OMG, my first kiltmaking contract

[Alan H]

I wore my canvas kilt that I made out and about today, and went to the local clinic for a flu shot. So I'm standing in line (and standing and standing and STANDING) and I come upon a nice family with two boys, about age 6 and 4. The mother noticed I was wearing a kilt and pointed it out to her boys. We got into a nice discussion, and turns out that her grandfather was Scottish and her husband is Irish. The 6 year old was playing it cool, and the 4 year old was nervous at talking to someone he didn't know for a while, but after about ten minutes they warmed up a bit. The woman asked me whether I wore kilts all the time and I told her about my 2-3 day a week habit. I happened to mention that I made the one I was wearing. She was very surprised and had me turn around and show the boys the backside, and all those pleats.

This turned into another ten minutes of conversation and then she popped out with the question. Could I make kilts for her boys? I was a bit surprised, but said "sure" and that I had some Gray Stewart in PV at home that was a smaller tartan and would be proportional to the boys size. She liked that it was machine-washable. She knew what Royal Stewart was and said that the Gray Stewart sounded nice, and machine-sewn was fine.. How much, she asked....

Uh...Uh..I dunno. I had NO clue, so I said $60 a kilt. She didn't bat an eye and we swapped e-mails right before I went in to get my shot. I told her I had one in the queue ahead of hers (I didn't tell her that it was mine) so I might not get them done by Christmas but that I would *try*. I'd easily have them ready by the end of January.

OH MY GOD.... What have I done? Maybe she won't e-mail me. Do I WANT her to e-mail me? AAAACK!

Any hints on making kilts for kids? I think I'll hem it up about 3 inches so that she can drop the hem when the kids grow. I'll add a hidden pleat as per Barbs directions so the kids can grow into them for a year or two. Aside from that...criminy!