Originally Posted by
JerMc
Allan, I'll commit to purchasing 2 meters of the double width 16 os wool. (my wife is going to kill me), and would be willing to help split the cost of registration too. I might have to wait a while to order a kilt, but I don't think wool goes bad. Something which would help a lot of us make a decision would be if some of the kilt makers here could provide a rough estimate on how much they would charge us to make a kilt.
Before I submit my recommendation to Chief Hank... (hey Hank, where are you? I've had no response to my last 3 PM's) I want to have at least 2-3 people who work with kilts see the samples. So I've made arrangements for the following people to see the swatches from N. Bately: Steve from Freedom Kilts, Bear, M.A.C. Newscome, and Cydni from Thistle Stop. Rocky from USA Kilts told me he's ordered some swatches from N. Bately as well, so he'll have an opinion. I can't send swatches to everyone, and I figured this was a pretty educated cross-sampling, so there we go.
Bear works with Fraser and Kirkbright cloth all the time, and I believe Colin is making a kilt from Fraser and Kirkbright material. If you visit
www.thescottishweaver.com you'[ll see F&K's 11 ounce line of tartan, but they custom weave in heavier weights as well. So when we finally get there, we will have lots of "data" on hand to make a good decision. Honestly, I believe that both of these mills turn out a first-class product, so in fact it will probably come down to price and speed.
Regarding what a kilt will cost, just go visit the kiltmakers websites and look! Make a reasonable guesstimate of what the "break" will be if you supply the kiltmaker with the material and go from there. You can get within $20 - $30 of the actual cost, for sure. If that's not close enough, one e-mail will give you the answer.
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