Anyone know someone who makes kilted skirts?

[jsrnephdoc]

Yes, I know there's a forum for ladies wear, but it's not heavily trafficked (last new thread about 2 years old).

I've tried to interest my spouse in highlands wear, but the only thing that's sparked her interest is The Nursing Tartan, woven by Lochcarron Mills and sold only in a limited range of products by Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers (no kilts or skirts) as a charitable enterprise (the tartan features the colors of the Scottish National Health Service's nursing uniforms, the registered tartan was designed by Scottish NHS nurses, and my wife is both extraordinarily proud of her nursing career AND fond of the tartan itself).

One cannot purchase the fabric, but there IS a lightweight tartan shawl (I suspect it's 8 oz or 11 oz worsted cloth), and I bought her one of those at Nicolson when my sister and I were in Scotland summer 2023. The edges have a half-inch fringe. Its dimensions are 54" x 54" (not including the fringes). Does anyone here think 2 or 3 of those shawls could be joined to make a proper calf-length kilted skirt? It's pretty lightweight cloth. Is it likely to hold and "swish" its pleats?

[Pleater]

Two shawls, each one cut in half and then the pieces joined would make a strip of cloth 27 inches by six yards, which would make a pleated skirt - but you'd need shawls which were identical and which were two matching halves so that the sett would match when joined up.

Pleated skirts are often made from lightweight materials and pleated without regard for the sett, they lack the impact of a man's kilt which has a certain amount of gravitas with their structure and careful tailoring, but adding in lining and interlining would elevate things. Using spray starch and ironing on the inside of the garment has helped when I washed a finished kilt and found that the fabric was heavily 'dressed' and had gone very floppy.

Small washers sewn along the edge of the pleats will give a swish. I sewed them where their presence would not be noticed so not on the outer part of the pleats.

I line the aprons of lightweight kilts to give them weight - usually I use cotton as that is what I have lots of. I tried satin and that did not work at all well, but that was due to the two aprons sliding apart. A skirt where the edges of the fabric are sewn together with a closure at the top would not have that problem and a good heavy satin would add structure.

Anne the Pleater

[jsrnephdoc]

Two shawls, each one cut in half and then the pieces joined would make a strip of cloth 27 inches by six yards, which would make a pleated skirt - but you'd need shawls which were identical and which were two matching halves so that the sett would match when joined up.

Thanks so much for the comprehensive response. My issue arrives because when the Nursing Tartan was designed, its registrant limited its weaving to a single mill (Lochcarron), and product sales to a single retailer (Gordon Nicolson, Kiltmaker). Only products specifically endorsed by the designer could be sold, with an unknown percentage of each product’s sales price being delivered to the Scottish “Nursing Now” charity. The shawl I described is on that list, but I have no way of knowing whether another shawl I purchase from Nicholson would include exactly the same sections of the tartan’s sett. (I suspect I could ask, but if they responded they might be violating their agreement with the tartan’s designer). Curiously, I DID find a pair of ex-hire trews made from the Nursing Tartan for sale on Nicolson’s website once, but I’m pretty certain that if I were to bring that up it would not enhance our relationship


Do you sell kilted skirts you’ve made yourself? If not, can you recommend someone, preferably in the USA? Actually, I don’t even know which products on “The Nursing Tartan” website remain available. I don’t think it’s been woven for some time. I think both lightweight worsted wool and soft lambswool fabric have been produced, but I’ve not been able to confirm that. So, I cannot order fabric from Lochcarron nor a finished kilted skirt product from Nicolson. I’m eager to hear from anyone who has suggestions. I thought of contacting USA Kilts, but they will not accept cloth purchased by an end user, then submitted to them, as the basis of any product they make.

The sett size of the cloth I have in that shawl is a bit smaller than 5" (vastly smaller than my various Robertson tartan men's kilts).

[Jock Scot]

One has to wonder how much NHS tartan has been actually sold? It is not a tartan that has been universally popular around NHS Scotland. We have had this discussion before Doc, and nothing has apparently changed since then. You never know, the weavers may give you a whole bolt of that cloth? To make space for other more popular tartans.

[jsrnephdoc]

the weavers may give you a whole bolt of that cloth? To make space for other more popular tartans.

Well, we wouldn't need NEARLY that much. When my sister, son, and I visited Lochcarron Mills in summer 2023, they made a point of telling us that when they either designed and wove or wove on commission what they called a "fashion" tartan, their contract with the fashion house typically gave the mill the right to sell any remaining fabric to any willing buyer if 3 years elapsed from the fashion house's last prior fabric purchase. I have no idea whether that applies here, since the designer did so on behalf of a charitable organization. Apologies for bringing this up for a re-visit, but the new idea, originally advanced by NHHighlander in PMs, was that if I couldn't get the charity to permit a kiltmaker or women's garment fabricator to make a kilted skirt for my spouse, maybe I could purchase 2 of their largest pieces (the shawls), merge them, and use the RESULT to have someone who knew what they were doing make my spouse's kilted skirt.

Pleater has suggested that might work if the shawls are identical from one to another in terms of how the edges play with one another as far as pattern repeats go. It's a pretty small sett, so I'm investigating that. I would have posted in the ladies forum, but it gets virtually NO traffic.

[Jock Scot]

I very much hope that you can procure what you wish for, for your wife. No one can possibly say that you have not tried!