Feileadh Mor Question

[Eric L Russ]

Not sure if I am in the right area for this question, but was wondering why a great kilt cost so much more than a regular kilt a lot of the time? The great kilt is just a piece of cloth that you have to hand pleat yourself. I have seen them start at around $400 base price and for a kilt my size, between 7 and 8 yards for a waist size of around 52 inches, I have to add another almost $200 on top of that. My kilt when I bought it several years ago cost me around $400 and it was the traditional kilt with belt loops, straps, and sewn pleats. Same one in my avatar. Just think it is strange that it would cost so much more. I would love to get a great kilt, but just can't afford the expense right now. I want to start doing some historic Highland camping / survival treks.

[McMurdo]

I am not sure you need the whole 9 yards, reducing yardage would certainly reduce cost. Here are a couple of links to look at regarding the Feileadh Mor

https://albanach.org/of-kilts-and-yardage-cfc932851d03

http://www.tartansauthority.com/highland-dress/ancient/

[Orvis]

I don't think you need eight or nine yards for a belted plaid. I'm not exactly skinny (6' tall and 230 lbs) and four yards is more than ample for my plaid. I do historical Highland reenacting. When I got started in the late 1980's (still not skinny), I was in a recreated 18th c. British Army Highland unit, and started with six yards of double-width government tartan in 13 oz. weight. I found that all this cloth around my waist rubbed up a few blisters as the day went along - too heavy. So I cut back to four, as I was informed that was more authentic (and I've since discovered that 3-1/2 yards of joined double-width tartan was more the rule for private soldiers in the 18th c. regiments) and immediately felt more comfortable without all of that extra weight around my waist. No more blisters. When pleating my plaid, I just did not overlap the pleats quite so much. I found that I could get along with three yards of double-width fabric for a plaid by just not overlapping the folds/pleats at all. Another thing you might want to consider should you get a plaid - adding drawstrings to it so you don't have to find a place to throw it out on the ground/floor to pleat it prior to laying down on it, &c. You can put it on standing up. See http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/A_H..._MacGregor.pdf on Peter MacDonald's web site for more information. In fact, early philabegs and tailored kilts also didn't use much fabric, either. In the 1790's, Highland regiments (such as the 97th Foot - a short-lived Highland regiment) specified that "other ranks" were to receive 3-1/2 yards for their kilts and serjeants were to receive four yards. I am not surprised at this, given how stingy the proprietary colonels could be when it came to uniforming and outfitting their regiments - they were allowed to pocket any surplus funds. Officers, because they bought their own uniform items, could use as much tartan as they wanted. When I got my modern kilts made, I chose to have them made of four yards of 16 oz. tartan and box pleated, as original tailored kilts were. They are very light and comfortable.

When I first start in reenacting, I was able to find tartan at fabric dealers for not much money - sometimes as little as USD $12/yd. As I learned more and wanted more authentic tartans for my plaids and philabegs, I commissioned custom woven tartans through Peter MacDonald, which exactly duplicated 18th c. color ways, offset setts, selvedge construction and so forth. It's a bit more expensive and you may not wish to pursue authenticity in that way, but you can probably come up with good tartan cloth yard goods via eBay or directly from the stock fabrics at a Scottish tartan mill for a reasonable price.

[figheadair]

I wonder if you are confusing single and double width cloth? Typically a (modern) traditional kilt has 7-8 yards of single width material but for a feileadh mor 4 yards double gives you, in effect, the same amount of material. Double width material should always be cheaper than single width cloth relatively speaking.

[Eric L Russ]

I was just going by information from one of the dealers for my suggested amount of fabric for my size. I am a pretty large guy as you can tell by my avatar. I am 6'1" and hitting the 300's in weight, even though I do not look it. Thought it strange that a piece of fabric that is no more than a blanket costs more than an actual sewn kilt. The cloth that I was looking at was 11oz I believe. Thanks for all of the information. I am an old Confederate Reenactor and I do US Army Air Corps with the WWII Airmen's Preservation Society. I have always loved history and love the old Colonial Militia and Longhunter time period. I especially love the Highland Clan period and would like to recreate it as close as I can even if it is just me on walk about. I consider myself a Jacobite by the way since I am descended from the Stewart line that were the Kings of Scotland.

