Bonnie Heather handsewn magic: my new Allen kilt reviewed

[ForresterModern]

I got my most recent kilt just this week, another handsewn 8yd traditional in Dalgleish custom woven 13 oz Allen 1996 tartan, made up by Bonnie Heather Greene (bonniekilts.com, aka Bonnie Heather here on xmarks). This kilt and tartan have significance to me because there were very close ties between my paternal family line and a family of Allens that lived in the same remote valley in what is now West Virginia. So close in fact that my great-great-great grandfather, my great-great grandfather, and my great grandfather all married Allen women, all of whom were closely related to one another. My 3-great grandmother was Margaret Allen, the aunt of my 2-great grandmother Mary Catharine Allen, who in turn was the aunt of my great grandmother Sarah Allen. So actually I probably have more Allen blood flowing in my veins than I do Foster/Forrester blood. That is what life in a little valley in the West Virginia hills in the 1800s was like I guess (insert in-bred hillbilly jokes here). I have found the gravestones of all the Foster men and their wives back this far, have visited and photo’d them for family sake, as only a few of us now are left who know how to find them. Anyway, back to the kilt.

I special ordered the fabric a year and a half ago knowing I wanted to honor this branch of my family in kilt form, and had originally spoken to Barb T about doing a Kingussie build up, but changed that plan for two reasons; first Barb’s long waiting list, and, second, I discovered that Kingussie’s only need 5-6 yards of the fabric. Bonnie had made my previous Forrester Hunting kilt so I naturally thought of her for this project. I had a full 8 meters of the custom Allen 1996 tartan, with a desire to not waste any of it if possible. Well, that Bonnie did, literally using nearly the whole 8 meters of that tartan, when the selvedge edge of the finished kilt, with apron edge foldovers, is measured out at just an inch or two shy of 8 meters. As with my previous kilt by Bonnie, she turned my order around in under three months, the workmanship and attention to detail is great, without visible unevenness of stitching and with impeccable piecing of the fell. I asked Bonnie to add an inch extra rise while keeping the overall length the same and this one fits a bit nicer than my others, so I am creeping in on perfection one kilt at a time, as I learn more about the art and fitting factors. It fits great right on the middle hole of the two upper straps, and looks great, straight out of the box. Same solid hardware, same clean and crisp finish and sharp edged pleating. 29 pleats, each three inches deep, plus a 1 inch reveal, plus a nice deep reverse pleat at the edge of the under apron. Front apron is nicely tapered and wide enough to cover around and a little over the reverse pleat when strapped tight. 3 straps, two belt loops, double fringe, nice quality lining, and a cut out of the excess fabric in the fell, the pieces of which were included in the package along with the inch or two of leftover tartan. Kilt was pleated to sett, and arrived in great condition with three rows of basting stitches well sewn. Pictures as follows, after removing the basting:

Front view



Right side



Right side pleat view



Rear pleat view



Left side



Left side pleat view



Although I may not be wearing a huge smile in the pics(it was a long day at work the day of the photos) I am wearing a kilt that brings me a great feeling of warmth, pride and comfort in honoring my Allen relatives, and the great smile will be shown each time I wear it. Thank you Bonnie for all your efforts and your wonderful work, again.

Jeff