Rainy Day Kilt #3

[O'Neille]

What do you do when there are nothing but severe thunderstorms all day?......Make a kilt. I went to a couple thrift stores this morning and found a couple nice pieces of wool, one is a symmetrical tartan that will be nice for something for my daughter and the other was an asymmetrical tartan that I figured might be enough to make myself a wool hiking kilt. I'm not to fond of cotton when there is a possibility of getting it wet. I don't like hypothermia. So here is my first one dollar kilt. It took even less time to make as I didn't have to make any marks on it as they were already there and I didn't have to sew the pleats. It sure beat cleaning the house.

The hardest part was joining the two pieces I cut because the tartan is asymmetrical. Just a few minutes of head scratching.


Three views of the completed project. It is a USAK casual replica in wool.




Tomorrow if not thunderstorming it will be somewhere in the Huachuca mountains. O'Neille

[pbpersson]

My goodness! You're just churning out kilts like mad! I'm very impressed!

[Tattoo Bradley]

WOW!!

[BronxKilt]

Tres Bien!!

[billmcc]

Looks good. How many yards of material did you use? Do you know the weight of the wool?

I wonder if USAK would make their Casual kilt in wool and how much it would cost.

[Tattoo Bradley]

Looks good. How many yards of material did you use? Do you know the weight of the wool?

I wonder if USAK would make their Casual kilt in wool and how much it would cost.

What a thought....

[RockyR]

Looks good. How many yards of material did you use? Do you know the weight of the wool?

I wonder if USAK would make their Casual kilt in wool and how much it would cost.

CAN we make it in wool? Yes... how much would it cost? Probably around $250. Remember, WORSTED wool is about $50 / yard. When you have to get 2.5 yards of material (our casuals average about 5 yards... sometimes more) and then factor in labor, you're roughly where you'd be for one of our "5 yard wool"s (with straps and buckles and fringe and whatnot...).

We (in the past) have gotten "lessor quality" wool at local fabric stores and on "fabric row" in Philly, but the quality just wasn't there. That's why we use PV as our "low cost alternative" to wool for our casuals and Semi Trads.

[O'Neille]

Looks good. How many yards of material did you use? Do you know the weight of the wool?

I wonder if USAK would make their Casual kilt in wool and how much it would cost.

I had a piece about two yards long and after cutting and splicing I had about 4 yards. You'll notice I didn't put a fringe on to save material. This material is about the same weight as the USAK PV. That's why I got it. I find a lot of material that just isn't heavy enough. This is just going to be a camping/hiking kilt so I'm not too concerned about the look and quality, just the comfort. It was very comfortable today when I went up the mountain before I got soaked. I did stay warm though, I'm sure I would have frozen in a canvas/cotton material. Getting the material for a dollar was a good thing. It was also a good experiment for my first experience with wool.

I would encourage those of you who are going to make your first kilt to look into some found or inexpensive wool. Take a tape measure with you when shopping so you can make sure you'll have enough material. I thought that it went very quickly because I could lay out the pleats in very little time using the existing pattern for reference. It holds a pleat wonderfully and hides stitches very well. Rocky has already responded as to the cost of a casual in wool. If I were to factor in my time and a normal materials cost it would cost me more to make one than Rocky would charge. But keep your eyes open and you never know when you'll find a bargain just waiting to become a kilt. O'Neille