Tweed Great Kilt

[MHorne39]

Hello!

I have a few kilts now, both tailored and Feileadh Mor, and I’ve been looking at getting another, a Stewart Hunting Weathered Tweed Great Kilt. However, I’m not sure if this will be too warm. I live in Hawaii, so the temperature usually fluctuates between 60°F and about 85°F. I would only get 4 yards of it. My other Great Kilts are all 4 yards as well, but they’re all 13 ounce. My tailored kilts are both 16 ounce 5-yarders, and I don’t have a problem with those during the warmer times. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Jock Scot]

Any thoughts?

As a personal point of view, I think the great kilt can only be regarded as a purely theatrical historical garment and cannot be regarded as anything other than that and has no real relevance in the modern world whatsoever.

[Liam]

I tend to agree with Jock on this one. A great kilt is Renfaire attire. Unless you are attending these on a regular basis, one such outfit should be more than enough.

[DCampbell16B]

As one who has worn one, specifically to historically recreate a specific period, I also agree with Jock and Liam. One is enough, and is really only useful for that one purpose. I haven't worn mine for decades, and I keep thinking it is time to have it made into something else. A regular kilt is so much easier to wear, less cumbersome, and more appropriate.

My two cents form an experienced person.

[MHorne39]

I understand what you are saying, however, I really enjoy wearing them in a more ‘modern casual’ (with a t-shirt/grandfather shirt) fashion, and I do tend to wear them fairly often. I work at a farmers market on Saturdays, and I wear one of my 4 GK’s every Saturday, as well as the occasional Costco/grocery run day so they get pretty regular use. I like to embrace the peacock-ery of them, and I find them easier to clean/care for than tailored kilts, seeing as i sometimes will get ‘market grime’ (coffee/cream/dust/food bits, etc.) in them through the course of the day. I do wear them to RenFaire and things like that, but they’re honestly more integrated into my regular weekly wardrobe than my tailored kilts. I’m just asking if the heavyweight tweed would be too warm weather wise than compared to a medium weight of the same dimensions.

[Touchstone]

I wear one in our living history group, about 7 yards of a very lightweight wool. I think the sheer yardage in a heavier weight would be very cumbersome in hot weather. Of course, hot weather in Ohio, USA, means anywhere up to 100 degrees ...

[Pleater]

I was just going through my craft/dressing room and decided to get rid of several old kilts made some considerable time ago - I can attest that weathered tartans do exist in nature, but they are strange looking attire indeed as the inside of the pleats remains in fairly original colours only affected by the consequences of washing or wading, whilst the outside of the pleats and the aprons alter more in line with how the dyes react to sunlight, coupled with how wool goes brown when exposed to sunlight when wet.

They might have been useful camouflage along the lines of DPM outfits, but I have more than enough kilts these days and my days and nights of doing ruffy tuffy stuff out on moor and hillside have reduced down to zero, thank goodness.

Anne the Pleater

[OC Richard]

This is such an interesting photo, a Seaforth Highlanders kilt which seems to have been in a shop window or summat for a very long time.

Perhaps on a mannequin with a jacket covering part of it, who can say, but it clearly shows the effect of sun exposure.



I will point out that the "reproduction colours" tartan palette introduced by DC Dalgliesh in 1949 (copied and renamed "weathered colours" by Lochcarron sometime later) isn't like the fading seen in the old army kilt above.

Note that in the sun-faded kilt the green turns much lighter, a pale olive green, but the black and blue remain mostly unchanged.

Whereas with the modern reproduction/weathered palette green turns brown and blue turns pale grey, black remaining the same.



There's an interesting earlier weathered-looking tartan from World War I, a variant of Black Watch woven for the pipers of The Tyneside Scottish.

The green remains more or less the same, but black is replaced by khaki drab, and blue is replaced with a dull maroon/brown.

It has an overall similar look to the faded MacKenzie above, though through an entirely different set of colour changes.

[Pleater]

The great kilt is great for sweeping cups off coffee tables, and anything else which happens to be on it at the time, and it has a tendency to snag on any handy knob or handle - and as for never passing a bicycle without grabbing handle bar, brake lever or even the saddle - 10/10 for that.
I thought it might make a cosy wrap around for winter mornings, but it very soon met with a pair of scissors and became a much better mannered dressing gown with pleats falling from a shoulder yoke.

Anne the Pleater.

[Jock Scot]

The great kilt is great for sweeping cups off coffee tables, and anything else which happens to be on it at the time, and it has a tendency to snag on any handy knob or handle - and as for never passing a bicycle without grabbing handle bar, brake lever or even the saddle - 10/10 for that.
I thought it might make a cosy wrap around for winter mornings, but it very soon met with a pair of scissors and became a much better mannered dressing gown with pleats falling from a shoulder yoke.

Anne the Pleater.