I have just finished making myself a kilt, and am both surprised and pleased with the result ; it turned out easier than I had feared.

Quite by chance, I saw some tartan fabric in shop, Stewart grey, and couldn’t resist. 2 metres of double width, plenty for my 28-inch waist. I decided to go for few pleats, but deep ones, pleating to the stripe. In this way, the kilt is lightweight, but has swing, and there were no complicated calculations to find work out where to put the folds. A lot of pinning up, repinning, stitching and restitching, but I did it.

I pleated it so that there was a maximum of red showing at the back when hanging straight, the light grey becoming visible as the pleats move. It’s a deeper red than the orangy red of a Royal Stewart, and the contrast is quite striking.

I didn’t bother with a lining. A leather belt will stop strain on the cloth or the stitiching.

It’s polyester, and I have no idea whether this will prove a good material, but for the moment it looks good. Unfortunately, the weather has now turned cold, so the new kilt is no longer suitable, but I have 3 heavyweight and 3 lightweight wool kilts to get me through the winter, so I won’t freeze.

Ah, to think that less than a month ago, light cotton kilt and shirt were more than enough (sigh).

Martin,
In Grenoble, France.
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