It just seemed obvious - simple to make and and it accomodates such things as making from several strips of cloth, and changes in waist size more easily than when I was using a 'single run of knife pleats' design.

The two sides of the kilt are mirror images, the centre back lies flatter to the body and the full thickness of the pleats is at the sides. I have not had as many bruises as when I wore ordinary skirts and trousers - in fact I can't recall one at all recently.

I work with knitting machines and they are heavy, metal, and they sit on heavy metal stands with all sorts of bits sticking out at hip height, but the multiple layers of fabric seem to be quite protective.

Our patent office here was going to issue a patent on a traditional sun bonnet design, made in Dorset and surounding counties for centuries, to someone intent on denying a living to several small makers who had been producing them for decades. Luckily the person trying to get the patent crowed too soon. Someone heard what they were up to and got the patent process reversed.

The bonnet is made by folding and smocking a rectangle of fabric, very simple but quite distinctive, often seen in local paintings of rural life.

Yes, it really is amazing what you can patent.