I have a Birthday looming, for which my lovely American wife has had a kilt made for me in the Scottish/American Tartan, it was her choice, and it is pleated to the white stripe, I didn't know it was being made, normally, I like my kilts pleated to the sett, but I have to say, this turned out beautifully.
I decided to accessorize it with American themed accessories, I ordered a Murdoch pistol kilt pin from Bold Blades, it wasn't in stock at that time, so in the meantime I ordered a pewter version of the Great Seal of America from the Capital Buildings.
As you can see from the pics, the pistol pin is about 3" long, so the Eagle's wingspan is app. 2/12". It makes a great pin - when the Murdoch pin arrived, I couldn't decide which one to put on, I love them both, so at least in the meantime, they are both there.
My Grandson bought me two pairs of kilt hose with Old Glory on them, I am not a lover of white hose, but they work well with this outfit.
I sourced a golf shirt with the Great Seal on the breast, and added a Saltire/USA patch to the sleeve. I added this same patch to a Saltire jacket I bought.
I hope the overall look isn't too bad for an informal outfit.
I have a belt with an Iowa Buckle from the Montana Silversmiths, it is a trouser buckle, I did get my kilt makers leather supplier to make me a custom kilt belt for it, but I did not speak to him personally so something got lost in the translation I guess. I am visiting Iowa for a few weeks in October, if anyone knows a good leather working shop who might be able to help me when I am there, I would be grateful for his/her details.
The outfit gets its first official outing at the Braemar Games this year, my Grandaughter who is a piper in the 19th Royal Artillery Regiment Pipe Band is playing there, so if any of you are there, please give me a shout.(BTW ,She was playing at the Tattoo this year.)
As an aside, my kilt maker (Wendy) has always been at me to stop adding the third hip buckle, as it is uneccessary in a modern kilt, and spoils the hang of the kilt - causes a crease when sitting etc etc. I have read Matthew Newsomes article in the past, who made this very same point, but being a dogmatic old so and so, I refused to even try kilts on unless the third buckle was in place.
Well, Wendy ambushed me by making this one without the third buckle, and being a gift, I couldn.t make my usual fuss about it and tried it on. Guess what, Wendy and Matthew are right, a kilt does look and perform better without it. So following the advice in Matthews piece, out came the sharp scissors, and off came all the third buckles on my kilts - and as Matthew said, no one else has even noticed that they are missing. Now I just have to face Wendy and eat some humble pie. I have added some pics, but the quality doesn't do real justice to the kilt colours. They are really vibrant.