Best Value For a Great Kilt

[freep]

I was once a historian. Being such gives one perspective. Just as all that glitters is not gold, all that passes for historical accuracy is based largely upon speculation. I also once was a Buckskinner, i.e. one who recreates the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade 1800-1840--the Mountain Men. Thus I've lived "rough" as my Brit friends say, camping primitive for sometimes weeks at a time.

If you want to skip my ravings below, here's the short form: What happened back then is open to speculation and responsible attempts at re-creating those times require one inject a healthy bit of common sense into one's considerations. Given what we can glean from the writings of the time, what interpretation makes the most sense? Also given that, what were the motives an prejudices of the authors of the original documents?

So. Great kilts. After some thought, it seems to me the great kilt grew out of the matchcoat. That said, I'm thinking all that six or eight yards of fabric back in the day was more like four or five. I'm also thinking all that pleating was more like bunching, and that could likely be done standing up.

Even with that my guess is did a lad have a walkabout on the moors or heilans, he'd neatly dress in his kilt, bunched or pleated, six yards or four, and head out. Come evening, did he have no tent, cave or wickiup he'd pull the top half of his kilt o're his heid and go to sleep. But, but, I hear you say, why have all that spare fabric? For the same reason the nylon, polyfleece and backpack bunch carry a space blanket. If needs be, in a survival situation, wounded or just lost and cold all that extra plaid could mean the difference between death and survival.

As for a normal jaunt through the heather, the kilt stayed on, all the time. Think about it, last time you went for a week's deer hunt (or camp out or whatever awa' from civilization), did you strip nekkid every night? Here in bear country, I don't 'cause I don't want to be running bruins off in me skivvy shorts. Do I stink at the end of the week? Oh, aye! Do I wash up well when I get back? Oh, aye! Did they wear great kilts or something like what we call that these days? Probably.

Someone, Bob Martin I think, postulated some great kilts had wee loops for a drawstring inside--the equivalent of stitched "cheater pleats." That makes sense too--if you were gonna wear a whole lot of fabric just in cases but not use it as a blanket all the time, a drawstring would make sense, just as, for me, cheater pleats make sense. I can envision 16th century cheater pleats because if the extra fabric was indeed an emergency precaution, I can see where a guy would run a seam across the pleats and in extremity rip out the seam to access the extra cloth.

I don't yet have a kilt. I'm going to get either a great kilt or a wee kilt. It will have cheater pleats. I'll probably be able to put it on standing up. Will I be "authentic?" Maybe, do I care? No. Why? Because it's not 1700, I'm close enough and just the concept of wearing the thing makes me smile, regardless of authenticity.

Jus' sayin'.