The one most important factor, IMHO ....

[Alan H]

...in getting/making a really nice looking kilt, in my humble opinion...


...is starting with first-class tartan.

Let's say, for example, that you're on a tight budget and you just simply can't spend the $$$ not now, not for years, on a many-yard, mostly-handsewn kilt. You can't have dozens of kilts, maybe you can have one knockaround and one "nice" one and that's all you can afford and that's all you know you'll be able to afford for a long time. In my humble opinion it would be better to get a machine-sewn kilt of somewhat less yardage, but of first class materials, than to buy a many-yard kilt made out of lower quality stuff. There's no question that the skill level of the tailor/seamstress has a huge impact on the quality of a kilt, but if really strapped, this would be my order of priorities for my "nice" kilt..


1. first quality 100% worsted wool tartan in 13 or 16 ounce stuff

2. hand-sewn pleats and other handwork.

3. "more" yardage of tartan.

Assuming the same sett size, a "FIVE-YARD" machine-sewn (pleats are machine-topstitched) kilt of top quality 13-16 ounce stuff is probably better-looking for 'dress-up" than an "eight-yard" kilt, even hand-sewn, of lightweight blended tartan.

This is not to say that lightweight blended tartan doesn't have it's place, it sure does. I have several of them and I wear them all the time. I wear a self-made machine-topstitched wool-poly blend kilt in the Lindsay tartan ALL the time and love it. But for my "Nice" kilt, if I had to pick...

...spend money on the fabric, first.

*just my opinion, what's yours?*******

[pdcorlis]

Its hard to beat wool... cool in the summer, warm in the winter, nearly fireproof compared to synthetic materials, and as durable as iron. Add to that the value added by fine tartan mills weaving countless stunning tartans and its an almost unbeatable fabric.

I'm with you Alan - 13 or 16 ounce worsted wool is the foundation for a kilt that can give anyone joy for decades!

[bricelythgoe]

Ok, I have a question then. I am in your situation. I have a USAK casual that I wear to anywhere except a formal gathering. I absolutely love that kilt. I need a NICE kilt. Something for a formal gathering. What would you recommend I do? I don't have the time to make one myself. Who would YOU purchase it from? (assuming they have high quality tartan fabric you have described)

Brice

[Alan H]

Ok, I have a question then. I am in your situation. I have a USAK casual that I wear to anywhere except a formal gathering. I absolutely love that kilt. I need a NICE kilt. Something for a formal gathering. What would you recommend I do? I don't have the time to make one myself. Who would YOU purchase it from? (assuming they have high quality tartan fabric you have described)

Brice

I would go to Burnetts and Struth and look into their "casual kilt" sale.

http://www.burnetts-struth.com/index.php?cPath=149

Be sure to switch that site over to USA dollars if you're in the USA. $157, right now. That's for a machine-sewn, made to measure (not off-the-rack) wool kilt. If they have a tartan that interests you, I cannot see how it's possible to beat that deal, I just can't. It's incredible.

Second choice.... if you just absolutely flat-out can not make one, if you simply cannot spend $350 on a kilt..... then go to Scotweb (topmost link on this page) and find this link:

"Kilt, The Balmoral traditional 8 yard kilt with Flashes"

click on it, then look over to the right for the links to "clearance" and "in stock". Search for a while for a kilt in your size in a tartan that you like. It might take a while, that Hall hand-sewn has been there for months. Most of the kilts will be in the $300+ range, but there are a few in the $200's.

BTW, my personal situation is that I wear kilts several days a week to work and "around". Therefore, I have several knockarounds....a USA Kilts casual, a Gold Brothers kilt, a couple of lightweight wool/poly blend kilts that I made and a polyester-viscose clan tartan kilt that I bought online from Scotland. I also have a couple of heavier-weight kilts for more dressy situations. My X Marks tartan kilt, for example is a 6-yard 13ounce wool kilt and it's my "dressiest". That will be supplemented in a few months by my Ancient MacNaughton "8-yard". So I am lucky enough to be able to afford several kilts, primarily because I make nearly all of them.

But if you simply absolutely can not or will not make any kilts, and can only afford two, then that is what I would do.

[bricelythgoe]

BTW, my personal situation is that I wear kilts several days a week to work and "around". Therefore, I have several knockarounds....

I am lucky to wear a kilt twice a month. I have casual kilted fridays for school (wear I work) and then any other holidays I can justify as being holiday to wear a kilt. Honestly, I wish I was in your situation.

[bricelythgoe]

Wow, that was quite an explanation just for me! Thank you for taking the time to explain that. I am going to look at what tartans Burnetts and Struth have. That is right in my price range. I almost have 100 dollars saved up. I am almost there. I am also looking at a kilt being offered to me by a member here that lives close to wear I do. I am still deciding though.

Brice

[Alan H]

Ok, I have a question then. I am in your situation. I have a USAK casual that I wear to anywhere except a formal gathering. I absolutely love that kilt. I need a NICE kilt. Something for a formal gathering. What would you recommend I do? I don't have the time to make one myself. Who would YOU purchase it from? (assuming they have high quality tartan fabric you have described)

Brice

I gotta say one thing, though... If you honestly can not justify spending $157 plus shipping for a nice kilt...and I've been in budget situations when I was younger that I sure could not....but if you can't, then there's no point in stressing out over it. $157 for a wool kilt, made to measure is not jut a good deal, it's a STUPID-good deal.

