn't drape nicely; the resulting garment was just kind of disappointing, especially after all that work. When I started kilt #2 using 16oz wool, the difference was eye-opening. Wool tartan is a delight to work with.

[Barb T]

But starting with good quality wool tartan cloth woven for kilt making will make your experience so much better - and make it that much easier for you to make a decent looking kilt. I agree with everything Paul wrote about it being easier to work with.

And I agree totally with both Matt and Paul Henry, and I'll add another reason. A kilt is a lot of work (especially your first one), and to put that much time into a garment that you wouldn't wear because it isn't good enough seems like a wasted effort to me. Much better to use good fabric for all the reasons that Matt and Paul Henry suggest, the most compelling of which, for a beginner, is that it is actually _easier_ to do a good job. So, get good fabric, work carefully, and re-do something that isn't right, rather than bashing on and spending a lot of time on what has been fondly termed a "50-yard kilt" (i.e., one that looks good only from 50 yards away....). With the exception of cutting out the pleats, there's nothing that can't be re-done if you've made a botch of it. Just take out the stitching, and try again. You'll have a product in good fabric that you're proud to wear.