New here with some question.

[cortezcapt]

Hello yall. Newbie here, though I have been stalking the site for a few weeks. I would like to make a traditional kilt. This will be my first kilt and first time attempting to make a kilt. I will be buying Barbs book, but have a couple questions about fabrics. Our local JoAnn fabrics is closing and they have Black Watch and Stewart Royal, are both of these considered universal tartans? My family are Douglas, and I would like a kilt in the Douglas tartan, but would like to try my hand at making one out of a cheaper fabric to start.
Both tartans are 100% cotton. I'm wondering if the cotton will work for making a kilt. Even though it is a trail/test kilt if it turns out good I would like it to be wearable more then once. Will the 100% cotton hold the pleats?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance
Derek

[The Wizard of BC]

The general wisdom is to use the best fabric you can afford. Even for your first kilt. Good quality kilt fabric is a joy to work with. Stitching the pleats with good quality wool is actually easier for a first time kilt maker than it would be with lesser quality fabric.

Also consider wool as it will mold with steam and this is required when making a kilt. You must get the fabric to take a three dimensional shape and you do that with steam.



Cotton fabrics will not hold a crease. Cotton also wrinkles badly. When I make kilts from Cotton I must edge stitch every pleat, inside and out.
Cotton will also need to be ironed after every washing.



The fabrics you find at your local fabric store will not be heavy enough for a good looking kilt. I must order my Cotton and Poly/Cotton blends special just to get ones heavy enough.



Yes, good quality kilt fabrics cost more. But I think you will find that unlike making a shirt, where you put a pattern down and cut the pieces out along the dotted lines, a kilt is not cut until all the pleats are sewn. So you can take out pleats and re-stitch all you want. Most newbie kilt makers stitch and rip out two or three times. Doing this with light weight or cheap fabric is frustrating as you are not only learning needle work but fighting the fabric at well.

So, please, take some advice from someone who has been there and who teaches this stuff. Go ahead, save your pennies and get some good quality kilt wool.

[Mikilt]

Hello cortezcapt, and

The Wizard of BC always gives sound advice because he has been there. While you may do a nice job on a kilt made from inexpensive cotton, it does wrinkle easily and you'll find yourself ironing the pleats or even the whole kilt each time you want to wear it. For all the work you'll put into it, even if it's just a starter, you'll want it to be wearable.

I see that you are located in Florida. You might be drawn to material lighter than 16oz wool for a kilt. The general consensus around here is that quality wool breathes nicely and a lower yardage kilt might be more appropriate for warmer environments, rather than lighter material. Quality wool is expensive, but oh so worth it when it comes to workability and a nice end product.

[sydnie7]

Just echoing the comments about using wool in your first attempt. You will get very frustrated trying to make cotton do what Barb describes.

For my first real hand-sewn (first one made from Barb's book), I used Pendleton wool fabric in a Black Watch variant weave. Found it on eBay at a good price and it is often available -- seller named oldhippiecloths lists a lot of Pendleton, for example. The fabric is softer than a classic kilt weave but the selvedge on the piece I got was fine for kilt use, i.e. no hemming needed.

Welcome to the fold, so to speak, and good luck!

[Nile]

Hello Derek, and welcome to X Marks.

Steve's response is excellent advice especially in light of your interest in making a "traditional kilt". Traditional kilts are usually made of wool or synthetic wool. The kilts made of cotton fabric usually aren't the traditional style and the fabric is often a heavy denim type material.

I have two utility type kilts that are made of heavy cotton material and they both have pleats with sewn edges. They do wrinkle after a days use but they are easy to iron and they are very comfortable garments.

You will find a lot of information about kilt making here on XMTS and, as a member, you have access to some of the best kilt makers in the world to answer your questions.

Again, welcome aboard from north of you in Delaware.

Nile

[Father Bill]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble!"

[plaid preacher]

,Capt. And best of luck with your first kilt. I just order Barb T's book earlier this week and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Then I too will be on the hunt for some fabulous fabric for my first project. Perhaps we will be classmates.

[ring0]

I made a six yarder out of the $4/yard light blue and navy wool blend tartan from Fraser Kirkbright. I'm a newbie too so take my assessment with a grain of salt, but I've got a couple of wool kilts from Stillwater kilts and this material seems seems to feel and behave a lot like wool, though it's lighter weight and feels softer in the hand. It's double width, so 3 yards for $12 was enough to make a 6 yard kilt. There was also a shipping charge, but I was already buying some yardage of another tartan so I didn't have to pay much extra for shipping. I think it's a good option for practice tartan. The kilt made from it is comfortable and looks and moves pretty much like a wool kilt. The selvedge was rough and it needed to be hemmed, but that added some more weight which is good.

Here's the link:
http://wooltartan.com/remnants-2/

[Lorna]

I would suggest reading Barb's book cover to cover before buying material. I has a lot of good advice and from there you can make a better informed decision.

Oh, and welcome to Xmarks!