Are there any kilt makers in the UK which stand above others in quality?

**North40** · 23rd February 25, 04:24 PM

Is it pretty easy to get an accurate jacket measurement by yourself with the help of another person? Or is it something you would recommend getting done in person?

Originally Posted by kilted2000

If you want a hand sewn kilt then consider forum member and sponsor Barbera Tewksbury.

Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc

I just had a kilt made by Barb Tewksbury[...]

I appreciate the other recommendation. I'll have to keep her name in mind in-case something happens and I'm not able to get a kilt from Braw Kilts.

**kilted2000** · 23rd February 25, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by North40

Is it pretty easy to get an accurate jacket measurement by yourself with the help of another person? Or is it something you would recommend getting done in person?

I appreciate the other recommendation. I'll have to keep her name in mind in-case something happens and I'm not able to get a kilt from Braw Kilts.

They are website has instructions on measuring yourself with someone else’s help but you could also have a local alterations tailor do it.

**North40** · 23rd February 25, 04:37 PM

I'll have to keep that in mind, thanks.

**jsrnephdoc** · 23rd February 25, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by North40

Is it pretty easy to get an accurate jacket measurement by yourself with the help of another person? Or is it something you would recommend getting done in person?

Most people never have a suit or jacket tailor made. If they did, there wouldn't be a huge "ready to wear" business with very well respected shops such as Nordstrom, or J Press, or Brooks Brothers. But we all differ in how our shoulders and necks articulate with our chests, so if you want a perfect fit you'd either get it made to measure or have a tailor make minor adjustment, but adjustment more complicated than just hemming the length of pant legs.

I picked up a Prince Charlie jacket (probably from previous rental use) at some Highland Games about 3 years ago. I don't remember how much I paid, but it wasn't much more than $100 for jacket and waistcoat (that actually came from different used clothing vendors. The labels inside say they were made in Scotland The satin lapels are a bit wrinkled, and the collar doesn't quite work with my crooked neck. Most people wouldn't notice, but they both bother me. On the other hand, the PC is the highland wear item that least commonly comes out of my closet, so I'll probably just wear it once or twice a year and not worry about it.

**North40** · 23rd February 25, 04:56 PM

That's a good point. I think(?) I should be fine just getting a general measurement and buying one of their "prepared" sizes for the jacket/vest. A bit apprehensive since I've never gotten measured for formal wear or a suit before and the jackets are quite the investment.

Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc

][...]and the collar doesn't quite work with my crooked neck. Most people wouldn't notice, but they both bother me.

I guess the silver lining to this, relatively speaking, is that you didn't pay a substantial sum of money for the PC lol.

**OC Richard** · 27th February 25, 08:10 AM

Another vote for Cathy Hope, "Braw Kilts" in Edinburgh.

**OC Richard** · 27th February 25, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc

You can get a very nice kilt from USA kilts.

I've had two kilts made by a Glasgow company called St. Kilda Kilts, and I think they're both very nice as well.

I've been told that the two biggest USA kilt places, USA Kilts and J. Higgins, machine sew the pleats even on their top-of-the-line kilts.

There are no visible stitches, and you have to look really close to see that they're not hand-stitched.

The method is to machine-sew each pleat of the reverse side, then flip it over.

About St Kilda Kilts, it's one of the subsidiary firms of St Kilda Holdings Ltd.

They're a Glasgow umbrella firm under which are

-Gaelic Themes Ltd

-St Kilda Kilts (AKA St Kilda Store)

-R G Hardie & Co

-Peter Henderson

Gaelic Themes Ltd is their Highland outfitter branch, they make (or have made for them) kilts, kilt jackets, sporrans, hose, etc. From time to time when a firm goes out of business Gaelic Themes acquires them, for example in 2005 they acquired Carrick Jewellery. https://gaelicthemes.com/

St Kilda Kilts (or St Kilda Store) is their online retail shop. They used to have a brick & mortar shop, now closed, near St George's Cross in Glasgow (the Underground station). https://stkildastore.com/?gad_source...hoCa9YQAvD_BwE

As far as I know the Gaelic Themes/St Kilda kilts, like those of USA Kilts and J. Higgins, are all machine sewn. The ones I've seen are, at least.

RG Hardie and Peter Henderson are former pipemaking firms which went out of business years ago. St Kilda Holdings acquired the rights to revive their firm names, which are used for St Kilda Holdings' pipemaking branch. https://rghardiebagpipes.com/

**jsrnephdoc** · 27th February 25, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

I've been told that the two biggest USA kilt places, USA Kilts and J. Higgins, machine sew the pleats even on their top-of-the-line kilts.

There are no visible stitches, and you have to look really close to see that they're not hand-stitched.

The method is to machine-sew each pleat of the reverse side, then flip it over.

About St Kilda Kilts, it's one of the subsidiary firms of St Kilda Holdings Ltd.

They're a Glasgow umbrella firm under which are

-Gaelic Themes Ltd

-St Kilda Kilts (AKA St Kilda Store)

-R G Hardie & Co

-Peter Henderson

Gaelic Themes Ltd is their Highland outfitter branch, they make (or have made for them) kilts, kilt jackets, sporrans, hose, etc. From time to time when a firm goes out of business Gaelic Themes acquires them, for example in 2005 they acquired Carrick Jewellery. https://gaelicthemes.com/

St Kilda Kilts (or St Kilda Store) is their online retail shop. They used to have a brick & mortar shop, now closed, near St George's Cross in Glasgow (the Underground station). https://stkildastore.com/?gad_source...hoCa9YQAvD_BwE

As far as I know the Gaelic Themes/St Kilda kilts, like those of USA Kilts and J. Higgins, are all machine sewn. The ones I've seen are, at least.

