I have been looking at various options for a kilt. I considered getting a tartan kilt in Gibbs, Buchanan, or Stuart of Bute. I have relations to all three of these and I like at least one variety of each. I looked at kilt manufacturers like utilikilt, but I dont like the snaps to replace a belt/buckle and sporran. I looked at bear kilt but I don't want to wait a year. I am actually talking to Josh Amos from Neo Kilt and if I use a manufacturer I will probably go with him partially since I have a referance from a couple of members at swordforum (he is a poster there). But I would like to try to get one where I can buy the fabric myself and preferably in a box pleat (works better with 4 yards of fabric than knife pleat, or so I gather from posts here and other sites). Now that I am done rambling about what got me here let me get to the point.

Instead of buying ~$200 worth of buchanan tartan (or other clan) et al, I am thinking I should get a much cheaper fabric and wait a couple of weeks (or months) before getting a "traditional" tartan. So my question is what fabric should I get that is basicly plaid but not a tartan (plaid refers to any of the worsted wool fabrics, right?). I have seen tweed for kilts, I think twill kilts, and canvas (though it isnt wool). I found something called serge which, like tweed, is a type of twill. I read something that says it is naturally flame resistant (or something like that). So is this basicly a fire blanket? By the way, flame resistant would be nice as I am in the process of building a charcoal forge and I would like to be able to have that breeze when standing around a fire that can burn iron (as in lessen the amount of iron, not just carbon) out of steel. Is anyone familiar with this fabric?

I know that poly viscose is a popular low(er) cost fabric for kilts but I have a dislike of "plastic" clothes. It is not out of the question but I want to explore other options first.