Ghillie Brogues

[Charles Exton]

My Ghillies arrived today, first time tying them, how'd I do?


I had to get a size bigger as I have wider feet, so my feet don't quite fill them out, i'll have to get a nice thick insole to put in them

[Mike S]

The bows actually go in the front. Here is a video how-to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ58MTUxIqc

[Charles Exton]

The bows actually go in the front. Here is a video how-to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ58MTUxIqc

I've seen them to the side aswell


http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articl..._brogues.shtml

I prefer it on the side, inline with the flashes/garters

[JohntheBiker]

I wear them to the side as well.

[OC Richard]

I've posted this photo before, of the 2013 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, hundreds of years of accumulated kilt-wearing on display, showing a variety of Ghillie lace-tying styles



Now that black hose are all the rage with pipe bands, one can't see as clearly the design of Ghillies, or how they're tied.

As much as white hose are disparaged, they do display the unique look of Ghillie brogues very well.

[pbutts]

(OOPS...missed the earlier link
Here's another good how-to by an XMTS member : http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articles/ghillie_brogues.shtml)

The number of twists is really up to you and how long your laces are. I only wear ghillies for piping and have adopted a somewhat superstitious 7 and 7. I like to line up my ties with my flashes.

[Charles Exton]

(OOPS...missed the earlier link
Here's another good how-to by an XMTS member : http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articles/ghillie_brogues.shtml)

The number of twists is really up to you and how long your laces are. I only wear ghillies for piping and have adopted a somewhat superstitious 7 and 7. I like to line up my ties with my flashes.

I seem to prefer 6 and 3, might try 7 and 7 see how that looks

[OC Richard]

I just tie them- no decorative twists.

My legs are too fat, or the ghillie laces are too short, to do anything other than simply tie the things. Besides, I'm usually dressing quickly and I don't have time for fancy stuff.

I just cross them once in front, wrap them around the narrowest part of the ankle (they can't slide down that way) and tie them. I do double-knot them: it wouldn't do to have them come undone while marching about playing the pipes.

BTW I've been wearing those ghillies and that bonnet since I got them in the 1980s.

[Mike S]

Richard, you keep referencing yourself as hefty. You are just tall, not the least bit fat.

I, on the other hand, can indeed correctly claim to be "fat". ;)

[OC Richard]

Various difficult experiences with sizing has made it apparent to me just how big I am, for example:

I went round and round with a hose-maker in Scotland trying to get a pair of hose-tops big enough to fit my 18" calves. I first sent them my calf circumference both in inches and in centimeters but the ones they sent were the diameter of my wrists- they would only fit a skinny-legged youth.

The second pair they sent were barely bigger, so next I sent them a loop of paper to show them in a way that could not possibly be misinterpreted just how big my calves are. The third pair they sent could just barely fit me, very tightly. This Scottish firm just couldn't wrap their minds around 18" calves, evidently.

So, I had an American firm with a good relationship to a different hose-maker order me a pair. When the American firm received the hose-tops from Scotland they warned me that they were absurdly huge, that I would have to wash them in hot water to shrink them down to fit. When they arrived I found that they fit perfectly.

Now an aside for us pipers: being a big person I had for many years played a big bag. (For non-pipers, know that pipe bags come in a range of sizes.) Back in the 70s and 80s all the good pipers around here played big L&M "elkhide" bags. Just five years ago, after 35 years piping, I finally switched to a sheepskin bag in the old traditional smallish size, and I realise now that I've been playing bags that are too big my whole life.