Black Watch spats

[OC Richard]

One wouldn't think so, but the most difficult thing to acquire when putting together a Black Watch style uniform are the spats.

Spats are spats, no? No, they varied a bit from regiment to regiment, and the Black Watch's were/are the most divergent, having squared off toes.

Here in SoCal we have a "42nd Highlanders" pipe band, and a group of Black Watch reenactors, and I've yet to see a single one of those people with the correct spats.

So, I've been slowing putting together a Black Watch 'impression' (the reenactor jargon for your persona). I chose Pipe Major not out of megalomaniacal self-aggrandizement but because 1) the crossbelt hardware is far easier to acquire and 2) the position is more suitable for my age and appearance.

Here's what I had to work with for the spats, a pair of new never-whitened spats I've had since the early 1980s and never worn. Happily they're the large full cut often seen on old Army spats, there was plenty of material there.

Underneath is a spat with the seam opened, lining removed, and pressed. On top is a spat pinned to the new shape.



Here they are toe to toe. (I should mention that the wide rounded shape on the left was worn by the Gordons, Seaforths, Argylls, and Camerons; the square shape on the right was worn by The Black Watch; the pointy shape seen in J Higgins spats wasn't worn by any Scottish regiment.)



Here are both spats sewn to the new shape. One still needs its strap reattached.



Here are the finished things, treated with white shoe polish, worn with shoes, and showing my fat pale calves to good effect



Here's what I wore today to Old Fort MacArthur Days (a big reenactor gathering). Most of this uniform remained unchanged from the mid-19th century to today. The footwear, kilt, sporran, and belts would have been worn in a variety of orders of dress (Full Dress, Service Dress, with the white No3 Dress, etc). My jacket is the tropical/warm weather cotton version of the wool Service Dress tunic introduced in 1908 and my overall uniform was worn from then well into WWII.



I also made the pipe ribbons, kilt ribbons, and put together the crossbelt (the subject of its own thread a while back)

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...project-81704/