Caledonia Kilts: Holyrood Modern kilt review

[Alan H]

All right, here's my review.

First up...I am so used to wearing my Bear kilt and my USA Kilt philabeg that when I hauled this kilt out of the wrappers yesterday, I tried strapping it on where those kilts sit on me. NOT! WRONG!

Davey is the proprietor of Caledonia Kilts (my item number on ebay is 8247636434) and I wrote him a pained message reporting the wrong size. He was back to me within 24 hours with a response, saying ship it right back, with an apology for the goof, and his address. This guy is CLASS, every time I've written to him I've gotten courteous, prompt and helpful messages right back from him within a day or two

Anyway, this morning I got up and ironed out some of the deep wrinkles that got into the kilt during transit time. That bought me another half inch. Then I remembered that I'd asked Davey if this kilt was cut like a traditional, high on the waistline, or a modern-casual, for lower. He'd said "traditional". I remembered Cyndi Balfour-Trail telling me that a traditional kilt sits an inch ABOVE the navel, not below it. I even wear my Stillwaters about an inch below the navel or at the navel. OK, so I hoisted this kilt up to my lower ribline, strapped the straps and dropped it down.

Lo and behold, it fits! YES ***pump fist in the air*** OK, OK, it's a little bit tight around me ****, but I gave Davey the *exact* measurement of my buttline, with the measuring tape a bit on the tight side, so that's fair. If it stretches out a little bit today as I wear it, it'll be perfect, I really only need another half-inch here. If not, I'll just remove the lower buckle and wear it with two buckles instead of three.

OK, now about the kilt itself. My friends, this is a DEAL.

With the current exchange rate, this kilt cost me $135. Fast shipping to the USA was expensive, but worth it. My Jones for this kilt was something like ten days. Davey is very communicative via e-mail, a real class act E-Bay seller. Five-star recommendation. He got my Pay-Pal payment and two days later my kilt was on the table getting pleated. If I were in the UK and I couldn't quite justify the cost of Hillwalker, but I wanted a good kilt...if I was happy with a wool blend, I would ABSOLUTELY be all over the offerings from Caledonia Kilts. Even with shipping to the USA, they are a good deal.

OK, about the kilt itself.

According to Davey, it's a polyester-wool blend. It's nice, it's virtually indistinguishable from poly-viscose. Fabric weight is just a little bit heavier than the MacNaughton PV in my Bear Kilt, and the Ramsay PV in my USA philabeg. So I'd estimate 12 ounce, but I don't know for sure.

There's no selvedge. At the bottom the raw edged is serged down, secured, and then folded under about 3/8 of an inch to form a very small hem. A line of machine-stitching is done to anchor this tiny hem. The thread matches the predominant color of the tartan at that point and if you LOOK for it, it's there....but you have to look for it. I am entirely happy with this, and it's very neat.

The waistband is well-made. The tartan on the waistband of the over-apron matches the pattern of the over-apron itself. That's a detail that speaks volumes about the kiltmaker. The over-apron has a single fringe that's a little bit on the scant side, but it's OK. A double fringe would be nicer, or a heavier single-fringe. Maybe Davey could consider having his kiltmaker take a strip of fringed, extra material and put it in the over-apron edge seam to beef this up in the future. However, I'm fine with this as it is.. The kilt has a black polyester lining that is significantly wider and more stubstantial than the linings on my Stillwaters.

The buckles are first-quality, the straps are very nice. The machine stitching in the fell shows up, of course, this is a machine-sewn kilt not a hand-sewn. But it is tight and even and neat and the stripes are ruler-straight. The pleats lie very nicely, now that I've ironed them. The pleats are not sewn-down over their length, it's only sewn through the fell, as a traditional kilt is made. I'm dying over the stripes.... my hand-sewn that I'm making are nowhere near this good.

The kilt is pleated to the stripe. The sett is 6.5 inches wide.There are 20 pleats. This suggests to me that the kiltmaker used more like 6 yards of fabric to make this kilt, not 5....pretty nice, eh?

I am very pleased with this kilt and will post pics, hopefully, later today.

In short...a nice kilt with a very traditional look to it. It's available at a good price through ebay, even with the cost of super-fast shipping to the USA. IT'S MADE IN SCOTLAND (if you care about that). The construction is excellent, the materials are first class. The vendor on ebay is very communicative and has a great attitude, He's earned his 99.8% positive feedback rating.

HINT, if you send Davey your measurements, don't be thinking you're going to be losing weight, here. BE HONEST...maybe even add an extra half inch, eh? This material is not stretchy like the Stillwaters acrylic. What you get, is what you get.

I've told him about http://www.xmarksthescot.com twice. I hope Davey shows up here and we can talk to him more about his product. bjcustard has also ordered a kilt from Calledonia, so I hope he'll add his comments to mine, here and we'll have a good review going on.

Alan

[mddock58]

Great info Alan!
We all appreciate knowing other great vendors are out there!

[Schultz]

Thanks, Alan!

I'll definitely not feel skittish about ordering from them now. Sounds first rate.!

[Sherry]

Nice review, Alan. Very helpful.

[MacHummel]

Nice review Alan
I love the Holyrood tartan I been slowly working on a 8yrd for myself. I was pleating mine to sett.

[Alan H]

I've now worn the kilt all morning, about 5 hours. It's easing a little bit and is fitting absolutely spot-on. I've got the third buckle strap tucked under the apron and the sporran strap, and at this point unless I see a reason to do otherwise, will be wearing it with two buckles instead of three. I am very happy with this purchase!

Can you tell? :-)

[MacHummel]

O.k Alan
Now you got me thinkin should I change the kilt from being pleated to sett or stripe? why , why why. ok stick to original plan pleat to sett.

[Alan H]

Pics of the new Holyrood from Caledonia Kilts


and

[Blu (Ontario)]

All right, here's my review.

First up...I am so used to wearing my Bear kilt and my USA Kilt philabeg that when I hauled this kilt out of the wrappers yesterday, I tried strapping it on where those kilts sit on me. NOT! WRONG!..........

I must have been asleep at the switch for a while! I had the impression that you already owned and wore fully traditional cut kilts! Anyway, it would seem that you've now been formally introduced!

[MacHummel]

Thanx Alan
Now that I saw what the Holyrood pleated to stripe looks on someone I have to go back down to may work shop and repleat the entire kilt cause that looks way better than to sett and I usually prefer to sett for myself.