RG Hardie and Peter Henderson are former pipemaking firms which went out of business years ago. St Kilda Holdings acquired the rights to revive their firm names, which are used for St Kilda Holdings' pipemaking branch. https://rghardiebagpipes.com/

Thanks for the clarifications. I knew NONE of that, except that my kilts (I have two) from St. Kilda contain a label inside that says "Gaelic Themes," and that they do not have an open-to-the-public shop.

However, I'd like to add an endorsement to their ethics.

My entry into wearing tartan was early in life, because my Dad was SO proud of his heritage. He was a devout Episcopalian priest, but had he been permitted to wear a kilt instead of a chasuble to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, I think he would have done so. So, we three kids had tartan ties and crests on our blazer jackets by the time we were 5. Only late in life were my parents able to afford trips to Pitlochry for clan gatherings, but when they could, they certainly DID. I played the pipes (badly), in my college's Pipes and Drums Corps, wearing my sister's Robertson Red kilt (which she tells me now I never returned to her).

My Dad left us well more than a decade before my mom, after which his highland wear languished in his closet until HER death. Both parents had pipers at their requiems and at their adjacent gravesites, and my mom went to rest in her Robertson Red regalia (but dressed by the undertaker with the pleats IN FRONT).

My Dad's kilts were WAY too large for me, so eventually they went to a properly large nephew, but I inherited his Argyll and Prince Charlie jackets, and about a decade later found a wonderful seamstress in Santa Rosa, CA (where we lived) who was able to whittle them both to my diminutive but corpulent frame, after which I went to Wm Glenn & Son in SF (very nice shop, by the way, just off Union Square), and purchased my very first personally selected kilt. At the time I was amazed by the sheer number of "Robertson" tartans. Fabric weight and mill variations were totally beyond me, as was the tartan registry. But, I still got a quite nice kilt, in Robertson Hunting (Modern), from which mill or maker I no longer have the foggiest notion. But, aside from a few weddings and concerts and formal dinners at medical meetings, my "stuff" rested in my closet most of the time until consumed by the Sonoma County "Tubbs" fire, along with everything else I owned, on October 8, 2017.

That "hit" made me think I'd never be kilted again, but within the next year, my older son (anonymously at first) began to make little trinkets appear at our fire-refuge doorstep just south of Santa Rosa (a clan history tome, a dress sporran), and then, shortly after we moved to Montana, a barathea kilt jacket from Kinloch Anderson, followed shortly by a Robertson ANCIENT hunting kilt from USA Kilts. And his generosity has triggered the primary interests of my retirement—Scottish history and Celtic clothing.

My son was adopted at birth, and his ethnicity is decidedly different from mine, but his fascination with Scotland's military history and language dramatically surpasses my own. Often, I don't know even what CONTINENT he's on. A few years back when he came to visit he greeted me at the Missoula Airport in a pair of Trews in Robertson Red (Dark) that came from St. Kilda (and House of Edgar, I think), and I lOVED that tartan. I had a kilt made from it by USA Kilts, and I wear it frequently.

In the context of obtaining that kilt, I came to know a bit about one of the company's principals, who is also a Glasgow University history professor and published author. He always responds to my emails in ways that enhance my own knowledge.

When we visited Scotland in the Summer of 2023, we toured Lochcarron Mills, where I discovered their new "Robertson Hunting, Weathered" tartan (now in my favorite kilt, made for me by St. Kilda. BUT when St. Kilda ordered the fabric from Lochcarron, the folks there did a BIG TIME "oops" and substituted their "Robertson Red, Weathered" cloth. The St. Kilda kiltmakers dutifully made it up into an 8 yd kilt; imagine my surprise when I opened the package only to discover light green and almost-pink instead of deep greens and browns. I emailed my friend at St. Kilda, who investigated immediately and discovered the error at Lochcarron. His response: he GIFTED me that kilt, admittedly one I never would have purchased knowingly, but still a carefully constructed 8 yd Strome cloth garment that many would be proud of, AND arranged for a new kilt in the fabric I'd originally chosen to be made for me at no additional cost.

As for the machine stitching of the pleats in St. Kilda's and USA Kilts's "premier" garments is concerned, I think what's most important is that almost no one can tell the difference when looking at the wearer. USA Kilts also make kilts using identical fabric but "top-stitching" the pleats, which IS detectable to the trained eye, but it's much easier to sew, and so USA Kilts sells them for a considerably lower price. There is a kiltmaker on YouTube who "disses" USA Kilts's products, but people EXTRAORDINARILY highly regarded in this business dismiss his complaints as misleading and erroneous. And, although USA Kilts does not make completely hand-sewn garments, their hearts are DECIDEDLY in the right place, as anyone who tunes in first Friday every month to their live You Tube sessions will learn quickly. And, you're likely to find a Principal from Lochcarron or House of Edgar, or Barb Tewksbury, or even the Tartan Authority interviewed during those light-hearted productions.

**jsrnephdoc** · 27th February 25, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Another vote for Cathy Hope, "Braw Kilts" in Edinburgh.

What (asymmetrical?) tartan? Is it Cathy's work?

Nice bonnet, by the way

**Jock Scot** · 27th February 25, 10:24 AM

I can't say that I bother to venture into kilt shops these days as I have more than enough kilt attire to see me through for the foreseeable future. But, Chisholms of Inverness could well still be making kilts and if they are, you will have a fine garment that will last for years. The one they made for me is still going strong after many decades.

Yes, it was a tight fit on occasion and at the moment it is a tad loose but..............the kilt is perfectly sound and wearable even after some occasional rough use. I am afraid that I don't need a tartan collection in kilt form that many of you seem to require. Frankly, I really do not understand the need.