First up, many thanks to Steve Ashton of Freedom Kilts for being our "Canadian connection" for the X Marks tartan. With Steve's help we're saving a bundle on this, so next time you're in Victoria, buy Steve a beer. While you're at it, take a look at his Freedom Kilts. Every report is that they're built like a tank and fine-looking, too. Maybe you need TWO new kilts, eh? Sure you do!

Here's the skinny. You can order your X Marks tartan though Freedom Kilts website at http://www.freedomkilts.com. Freedom Kilts is an X Marks advertiser, so you can follow their link at the top of the page, too. You'll be paying for it through PayPal. Click on any of the links that lead to Freedom Kilts order form. There’s a comments section at the bottom of the form. That’s where you tell Steve how many meters of X Marks Tartan you want, and where you want him to mail it. Click on the method of payment you want to use. Freedom Kilts will send you an e-mail which will contain a link in it which will send you to Pay Pal where you actually pony up the dough.

Fraser & Kirkbright have quoted us a very good price as long as we have a minimum order of 25 meters. In Canadian dollars, it’s $58.30 per meter. In US Dollars at the current exchange rate that's $46.86 per meter. This is for their heavyweight kilting wool, and as a number of X Markers have reported, this is very nice stuff.

Remember that this is double-width fabric! Also, remember that the X Marks tartan sett is quite large, and that has a significant implication in terms of how much fabric you need. I did the calculations for a 40 inch waist, with 1 inch of the pleats showing, (twenty pleats) and I calculate that I need an absolute minimum of 7 yards/meters to make a kilt, pleated to sett. That means I have to order a drop-dead minimum of 3.5 meters, and getting just that much doesn't leave any room for error! Pleating to stripe will save you a little, but not a lot. Because of the size of the pattern within the XMarks sett, be careful if you want to pleat to stripe. The "wide" stripe with the yellow line in it is nearly three inches wide, and your kilt will not look "blue" from behind if you pleat it to that stripe. TALK TO YOUR KILTMAKER BEFORE ORDERING. For all intents and purposes, unless you make a box-pleated kilt, you cannot make a "four yard" kilt with this tartan. The nine-inch sett requires a lot of material.

Steve estimates that can ship a kilt/material across the country via Postal Service for about $20.00. That’s above and beyond the cost of the material itself. It’ll be more if you live outside of North America, so be sure to let him know where you live. You can also have it sent to your kiltmaker. Just make sure youtell Steve where you want it shipped.

So, here are some numbers for you. In Canadian dollars, eight meters of kilting width (four meters of actual cloth) material will run you:

4 x $58.30 = $233.20 Cdn. plus the postage to get it to wherever you want it, $20 in North America.

In US Dollars at the current exchange rate it looks like this for enough material for a knife-pleated “eight yard kilt”:

4 x $46.86 = $195.44 US plus the postage to get it to wherever you want it, $20 in North America.

TALK TO YOUR KILTMAKER BEFORE ORDERING. A box-pleated kilt will require a lot less fabric than a knife-pleated kilt. If you’re a Big Guy you might need more fabric. Fabric orders must be made in meters and half-meters. No “I want four and two-eighth yards”…Nope…meters and half-meters. A meter is a little bit more than a yard, but if you simply cannot “think metric” then treat them as the same.

Turnaround time from when we have a commitment for the 25 meter amount is roughly 6 weeks. Remember, we need a minimum of 25 meters for Steve to place the order. That means we’ll need between 6-10 guys to pony up to make this a go. Believe me, I’m in for my 2.5 meters for my box pleated kilt *Right Now*!

X Marks, we all owe Steve Ashton at Freedom Kilts a big THANKS, MATE! on this one!

Alan H


FREEDOM KILTS:::: http://www.freedomkilts.com

"CRY FREEDOM! and let slip the legs of woe."