How to buy a kilt - the way it used to be done

[OC Richard]

Thanks for that link! What a time-capsule.

Interesting to see the wearing of Day Dress without tie, the shirt collar open and sticking out. Was that a thing? I don't know if I've seen vintage photos showing it.

Everything else accords what I would expect from the period of "traditional Highland Dress"

-kilt with 7 yards (interwar catalogues generally offer kilts in 6, 7, or 8 yards)

-kilt in the "ancient" colours (which post-WWII can outnumber the number of "modern" tartans listed)

-brown sporran, black shoes

-hose in a common tweed-jacket colour

-red flashes regardless of tartan or hose, note flashes are from the traditional worsted wool tape

Some of the kiltmaking things are interesting, such as going straight down with a ruler when chalking the front-apron edge, while Elsie Stuehmeyer did it freehand and with a gentle curve.

Ditto the pinning and basting of the pleats- Elsie didn't do either, but stitched the pleats freehand.

It's funny how they leap from basting the pleats to the finished kilt! The stitching and cutting out the pleats, the lining, etc are skipped over.

I love the do's and don'ts chart! Interwar catalogues and articles are full of words like "proper" "correct" and "must", the very things that rile people on the internet these days.

[Troglodyte]

Thanks for that link! What a time-capsule.

Interesting to see the wearing of Day Dress without tie, the shirt collar open and sticking out. Was that a thing? I don't know if I've seen vintage photos showing it.

Everything else accords what I would expect from the period of "traditional Highland Dress"

-kilt with 7 yards (interwar catalogues generally offer kilts in 6, 7, or 8 yards)

-kilt in the "ancient" colours (which post-WWII can outnumber the number of "modern" tartans listed)

-brown sporran, black shoes

-hose in a common tweed-jacket colour

-red flashes regardless of tartan or hose, note flashes are from the traditional worsted wool tape

Some of the kiltmaking things are interesting, such as going straight down with a ruler when chalking the front-apron edge, while Elsie Stuehmeyer did it freehand and with a gentle curve.

Ditto the pinning and basting of the pleats- Elsie didn't do either, but stitched the pleats freehand.

It's funny how they leap from basting the pleats to the finished kilt! The stitching and cutting out the pleats, the lining, etc are skipped over.

I love the do's and don'ts chart! Interwar catalogues and articles are full of words like "proper" "correct" and "must", the very things that rile people on the internet these days.

Shirt collars opened and laid over a jacket was most definitely a-la-mode in the 1950s - casual style before youth culture fashions of the '60s took over - so the look is normal for the student types in the film.

I like to see the weavers in their work-wear - of tweed jacket and chalkstripe flannels, and, again, open-neck shirt. Chalkstripe flannel is now only ever seen in Savile Row suits, and we think we are dressed-up smart when we put on tweeds these days.

National Service was at its height in the UK at the time of this film, which meant all men did a two-year stint in the Forces once they reached their 18th birthday. It is more than likely that the 'students' in the film will have done their service, and those that went into a kilted regiment will have learnt regimental kilting ways that got continued once back into civilian life.

The kilt made in the film looks rather modern to my eyes - there is little in the way of rise above the waist - but is well-suited to the casual way it is worn in the final scenes.

The reaction of the public in the street as our hero leaves the kiltmakers is interesting - they seem not to notice the kiltie striding-by, let alone his kilt. I find I get the same lack of interest today, which shows how Scotland's national dress is regarded in its homeland.