Women and Kilt Wearing

[bubba]

Rigged, most women today are doing good to sew on a button. Sewing is generally not the common skill it used to be. Most women I've met have no idea how to use a sewing machine. One of the main contributing factors to that is mostly it's cheaper to buy off the rack and on sale than to buy the fabric, not counting the time invested in making a garment.

[Pleater]

Women's clothing in our shops (in the UK) is generally cheap, rather nasty throw away stuff, not meant to last for more than the current season if it even gets that far.

Seams are overlocked at the thinnest possible setting, shaping is minimal to save fabric, fabric is thin, often man made and frequently sets off an alergic reaction in my skin. If not the fabric itself then the thread used to sew the seams will be uncomfortable. To hold the seams they are made very tight, so they stand up from the garment as a hard ridge.

The difference when something is either seam free or well made is not always obvious at first glance, but it is significant in the comfort when wearing the garment.

I make traditional jerseys knitted in the round, and a lot of other things too - one customer wore a jersey inside out for a whole morning until I pointed it out when I met her for lunch. The only difference was that there were little flower patterns on the right side and fine stripes on the other, I'm such a perfectionist.

If people are going to get their knic - to get hot under the collar about the direction of pleats maybe I will use the Kinguisse style of pleating, like the William Muirhead kilt in the Tartan Museum.

That has a centre back box pleat and the pleats are mirror imaged each side. With two identical aprons and a belt to hold them, who is to say that it is or is not male or female according to modern conventions? The kilt dates from 1850.