100% home made and hand stitched

[kilted Mnementh]

Well it's been a while, but I eventually finished.
100% hand stitched, starting with a 5 yrds of double width tartan. And ended with something I think looks ok, oh, and plenty of holes in fingers from pins and needles.

This was after sewing and basting the initial pleating, the selvedge at the bottom of the picture

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Adding the canvass

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The canvass joined at the buttonhole with the tartan folded back on both sides of the buttonhole and laced together at the centre

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The lining added

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Front view

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Side

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Hopefully I got the pictures right this time

Comments and critiques welcome, especially from kiltmakers who know what they are doing

[McMurdo]

Looks wonderful. I'm sure you will wear it with pride, good for you.

[gsmacleod]

Very nice!

Shane

[FossilHunter]

Good work kinsman. You mention buttonholes, did you use buttons instead of buckles?

[The Wizard of BC]

May I ask please - Did you include a stabilizer strip?
Did you sew the different sections of the interfacing together to act as one continuous piece? Or they still separate?
What method or school of kiltmaking did you follow?

[kilted Mnementh]

May I ask please - Did you include a stabilizer strip?
Did you sew the different sections of the interfacing together to act as one continuous piece? Or they still separate?
What method or school of kiltmaking did you follow?

Not certain what you mean by stabiliser strip. I used quite stiff canvas (horsehair blend) in 2 continuous strips 5 1/2 inch wide, I fold them to follow the curve of the aprons and rear body, and sew the folds in place with blanket stitch plus 6 rows of herringbone stitch across the whole width of the canvas to keep them solid. At the buttonhole I bring the canvass tight to the buttonhole flaps, then fold back the tartan and herringbone it all together. I use lacing strip to bind the 2 sides tightly together so it secures the canvas almost as if it was a single strip. This pic may show better IMG-20200318-111945966.jpg

As to school/methods, I have the book "The Art of Kilt Making" which is very helpful and explains a lot, I also watch Robert MacDonald a kiltmaker on youtube who is happy to show methods and tips. I understand better from seeing than I do from reading.
My first attempt was to unpick a old kilt and try to understand the construction from there, my resulting kilt was not very good. So I spent more time practicing on cheap PV tartan until I though I had cracked it, then moved to proper tartan. So I guess you could say I'm not of any school or method, purely amateur who is trying to improve.

[kilted Mnementh]

Good work kinsman. You mention buttonholes, did you use buttons instead of buckles?

The buttonhole is the gap where the inner apron strap passes through the kilt to the buckle. I used two buckles, did not use low buckle on outer apron