[Eric L Russ]

I am not sure you need the whole 9 yards, reducing yardage would certainly reduce cost. Here are a couple of links to look at regarding the Feileadh Mor

https://albanach.org/of-kilts-and-yardage-cfc932851d03

http://www.tartansauthority.com/highland-dress/ancient/

Thank you for the links. Very informative. Absolutely love the Albanach page.

[Eric L Russ]

I don't think you need eight or nine yards for a belted plaid. I'm not exactly skinny (6' tall and 230 lbs) and four yards is more than ample for my plaid. I do historical Highland reenacting. When I got started in the late 1980's (still not skinny), I was in a recreated 18th c. British Army Highland unit, and started with six yards of double-width government tartan in 13 oz. weight. I found that all this cloth around my waist rubbed up a few blisters as the day went along - too heavy. So I cut back to four, as I was informed that was more authentic (and I've since discovered that 3-1/2 yards of joined double-width tartan was more the rule for private soldiers in the 18th c. regiments) and immediately felt more comfortable without all of that extra weight around my waist. No more blisters. When pleating my plaid, I just did not overlap the pleats quite so much. I found that I could get along with three yards of double-width fabric for a plaid by just not overlapping the folds/pleats at all. Another thing you might want to consider should you get a plaid - adding drawstrings to it so you don't have to find a place to throw it out on the ground/floor to pleat it prior to laying down on it, &c. You can put it on standing up. See http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/A_H..._MacGregor.pdf on Peter MacDonald's web site for more information. In fact, early philabegs and tailored kilts also didn't use much fabric, either. In the 1790's, Highland regiments (such as the 97th Foot - a short-lived Highland regiment) specified that "other ranks" were to receive 3-1/2 yards for their kilts and serjeants were to receive four yards. I am not surprised at this, given how stingy the proprietary colonels could be when it came to uniforming and outfitting their regiments - they were allowed to pocket any surplus funds. Officers, because they bought their own uniform items, could use as much tartan as they wanted. When I got my modern kilts made, I chose to have them made of four yards of 16 oz. tartan and box pleated, as original tailored kilts were. They are very light and comfortable.

When I first start in reenacting, I was able to find tartan at fabric dealers for not much money - sometimes as little as USD $12/yd. As I learned more and wanted more authentic tartans for my plaids and philabegs, I commissioned custom woven tartans through Peter MacDonald, which exactly duplicated 18th c. color ways, offset setts, selvedge construction and so forth. It's a bit more expensive and you may not wish to pursue authenticity in that way, but you can probably come up with good tartan cloth yard goods via eBay or directly from the stock fabrics at a Scottish tartan mill for a reasonable price.

Thank you for the link. I have been looking for information like this for awhile.

[Luke MacGillie]

Here are a couple images of my joined plaid with drawstring installed, based on Peter's examination of the surviving object.

36785204_10156647115573319_1578294245263933440_n.jpg

36856403_10156647120058319_2309129578318135296_n.jpg

[Jumpmonkey]

From what I understand the cost is largely that of the huge amount of material needed. A typical 5 yard kilt can be made from about 2.5 yards of material, because it's woven double width these days. A 5 yard great kilt is going to use, fully 5 yards of double width material. Granted there really aren't any labor costs, but good tartan is not cheap, my off the top of my head recollection is between $70 and maybe up to $90 USD. The raw material cost is just staggering. So the material cost (tartan only) of a 5 yard small kilt would be about $175 and a great kilt $350.

I took a quick look at USA kilts and their pricing seems to reflect about a $75/yard cost, which again, matches up well with what I've seen.

[Luke MacGillie]

In this mixed up modern world, single width is more expensive than double, as the cost of to set up and run the loom is pretty much fixed, but with less finished cloth at the end of the process.