I'm about 3/4 of the way through the instructions. I was going to give them away, since Steve from Freedom Kilts is working on a truly complete manual on making a much more sophisticated contemporary kilt. His manual will be heavily illustrated and will guide you through sophisticated shaping, tapering and so on. I bet he includes how he does his "beer gut" adjustments.

My manual doesn't do that. It's comlete in that I tell you exactly all the materials you need... like for example, a home sewing machine that will do straight stitch and zig-zag. I briefly discuss the pro's and cons of making the kilt out of different materials. I'll be beefing that section up after I make these two upcoming kilts out of poly/twill.

I ALSO tell you what the manual is NOT. I tell you who an X-Kilt is likely to not fit, very well.

The manual has blow-by-instructions on how to do EVERYTHING....how to measure yourself, how to calculate how wide your apron should be, and how many box pleats....how to lay it out on the fabric by drawing out the pleats with chalk, and so on. I have an example pleating diagram (modifed from prototype #2), and an addendum on how to make cargo pockets. I'm thinking on creating an addendum on how to make an X-Skirt for your lady.

I'll finish it up after I finish the two poly/cotton X-Kilts so that I incorporate what I learn from working in the lighter material. Then I'll snap some pictures of the process, and make the whole thing available as a free pdf file. Maybe Hank will host the download here on X-Marks.

I think I'll have 20-30 printed copies made up for the Pleasanton games and sell them for what it costs me to print them.