breacan faile

[Jerom]

I have a great kilt and every time I put it on it looks different. Ok, but never the same twice. Anyone have advice? Thanks.

Jerom

[Southern Breeze]

Can you be a bit more specific? Some details would be nice-kilt type,material,weight etc.Don't worry,you'll find the answers here.

[Kiltedfirepiper]

it may not ever be EXACTLY the same , but it will look similar...

I lay mine out ( its wool/cotton blend from hancocks fabric double width(64" wide and 9 yrds.long) the full length and start by laying my elbow on the edge and use my fingertips as the mesurement for the apron. I pleat it so that it pleated to stripe and when I get close to the end I use my elbow-to-fingertip as the mesurement for the other apron. then I lay down ( did I mention that I put my belt under it from the left side after I pleat it ) and figure out where to slide the belt ( up / down) so that the back of the kilt will rest at the BACK of the knee ( personal prefrence as I like the back to hang a little lower than the front on a great kilt) I belt it up tighter than a normal belt ( remember its holding all that fabric up! and you dont want to end up nekid :mrgreen: ) then I stand up find the center( back ) of the plaid and pull it to my left shoulder. NOW if the apron is correct the RIGHT side will be on the front right? ( confused yet? ) :-) well all that fabric thats hanging up front you need to do somthing with, what I do it grab that right side and pull ity up to be attached to the back that Im holding on my left shoulder ( connect it w/ a penulair(sp) broach) now you still have that left front part to deal with ....well I tuck it into the left side of the kilt ( so it leaves an open space on the left side .....you should be able to see shirt on that side ) as far as the plaid is concerned it should have some fabric on both sides that hang ..the right side I let hand ...the left side I tuck underneath the back part of the plaid and into the kilt to keep it out of the way. with practice you should almost have pleats going all the way up to your shoulder with some nice hang on the right side which doubles as a carryall ( I went into a grocery store and was able to carry 1 gal. milk and about 7 other items w/o a problem!


hope this wasnt too confusing .....its alot easier to SHOW then tell :razz:

yours
Scott

[Graham]

Life is complicated enough, do yourself a favour, get a philabeg, it goes on the same every time :mrgreen:

[Owl of Oban]

Life is complicated enough, do yourself a favour, get a philabeg, it goes on the same every time :mrgreen:

Aye, there's a reason the philabeg was invented! Save the great kilt for ren faire. I'm betting the lads in the highlands didna care if their pleats were pleated to stripe or sett as they belted up in the cold dewy morning....they just wanted to get warm!

[davedove]

From what I've seen in different pictures, there are a multitude of different ways to arrange the great kilt. So relax and work with it until you find the way you like best.

[Piper]

Try this site, fairly good instructions.
www.theweebsite.com/index.html

[Ranald]

There seems to be a missuse of the word philabeg( sorry if the spellings wrong), but when philabeg is mentioned I read old style kilt , plaid laid out by hand pleated and belted on.
No not great kilt(fileagh mhor), philabeg is just one with not two lengths sewn together.
Your thoughts please.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Seeing as the belted plaid (aka great kilt, breacan feile, and feilidh-mhor) was an untailored garment, and there are many ways and styles of wearing it, it very well may look different each time you put it on. But with practice, you'll find it gets easier with time.

No offence to Scott, but what he describes is just a bit much, both in terms of fabric and the effort put into it. So let me describe a simpler and more accurate method.

Begin with your cloth (I recommend a medium-to-heavy weight wool, but since this garment is untailored and unpressed, you can get by with blends and other materials moreso than in a modern kilt). It should be at least wide enough to go from your knees to above your head (standard double width fabric usually works fine) and about 4 yards long (maybe as much as 5 for larger guys). Nine yards is entirely too much! The average total length of the belted plaids historically was about 4 to 4.5 yards.

Lay the plaid out on the floor. Kneel down at one end. You'll want to leave a length about half your waist size unpleated. From there, gather the rest of the material up into pleats. It's really better if you think of this as loose folding or gathering, rather than pleating. Don't attempt to pleat to a certain stripe, or to make each and every pleat the same size. Remember this is not a modern kilt! Believe me, the messier your pleats look the more "authentic" looking the end results will be. The goal is to have a gathered section that is also about half your waist size. Then at the other end of that, leave a length unpleated that is half your waist size again.

Now lay down on the pleated section of the plaid, with the bottom where you want it to fall on or above your knees. Take the right section of the plaid and wrap it around to your left. Then take the left section and pull it around to your right. Take your belt (you do have your belt handy, right?!) and run it under your back and then belt the whole thing securely in place.

Stand up. You'll now have all this extra upper portion hanging down over your belt. There are any number of ways to arrange this -- I'll just tell you one usual method. Take the front two corners and bring them around to the small of your back and tuck them into your belt. This will create two little "pouches" hanging in front of you, and also get the material out of the way allowing you to access your sporran, etc.

Grab the material hanging towards the middle (or just right of center) of your back and bring the edge up over your left shoulder (assuming you are right handed). Hold this in place with your left hand. Now reach underneath your left arm and grab the endge of the cloth that is hanging there and bring it up across the front of your shoulder and pin these two peices of cloth together (you do have a nice penannular brooch handy, don't you?!).

Viola! You are now wearing the great kilt. Like Scott said, it sounds complicated, but it is really easier to show someone than to tell them. Just ask if you have any questions. And remember there are lots of ways to do it!