Entered a Kilt at our local agricultural fair

[Lorna]

Our local fair is held annually in September and every few years I take the notion to enter some baked goods and maybe some sewing. There aren't too many categories for sewing and they are usually pretty specific and more often fall under a theme (Christmas, Autumn etc.) This year there was a category entitled "My Most Creative Achievement". "Hmm", I thought, "Maybe I should enter a kilt." And so I did. The following is the brief story they required to accompany the entry.


My Most Creative Achievement

I have, from a very young age, been fascinated with tartans and kilts. One of my first favourite garments as a child was a tartan skirt that had suspenders that crossed in the back and a kilt pin to keep the aprons closed. As time went on I learned to sew on my mother's sewing machine but it is my latest sewing project that didn't require a sewing machine of which I am proudest.

A few years ago (after paying $800 for a highland dancer's kilt for my daughter) I stumbled across a book called "The Art of Kiltmaking", Step-by-Step Instructions for Making a Traditional Scottish Kilt, by Barbara Tewksbury and Elsie Stuehmeyer. The book has 141 pages of history, explanations, instructions and illustrations. My excitement and enthusiasm could not be contained. I sat down to study the book from cover to cover until on page 46, to my horror, the authors declare that the method described in the book was for right-handed people only. The authors give this advice: "We don't have very satisfactory advice for lefties. All we can say is that, if you are left handed and bound and determined to make a kilt, you will have to work out a strategy for stitching the pleats that results in a job that is acceptable to you. Many of the other instructions in this book are "directional", and a left-handed person will need to be creative to modify them as well." Being left landed, it was then that I decided to learn to hand sew right-handed.

To make a long story short, after hours of practice and preparation, then of hand-sewing pleats and often ripping them out again, I succeeded in finishing the kilt to my satisfaction. It takes an experienced kiltmaker 20 hours from start to finish. The learning process took me 40 hours during a week of my summer vacation. The journey was certainly creative, at times frustrating and yet in the end very rewarding.I made this kilt for my 21 year old son from 16 oz. Locharron of Scotland "Strome" Campbell tartan in Ancient Old colours. It is pleated to the "stripe" per his request. He wears it proudly and when asked he says, "My Mom made it".


I was pleasantly surprised with a second place and $7 in prize money. I know, I know, it's not much but I like to support the agricultural society and it's fun to submit a few things to see the results. As an aside, I am also pleased to announce that I am still, as my husband puts it, "the Tea Biscuit Queen" of the Renfrew Fair. lol