Kilt Q's - worsted wool and 3/2 straps

[mrchris]

Hi all

Getting closer to my first kilt purchase but I have a couple of questions that I can't find answers to. For each answer I seem to find a new question.

A friend recommended I buy a kilt made from worsted wool. I've been looking around and many places advertise pure new wool, is this the same as worsted or are they completely different?

Also I've noticed a pretty much 50/50 split on 2 straps and 3 straps on kilts. I'd guess a 3 strap would hold onto the body better and allow more adjustment, but having just visited a kiltmakers all their kilts had 2 straps?


Thanks
C

[Mark Keeney]

Hi all

Getting closer to my first kilt purchase but I have a couple of questions that I can't find answers to. For each answer I seem to find a new question.

A friend recommended I buy a kilt made from worsted wool. I've been looking around and many places advertise pure new wool, is this the same as worsted or are they completely different?

Also I've noticed a pretty much 50/50 split on 2 straps and 3 straps on kilts. I'd guess a 3 strap would hold onto the body better and allow more adjustment, but having just visited a kilt makers all their kilts had 2 straps?


Thanks
C

Worsted refers to the yarn that is woven is more tightly spun making it stronger in the process. Not all tartan uses worsted yarn but good kilt makers use worsted.

2 or 3 straps.- 2 straps hold the kilt on and the third one is to help hold the apron closed. More is not better. If you have 3 straps the lower strap should be loose so it doesn't pull the apron out of alignment.

[James MacMillan]

What Mark said about the wool is probably true, I don't know for sure. But you will get different opinions about the three belts.

Kilts (without velcro or buttons) need two belts to be able to keep them on. The third belt is mostly a fashion left-over form the very high rise militarty kilts (some say). Others think differently.

Some modern custom kiltmakers will depart from the "Traditional" and leave off or recommend not having the third belt. To me it's interesting to note that there are some things that can be changed, and other that cannot..... I still don't understand the violent reaction against velcro that some kiltmakers hold.

If you are getting a kilt made for you, have it made the way you want it.

[ccga3359]

There is a great debate over two or three straps. You need two straps, the third is superfluous, however personally I like the look of the third. Mind you I do have a Matt Newsome on order where the left strap is inside and will be hidden by the kilt, only the right (single) strap will show.

[cessna152towser]

Some kilt wearers insist a kilt doesn't look right unless it has three straps.
In my experience what you get depends on the individual kiltmaker - some make them with two straps and some with three. If you have mobility limitations two strap kilts are much easier to put on and take off.

[The Wizard of BC]

I am, by no means, and expert on weaving but the term Worsted describes three separate things.

1 A yarn used in weaving.
Here a Worsted Yarn is one where all the fibers have been combed to insure they are straightened and parallel.

2 A type of fabric
Here a cloth made from Worsted yarn is usually a Twill Weave and because the yarns are from straight and parallel fibers spun very tightly the fabric will recover from wrinkling very easily.

3 A weight of fabric
A fabric which is made from fibers at least three inches long, using Worsted yarns and having a size or Gauge of 16-20 stitches per 10 centemeters using a US size 9 needle

Whoa!!! information overload.
Basically Worsteds and Woolens are two different things. Worsting produces a fabric which has a very tight weave, a knubbly or "coarse" surface and has good wrinkle resistance.
Woolens on the other hand, "Breathe" better, are better insulators, and have a softer or more fleecy "hand".

[James MacMillan]

Thanks Steve. I never understood that before. I always thought that worsted wool was supposed to be better. Surely more expensive, as there is another process in the manufacture.

Now I see that they are just different.

Could you give your opinion, from the view of a kilt maker, which would be better for kilts? I'm guessing that worsted wool would be better, because you said it holds a pleat better?

With automated weaving processes, is worsted always going to be more expensive?

Are there worsted cottons? or is worsted just a term for woolens?

[The Wizard of BC]

From a kilt makers stand point Worsted is far better than Woolens.

Yes, it's more expensive to make. In the pre-industrial world all Wool woven fabric was basically worsted because it was carded or combed to get the fibers straight and parallel. With automation it was found that they could skip the carding step and still weave. So today they have to add that step back in and hence more costly.

To understand what non-Worsted fabric would be like imagine the absolute opposite end of the spectrum from Worsted and you have fleece. Where all the fibers go in every direction.

And an aside, non-Worsted is called Woolens and that is the type of fabric that is itchy. Because there will always be fibers sticking out from the weave.

[James MacMillan]

I am continually surprized about the things I learn here. I have two, very similar wool sweaters - one is itchy, one is not.

So I just went and checked the tags, and sure enough the non-itchy one is worsted wool!

Thanks Steve.

[ccga3359]

I am continually surprized about the things I learn here. I have two, very similar wool sweaters - one is itchy, one is not.

So I just went and checked the tags, and sure enough the non-itchy one is worsted wool!

Thanks Steve.

It could be that the non-itchy one is Merino wool. I don't know what the Australians do to their sheep or who coined the term animal husbandry... I don't care because I find that Merino wool doesn't itch.