Something for my girls...

[ShaunMaxwell]

A couple of months ago, I purchased a ladies kilted skirt in the Maxwell tartan (ancient colors, to the sett) on eBay for less than $20 USD. From the photos, it looked to be fairly old and in need of a little TLC, but I figured it was worth a shot for the low price.

When it arrived, I discovered that there were four small moth holes on the front apron (not mentioned in the listing), a few spots that needed "spot cleaning," and that all the straps needed replacing. On the upside, it's a fairly heavy garment (at least 14 oz. wool) and is interestingly made like a man's kilt, fastening on the right. It falls to about mid calf on both my wife and daughter in terms of the length, but the fell is in the correct place — so it's essentially a long kilt made for a woman.

After giving it a good steaming, I took it to a re-weaver to have the moth nips repaired. She did a great job and you'd never know where the repairs were made if I didn't point them out.

Here are a couple of images showing the back side of the repairs, which — knowing nothing about reweaving — I thought was interesting:





I then arranged for the good folks at J. Higgins to replace the straps and give it a good press. I little more steam upon receiving the refurbished skirt and it's ready for action:





When I compared the fabric to my Maxwell ancient kilt (16 oz., Locharron), the skirt is a finer weave and a slightly smaller sett size. I wonder which mill wove the cloth? Probably one that's long since shuttered by now!

All told, including all the shipping charges, this project still came in under $200 USD, which is a good deal less than it would have cost to have something like this made. And it was kind of a fun project and my girls are glad to have another Maxwell skirt on hand to wear to Highland games, etc.

Cheers,

SM