Think for a minute. Let's pretend these are "five yard kilts". OK, that means they contain roughly two and a half yards of 16 ounce tartan, right? Go look up the price of 16 ounce tartan!!! Even if Burnetts and Struth gets a 50% "to the trade' deal on those tartans, they STILL are going to cost $35-$40 a yard. Do the math.

2.5 yards X $40 a yard = $100

That's how much the CLOTH costs. Oh, do they have buckles, too? YES. OK, so add $10 for the straps and buckles. Gosh, do they have a liner? YES...OK so add $5 for the cloth for the liner.

Now we're at $115 JUST FOR THE MATERIALS... That leaves them $42 to pay some Schmoe to stitch the thing up for you. Forty two bucks? it's going to take at least 6-8 hours to sew one of these things up, who the heck can work an 8-hour day for $42????? Do you work all day for $42? That's $7.00 an hour.

You twig? If they have a tartan you like, BUY IT. If you can't spend $157, then mate, you only have two other options, and that is to A.) make it yourself, and BTW, you'll have to find discounted tartan to make a 13 or 16 ounce, 6-8 yard kilt yourself, for under $157....B) spend weeks or months scouring ebay and other online venues, hoping to score a killer-lucky deal on a first-class wool kilt that will, hopefully fit you for $75.

[The Barry]

I agree with the concept of the OP. You really can't dress up inferior fabric, but you can certainly take 5 yards (instead of 8) of nice fabric and make an excellent looking kilt. If you're on a budget crunch, maybe that's the way to go.

But, for my formal kilt, only one thing would do: family tartan, 16 oz, 8 yards, hand sewn. Period.

But, that's just me, I'm picky about certain things.

[Alan H]

I agree with the concept of the OP. You really can't dress up inferior fabric, but you can certainly take 5 yards (instead of 8) of nice fabric and make an excellent looking kilt. If you're on a budget crunch, maybe that's the way to go.

But, for my formal kilt, only one thing would do: family tartan, 16 oz, 8 yards, hand sewn. Period.

But, that's just me, I'm picky about certain things.

I totally understand. I also have enough financial resources to do exactly what you've done. Even if I didn't make it myself, I could over a few months, save up enough to purchase (not make) a nice "eight yard" kilt in MacNaughton, 13 or 16 ounce.

But you know, when I was 22 or 23 years old and right out of school, I didn't have that sort of money. Not only that, but I knew I wouldn't be able to afford such a thing for years and years. It wasn't a matter of waiting a year or two, it would have been matter of waiting for TEN years to be able to afford that fantastic kilt. When I got out of college it took me four months to find a job and I made $800 a month. Taxes took a quarter of that, or $200. Now i have $600. My rent was about $150. My share of the food was about $100. Now I'm down to $350 a month. I had a car which I needed to get to work...gas and insurance at up a chunk. It took me three months to pay off my wedding ring and I had to pay back my parents for a loan. Where does the kilt money come out of? It just wasn't there. When I got married I had to work and pay for school and the gas to commute to it. We lived on my 25 hours a week of retail work at $5.75 an hour plus a few gigs I'd get playing sax or clarinet, and Joans graduate stipend. Kilt money? Where?

Telling me to save up for a tank, back then was tantamount to saying "you can't have a kilt for years and years and years". So...what? I'm not supposed to wear a kilt at ALL, while I wait? Some people would say yes, that's right...you should wait and not wear a kilt at all until you have the resources to buy a first-class kilt. They feel that anything less than the best is a waste of money, and that's fine. I'd wager that most of those people would feel that you must also have a first-class sporran and premier colored kilt hose and anything less is a mark of disrespecting Scottish tradition and culture.

I happen to disagree.

I feel that wearing the best you can afford is OK, that owning and wearing a kilt is a fine thing but I wouldn't, for example, quit playing music so that I'd save the gas money I spend going to rehearsals so that I could put that money towards a kilt. I wouldn't stop eating dinner so that I could buy a kilt. I wouldn't quite graduate school so I could save money for a kilt. I feel that there's a balance between saving and saving and saving and saving for YEARS, or giving up basic things (not your daily Starbucks latte) so that you can put two dollars a week into a kilt jar......and saving maybe only for one year and buying a somewhat less-wonderful, but still very nice kilt. Having a "good" kilt, but not a "GREAT" kilt, is OK.

I DO agree that piddling money away on 8-9-10 plus less expensive kilts when you KNOW that what you want is a killer tank, is dumb. If you've got the money and you know what you want and you go spend it on something else, well...that's dumb.

[bricelythgoe]

Alan H.,

One last question. I have looked at those kilts at Burnett's and Struth. They look real nice, although it might be hard to find a tartan that would work. What would you say is the biggest difference I would see between a 5 yard and an 8 yard kilt? (lets assume they are both machine sewn.) Would someone, at a formal function, look at me and say "Oh no, you have a 5yard kilt!" or something like that? Is it noticable?

Again, I appreciate all your help.

Brice