Top quality British regimental kilt

[Garth]

So. This regimental kilt has been lying in my kist for a while now waiting for my skills as a kilt maker to evolve. I purchased it form a reputable QM store in England about a year ago. All things being military 'one size does not fit all', I have a hem of 3 inches which is driving my perfectionist attribute insane and as a result I haven't being wearing it because I know there's a fault.

After consulting Barb T's TAoK book, Matt's 4 yard kilt book and this fine forum, I now have made and adjusted several kilts to date and I think I'm able to attack this military box pleat to fix it once and for all.

I unpicked the lining and found that this kilt had no canvas reinforcement from end to end. At the fell, sure, if you can call it reinforcement, however there was nothing holding the weight. The straps are attached to this fine 16 oz material with no canvass in sight. The fell does not even have a single steek of thread. A very poor, shoddy job and not what I was expecting at all. The buckles were only superficially stitched on as well.

Take a look at this fine specimen :

[OC Richard]

I suppose that doesn't surprise me.

It's a modern Royal Regiment Of Scotland kilt, I assume?

As soon as I saw the kilts that the RRS were going with I could see that they had departed from longstanding British military kilt tradition, which included:

-stamped steel two-prong buckles on canvas tabs

-narrow grass-green herringbone tape binding around the top

The new RRS kilts had ordinary civilian one-prong cast metal buckles, however they were done in a black finish.

And black binding around the top.

I'm interested in the RRS tartan fabric choice too. I would have gone with Black Watch, in the traditional military super-heavy-weight fabric. Instead they went with the tartan worn by officers of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, with the lighter green and lighter-weight fabric.

[figheadair]

I'm interested in the RRS tartan fabric choice too. I would have gone with Black Watch, in the traditional military super-heavy-weight fabric. Instead they went with the tartan worn by officers of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, with the lighter green and lighter-weight fabric.

As part of the amalgamation work there was a series of meeting to 'agree' which elements of the six antecedent regiments' uniform would be carried over, in one level of dress or other, to the RRS. At the time I worked for the Brigadier who was responsible for the trying to find consensus. There was a lot of blood on the carpet and this was said to have been the most difficult element of the amalgamation as each regiment tried to preserve as much of its history as possible.

The Argylls got to carry over their version of the Government tartan (No 1A). The making of it is another story which saw the MOD going to the best cost, as opposed to the best material.

[Blaidd]

...... saw the MOD going to the best cost, as opposed to the best material.

Regrettably, like most other contracts these days!

[OC Richard]

As part of the amalgamation work there was a series of meeting to 'agree' which elements of the six antecedent regiments' uniform would be carried over, in one level of dress or other, to the RRS. At the time I worked for the Brigadier who was responsible for the trying to find consensus. There was a lot of blood on the carpet and this was said to have been the most difficult element of the amalgamation as each regiment tried to preserve as much of its history as possible.

I would have loved to have been the fly on the wall at these meetings! Or perhaps not...

It must have been an extremely difficult and touchy thing, with hundreds of years of tradition on the bargaining table.

In the amalgamations of the kilted Highland regiments the MOD did an admirable job, first with the QOH, then with The Highlanders, of preserving as much as possible.

But coming up with a single uniform that contains elements of all the traditional Scottish infantry regiments, Highland and Lowland, is an impossible task.

I would have thought they would let precedence win out, and gone with some sort of blend of the uniforms of The Royal Scots and The Black Watch, being the oldest Lowland and Highland regiments.

To phrase it another way, if you're going to reduce the army to a single Highland uniform, the obvious choice would appear to be the army's original Highland uniform (when it had only a single Highland regiment, The Black Watch).

Not 18th century costume of course, but the modern expression/evolution of the original uniform.

The making of it (the RRS uniform) is another story which saw the MOD going to the best cost, as opposed to the best material.

Yes one can see where corners were cut.