Plaid shoulder attatchment

[Kevin Still]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for accepting me.
Just finishing making a coat and vest for reenactment in the 45.
I have a question about attachment of the plaid to the back of the shoulder, to put the bodkin through, how was this done?
Any painting/ engravings

[Pleater]

Not quite getting this - you have a separate plaid, or is it the top part of the kilt?

Anne the Pleater

[Kevin Still]

Hi Anne,
To attatch the top of a great kilt, 1745 era.
Haven't found any paintings etc that show how it's attached.
You can see in the 1743 mutiny engravings, the bunch at the top of the plaid, just behind the shoulder, but not how it's afixed.
As the bodkin would not go through the coat.

[Pleater]

Well - the usual thing to do is to tuck the vertical edges of the upper/outside part along the waist towards the back and you can then put on your sporran and jacket.
There are two corners where the folded back triangles meet the lower edge of the outer part as it hangs down. The right corner is brought in front to the left shoulder and the left corner goes behind and is brought over to the front and the two are joined together. I only tried it a few times, and used a bit of dowel behind the crossed over corners, then a piece of cord behind one edge of the dowel across the corners under the other side of the dowel, first in an open ring then a figure of 8, and I tied the cord around me, hidden under the fabric, to hold the join in place and the dowel low enough so it didn't jab my neck.

You need to have both parts joined up to balance the weight.
If you just pinned the right corner to the shoulder of the jacket somehow I think it would it would drag the jacket back all the time.
I am in no way an experienced wearer of a great kilt - after a few times of it getting caught on door handles and sweeping shelves and tables clear I converted it into a dressing gown.

There should be information about putting on a plaid or great kilt on the internet, I'd have thought.

Anne the Pleater

[figheadair]

Unsurprisingly, this has been discussed before - see this thread.

As a general observation, the use of a bodkin seems to have first been referenced by Martin Martin's ' A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland. London 1703. However, it is clear from some of the commentary that Martin was writing about things he'd never seen; his comments therefore need to be viewed with a degree of scepticism.

There are a handful of surviving mid-18th century Highlands coats. fewer than six, and all looks to have been cut to be worn with trews, not the full plaid. None shows any evidence of pin damage. Portraits of the time show plaids with bows on the corners and these may have been intended for attaching to button of the epaulette. That was certainly the practice with half-plaids (the separate upper portion) at the begging of the 19th century. These, example below, are quite likely to reflect an older style.

[Pleater]

I took various forms of kilt with me for the week long Sidmouth folk festival - you can wear anything there, quite honestly.
I like to try out various garments.
My monika Pleater is from my making of English smocks originally.

I can't see that having the considerable weight of the upper part of a great kilt pinned to your shoulder is going to work well.
If there was a loop of ribbon attached to the suspension point, I'd be much inclined to try it out as the fixing point for a cord which is brought forward and tied either around the body or down to a belt in order to keep it in place.

Garments need to be balanced to be comfortable when worn.

The upper part of the great kilt has folds which are similar to a toga, and if well secured - possibly with two belts, one in the fold and one outside it, they can form a handy shopping bag, or for smaller items you can make a sinus and tie the top with one of the ever useful pieces of cord I tend to have about my person accessible either inside or outside the folds. The trick with costume is to wear it as though you have never known any other clothing.

Anne the Pleater

[OC Richard]

In the military anyhow the plaid (philamore) was attached to the shoulder by ribbons, not a pin or brooch.

When the philamore was discontinued around 1800 a smaller plaid was adopted for Full Dress which was worn by all Other Ranks until 1914 and still worn today by regimental drummers, and these too are attached by ribbons rather than a pin or brooch.

[Father Bill]

Out of idle curiosity Richard, were those ribbons then tied around an epaulette or a button, or...

In the military anyhow the plaid (philamore) was attached to the shoulder by ribbons, not a pin or brooch.

When the philamore was discontinued around 1800 a smaller plaid was adopted for Full Dress which was worn by all Other Ranks until 1914 and still worn today by regimental drummers, and these too are attached by ribbons rather than a pin or brooch.

[figheadair]

Out of idle curiosity Richard, were those ribbons then tied around an epaulette or a button, or...

Yes, yes and...., yes. It depends on the coat style and time period.

[Luke MacGillie]