landscaping X-Kilt

[Alan H]

Way cool! I have absolutely no skills to make a X-Kilt no matter how much I want to.

Yeah, and the more times you tell yourself that, the more strongly you believe it....

....dead wrong though you may be....

Some people don't WANT to make an X-Kilt. They'd rather buy their kilts. OK, then, no problem! There are other people who had all their fingers chopped off in logging accidents. They might not be able to make an X-kilt, either. Same goes for people who are blind. Same goes for people who live in tiny, tiny studio apartments that are the size of a closet and never, ever ever ever get out anywhere else where they might be able to beg, mooch or schmooze some space for a weekend to set up a sewing machine. Those people exist.

I guess I have to amend my previous post, though. There IS one more thing that you must have in order to make an X-Kilt.... I mean, besides access to a sewing machine. It's very simple, it costs nothing, but having this thing is priceless and will serve you well in life, generally.

you must have the self-confidence to believe that you can learn something new, and that you CAN make an X-Kilt if you try.

[CMcG]

Let's get this straight...

Can you use a circular saw to cut one foot of length off a 4-foot piece of 2 x 4 lumber?

Can you use a tape measure to measure the distance between two points on the floor?

Can you solve this math problem? 22 - 8 = ????

Can you read this post?

Can you get in the car, drive to a store, and buy thread and cloth?

If you can do those things, you have the skill set to make an X-Kilt.

Hey, I can do all those things!

Maybe this summer I'll actually give it a try... I don't have access to a sewing machine though, so it might be a rather slow process

[Alan H]

By now, well over 200 X Kilts have been made by guys on this board. Some did it on their own. Some had help from their moms. Some had help from their girlfriends. Most had no help whatsoever. Farlander got the instructions, bought the material and went to work one Friday night....having never sewn before in his life....and he had a bang-up X Kilt when his wife came home from a weekend training seminar, on Sunday night. She STILL goes on about it in shock.

There are dozens, if not hundreds of stories like this. I can't come close to remembering how many guys who never have sewn in their lives who got ten minutes of instruction on how to thread a sewing machine and adjust the tension, and who then just took a deep breath and dove in....and fifteen hours later they had an X-Kilt. Their women stare at them in awe and raging desire, their friends scratch their heads in admiration. This could be YOU. Trust me. I am not making this up, nor am I exaggerating. Are you a total all-thumbs dork? Fine, then your X-Kilt might take you 18 hours. Will it be as nice as a Freedom Kilt? No. Will it be totally wearable for Manly Activities like hiking, taking out the garbage, changing the oil in your car, and drinking beer with other manly men at the pub? Well, *duh*.

NO EXCUSES.

[Alan H]

Hey, I can do all those things!

Maybe this summer I'll actually give it a try... I don't have access to a sewing machine though, so it might be a rather slow process

Craigslist.

After making about fifteen kilts with my mothers old black Singer from the 1950's, I just got tired of not having a sewing machine with a zig-zag. Not that you can't make an X-Kilt on a sewing machine that lacks zig-zag (I've done it, in fact I am wearing a reverse kinguisse kilt as I write this, that I made on a no-zig-zag machine) but it DOES make things easier.

My old Brother late 70's machine is no fancy machine. It sews straight lines and it sews zig-zag. You can vary the number of stitches per inch, and you can vary the width of the zig-zag. That's it. Period. Oh, and you can sew in reverse....they all do that. It cost me $40.

[llyd]

If i can...you can...am startong my fifth...they are starting to not suck.
I just scored a noce wool kilted skirt at a thrift store that i. am going to attempt
To modify into an inserted box pleat....

[Alan H]

Oh, there is one other thing you probably should have....

You should be familiar with the catchphrase "measure twice, cut once" and what it means and how much grief it's going to save you.

[Alan H]

If i can...you can...am startong my fifth...they are starting to not suck.
I just scored a noce wool kilted skirt at a thrift store that i. am going to attempt
To modify into an inserted box pleat....

Bah! I bet your first one didn't suck. And even if it did, the second one was better and I bet you wear it. By the third one, you're well past the apprentice stage and by the fifth one, you're a Master. And NOW....NOW, you are taking what you learned and going beyond the X - Kilt. . You are applying the skills you have honed and the basic principles you learned and you are making something that is truly your own, by incorporating those inserted box pleats.

Tartan Hiker...who is a phenomenal kiltmaker, I know, I've seen his work and it's excellent....he started out by making an X-Kilt. What did Tartan Hiker have going for him?

Just this: a positive, "I can do this" attitude. It didn't hurt that he had a downstairs room where he could spread out, and a wife who tolerates if not encourages wackiness, but aside from that...*bah*. And NOW look at what he creates.

Llwd, that can be you, if you want it to be.

[llyd]

The first one sucks...but i wear it...i just turned one out that i am quite proud of...done in a suit wool fashion tartan...need to do a bit of tailoring to it...the deep pleats stick out a bit at bottom..

[Whidbey78]

First off, that is a nice X-Kilt. Good choice of cam. Nice personal touches.

To add to Alan H's rant:

Mine first one turned out okay. The other five were better. Measure, mark, fold, pin, sew. Pretty simple. You don't even really have to pin it, I just do. Try modifying a suit jacket for kilt wear. It's pretty simple too.

Want a challenge? Try scraping by in high school PRE-algebra (low C), barely graduate high school, and then 15 years later decide you want to become an engineer. I taught myself algebra, trig, geometry and some calculus in about 9 months, with a little help from a friend and some used textbooks. Took the ACT and was placed in Calculus...I couldn't have told you what calculus was two years ago. Last semester I had the second highest final exam score in my CALC II class. Not bad for a dumb kid who struggled with simple fractions. My point is, the difficulty is usually in your own mind.

The only thing hard about most new things is just deciding that maybe you can do it.

[Old Hippie]

Can you use a circular saw to cut one foot of length off a 4-foot piece of 2 x 4 lumber? (...snip...) ...you have the skill set to make an X-Kilt.

Two of my sewing machines are straight-stitch; the other one is chain-stitch. I think my next one will have a zig-zag setting, because along with reverse it's the thing I miss most about not having an electric machine. I'll be looking for a nice new Janome treadle head soon! Then I'll add kilts to my repertoire along with bed linen, bow ties and sewn hats.

Besides, I could use some more kilts.

:ootd: