SWK Economy Kilt Review

[hospitaller]

I have mixed feelings about the SWK economy kilt.

For two reasons, I own a solid black (January) and newly arrived (today) Black Watch.

I like my solid black, so much so that I decided to order a second, Black Watch kilt.

They were both ordered the same size, yet the black fits like a glove where the new one is easily 2 sizes bigger though the tag indicates it is the same size as my black one.

Now, as for 'shaping' the kilt since they are the same at the waist and hip, I simply added 1 extra hole to the inner strap, and 1 hole to the waist outer strap, that way I can close it 'tighter' at the waist, and 'regular at the hips, thus giving it the tapered look.

As for the new one I got today....while the material feels as good as my old black one, it is simply unwearable. When I closed the straps, I still had a huge gap between 'skin' and kilt, large enough that I could fold the excess forming a horrendous bunch of fabric that can not be hidden, and that also wrinkles the apron. When I let go of the bunch, the kilt simply fell to the ground, it was so loose.

Quality is the same between the 2 batches (old black and new black watch), but the dimensions got messed up somewhere in Pakistan for the new one.

[fluter]

I'm thinking quite seriously about trying that. In my case, there are two gotchas:

1. Since there is no taper from waist to butt, you'd have to do the calculations a la the XKilt instructions to ensure that you could still fit your butt into them once you were done, and

2. Remember me saying that the acrylic is very light. I'd be concerned about stitch visibility (although since I'd be stitching through at least 4 (if not 6) layers of cloth, that may not be as big a concern as I'm thinking it might).

I think that it would fit much more nicely (and would look nicer) if stitched from waist to fell. I wouldn't want to just tack at the fell line. I'd go whole hog.

See Some assembly allowed....SWK wherein Perldog007 and I experimented with the fell of our SWK economies.

I'd do a better job today, being armed with Elsie & Barb's book. Then, I simply pinned at the fell line, allowing for about a half-inch taper; and sewed up the edge of each pleat, trying to make the stitches small and inconspicuous. It worked out very well.

If I had it to do over, I'd remove the belt loops, hip buckle, and possibly the waist buckle. As it was, these created a few spots where pleats were fixed down; I just left those in their original position.

[Ozman1944]

I have both; As I always wear a belt, velcro vs straps doesn't matter much one way or t'other to me. In fact the speed of donning a Thrifty is a big plus when I'm in a rush. No fiddling with buckles & strap holes.

[TheKiltedCoder]

See Some assembly allowed....SWK wherein Perldog007 and I experimented with the fell of our SWK economies.

I'd do a better job today, being armed with Elsie & Barb's book. Then, I simply pinned at the fell line, allowing for about a half-inch taper; and sewed up the edge of each pleat, trying to make the stitches small and inconspicuous. It worked out very well.

If I had it to do over, I'd remove the belt loops, hip buckle, and possibly the waist buckle. As it was, these created a few spots where pleats were fixed down; I just left those in their original position.

Thanks much for the link. Sounds like you'd pretty much hit on the solution I was going to try (although I was planning on cheating a little bit).

I'm thinking about putting them on, and then just having the wife walk around and pin the fell as it sits on me, which should pretty much take care of the taper.

Then, I can just take it off, tack once at the fell line, iron the pleats, and stitch from there.

Sound like a viable strategy?

[Brewboy]

I have both. I prefer the Economy. I just like the straps and buckles. Either one is a great knock around kilt, though.

I get a lot of complements on my Economy black shadow tartan. You can't really see the shadow tartan, but most people say it looks rather fancy.

[hospitaller]

I'm thinking about putting them on, and then just having the wife walk around and pin the fell as it sits on me, which should pretty much take care of the taper.

Then, I can just take it off, tack once at the fell line, iron the pleats, and stitch from there.

Sound like a viable strategy?

This is the exact same thing I had just done with my new SWK Black Watch Economy.

I am a measured size 48 and ordered a size 44 (the original size 48 fell to the floor it was so big).

I put the new 44 on, second hole on the straps, and then my wife walked around pinning the fell, and poking me more than once I'm sorry to say.

So after she pinned it, I took it off basted it and then proceeded to sew the fell and it now fits like a glove, what with it being 2 sizes smaller than I should be wearing.

[Cathal_Flameridge]

Also of note was that, in my e-mail communication with Jerry, he noted that they may be discontinuing the Economy line since they're pretty close to the Thriftikilt line. My thought is that I'd still be willing to pay an extra $10 for the leather strap closure rather than velcro, but I may be alone in that.

No, I don't think you are alone. The leather strap is a really good thing. The thing for me though is that I think I am going to be moving on from Economy kilts to the slightly more expensive Polyviscose Casual USAkilt, and the Standard SWK, as well as eventually moving to Utilikilts. I mean the Economy Kilt is excellent as a starter Kilt... However in the Texas Wind, I just do not think the kilt is going to be sturdy enough to withstand the buffeting of the wind here.

And yeah I have encountered a similar problem with the SWK Economy kilts. It seems that I ordered a size 50, and it appears to be at least one size too large for me, possibly two sizes. However as long as I am wearing a belt it appears to fit okay enough. However I am not skilled enough in the terms of Kilt wear to know what the heck is necessary for modifying the kilt so that it will fit without a belt.

[Birddog]

Since I am looking to pick up a gently used Economy, and I have never done anything but combat stitching, I would love ALOT more pictures of those who have modified the fell on these.
Seems to me someone said trying to do this with a sport kilt is a bad idea?
Kevin

[Makeitstop]

Seems to me someone said trying to do this with a sport kilt is a bad idea?
Kevin

I don't know how much more difficult or risky that would be, but since they will do it for you for a few extra bucks,I don't see the need.

[Birddog]

I had forgotten about that. I just emailed Seamus to see if they could modify my already purchased kilt. Thanks for reminding me Makeitstop.