SWK Thrifty: My review.

**Erisianmonkey** · 16th August 07, 02:37 PM

Well, I just picked up my mail and got my SWK Thrifty Irish National.

This isn't my first time buying from Jerry. I've got hose and one of his brilliant cargo sporrans before. This is however my first kilt purchase with him. It won't be my last, I think.

The good:

Oh my, what a wonderful tartan. The fabric is soft and the feel is amazing. The kilt is pleated to the sett, and despite the fears I had, the pleats don't just look like gathers at the waist. The selvedge is is good. Better, in fact than the selvedge on the material that I got from Scotland. (Not by much, but it is better.) The length actually suits me just fine as I prefer to wear my kilts up at the bottom of my rib cage.

The bad:

There is no deep pleat and no reverse pleat on this kilt. I'm very disappointed in this, as it makes the aprons hang differently than I like. (No deep or reverse pleat is why I don't wear the first kilt I made very much.) The waistband seems to have some kind of crinkly plastic in it that kind of disturbs me.

I'll be wearing this kilt for a week or two as is, and then I'm going to re-tailor it into a different kind of kilt entirely. I had been just going to taper and sew down the fell, but with the lack of deep and reverse pleats, this kilt needs to become something else entirely to fit me properly. (NOTE: This is because I ordered a kilt that was at the very bottom of my size range while I was in the very top of its size range. There is absolutely no faulting Jerry on this.)

So, sometime the next few weeks I'm going to carefully dismantle my thrifty kilt and make my first box pleat.

**Kid Cossack** · 16th August 07, 07:37 PM

Hey, good call! As a matter of fact, that's just about what I did today---I took down a SWK economy USMC kilt, added a deep final pleat, and turned it into a box pleated version----with only five, six inch boxes! (Yes, it's a monster) Oh my goodness its actually almost presentable!

**Perldog007** · 17th August 07, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by Kid Cossack

Hey, good call! As a matter of fact, that's just about what I did today---I took down a SWK economy USMC kilt, added a deep final pleat, and turned it into a box pleated version----with only five, six inch boxes! (Yes, it's a monster) Oh my goodness its actually almost presentable!

Now that is a project! I am considering a standard leatherneck SWK as a "stunt double" my heavyweight box pleater - of course those are the military box pleats, not the kind you have done.

I really like that tartan and fully support my brain damaged son (who carries a squirrel rifle to battle when they have Nimitz class carriers available? ) . But being an old squid find myself removing the EGA tag. If any symbol deserves respect that is one of them. Just can't wear the emblem not having earned it.

I am very interested to see what becomes of your thrifty Irish National Charles. I am wearing my economy Irish National @ work right now. I am considering less radical surgery - namely counting the pleats and figuring the taper ala Barb's book and having a go at hand stitching them down.

Best of luck with your reconstruction.

-- Doug

**Kid Cossack** · 17th August 07, 05:35 AM

Doug:

It was something I'd been thinking about for months, and never quite got around to doing anything about. Well, finally I said enough is enough, and got out the seam ripper. One of the reasons was that, ahem, I'd bought this SWK hoping that I was losing weight, which turned out to be, well, not entirely the case.

Redoing an economy is a little harder than a thrifty-kilt, if only because the economy has the cutout for the left side strap to go through.

Interestingly enough, as I broke the kilt down, the folds/creases for the knife pleat worked out, almost exactly, to give me a pleat-to-the-sett option. I started off doing hand-stitching because I can't run a sewing machine, but then the wife took pity on me and we redid the whole thing.

We put a taper into the apron, and put in three tapers going from the hips to the waist, and reused the waistband. Today I'll sew the right waist buckle into place, and it'll be good to go.

Of course, what else happened the other day? Why, my custom sixteen ounce leatherneck from Matt Newsome arrived! (Any comparisons between the box pleat knocked out by the wife and I, and Matt's handiwork, is purely coincidental, and shows the difference between a fair job and a master craftsman.)

**James MacMillan** · 17th August 07, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by Kid Cossack

Of course, what else happened the other day? Why, my custom sixteen ounce leatherneck from Matt Newsome arrived!

I am SOOOO ! Jealous and Green with envy! While I have the JarHead Tartan in several versions, I still want a Box Pleated version!

Do you think the box pleat would look well with a formal PC?

**Perldog007** · 17th August 07, 09:45 AM

Speaking of reworking a thrifty - has anybody tried putting a hip strap/buckle on one to make it look more like a "real" kilt?

Seems to me that the velcro lies under the belt, but with a hip strap and stitching down the pleats would be hard to tell it from the real thing for the uninitiated. Even a kiltmaker might be fooled from a distance.

That is so cool that you now have a "stunt double" for your Matt Newsome Leatherneck. Happy new kilt and Happy new kilt!

**Kid Cossack** · 17th August 07, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by James MacMillan

I am SOOOO ! Jealous and Green with envy! While I have the JarHead Tartan in several versions, I still want a Box Pleated version!

Do you think the box pleat would look well with a formal PC?

I think it would! Box pleats the way Master Newsome does them up are quite nice. This one is pleated to the red stripe, and I can really tell the difference between the thirteen ounce wool (in my tweed Newsome and my leatherneck USAK) and the sixteen ounce here.