Argyll Kilt?

[wyldathart]

It's an interesting idea. Maybe one of our honorable kilt makers could weigh in on the subject.

[Mark Keeney]

It wouldn't be practical. biased material stretches and the fit would not work. Lines would not stay straight because of the material stretching.

[Bugbear]

It would be a yoyo kilt...

[Tribal]

Instead of spending hundreds of dollars making an actual kilt like this, isn't there someone out there with graphic design skills who could make a drawing of how it would actually turn out?

That said, I associate diagonal stripes with women's clothing...but maybe I'm biased.

[JSFMACLJR]

I associate diagonal stripes with women's clothing...but maybe I'm biased.

A good pun!

While I cannot speak about a kilt cut on the bias, jackets and waistcoats certainly are, and are quite smart.

Here's the back of a very nicely made one!:

[thescot]

The real problem is, of course, in the way that tartan looms weave the cloth. The threads are vertical and horizontal, meaning that the selvage is parallel to the lines. That means that when a kilt maker lays out a kilt, he/she has a long (8 yards or so) piece of cloth laid out with all the lines parallel to the edge (selvage), then he/she pleats it up and sews the pleats down (much more complex than this simplified version), and you get a kilt with horizontal and vertical lines.

For a lady's skirt, you pretty much cut the cloth and sew flat pieces together, so the bias thing is not that hard to do. But to produce a tank with the tartan on the bias, you'd have to cut a whole bunch of pieces, match the lines all up, sew them all together, figure out how to hem the bottom (since with no selvage, you couldn't leave it raw like you do with a kilt), and then dog-cuss your customer while trying to match up all those lines in the pleats which are on the bias.

I don't think we'll be seeing any kilts on the bias any time soon.

[KFCarter]

But to produce a tank with the tartan on the bias, you'd have to cut a whole bunch of pieces, match the lines all up, sew them all together, figure out how to hem the bottom (sice with no selvage, you couldn't leave it raw like you do with a kilt), and them dog-cuss your customer while trying to match up all those lines in the pleats which are on the bias.

Reading that made my head hurt.

[GlassMan]

I've always thought that for the lower body, if it is on the bias it is female and if it his horizontal it's vertical. While I've seen plenty of men's waistcoats and ties that are on bias, the only unbifurcated garments I've ever seen on bias have always been female's skirts.

[thescot]

bias cut is generally employed to fit a woman's curves

Good point.

Vava Voom!

And there's no way a guy could make it look the way a lady's curves would make it look. (Cest bon! vive la difference!)

Maybe we could prevail upon Ali to model some examples of ladies' skirts with the tartan on the bias. She could even wear those snazzy boots.

I think I'll go fix that drink now.

[dfmacliam]

Anything is possible, the kilt would be a fashion piece and nothing more. So why consider normal kilt making applications to apply? A piece like this would hold it's value for it's uniqueness, to get the tongue wagging.