I realized that I never reviewed my first USA Kilt. My apologies to Rocky and Kelly as this is a very nice garment and I have been quite pleased with it.
Dealing with Rocky was very easy. He answered all my questions and showed a willingness to work with my requests while at the same time giving me the benefit of his experience. For example I wanted my Mcleod of Lewis kilt pleated to the red stripe. Because of the size of the sett this would require additional material to make it work. Rocky was happy to do so if I wanted to pay for the extra PV fabric but cautioned that it would make the waistband bulky. In the end I went with Ron (Riverkilt’s) advice and let the kilt makers make the kilt as they thought it would look best. I appreciated that he was able to arrange to have my son’s kilt shipped with mine.
As for the kilt itself.
I like the kilt. I really like the poly viscose material. To my hand it feels less like wool than the some acrylic kilts but not by much. It also feels lighter (which is neither good nor bad, just different). I love the way it doesn't seem to wrinkle (it came out of the box looking freshly ironed)
The machine stitching is neat and sturdy. The leather straps are thick yet pliable and the buckles sturdy.
Note what a great job Rocky and Kelly did here with blending in the belt loops to the fabric.
It doesn't have a liner and that, along with the lighter material gives it a nice fitted look around the waist. The USA kilts semi traditional line doesn’t have cutouts in the material in the pleats at the waistband. Yet as you can see in this picture the waist looks very fitted.
The selvedge edge isn't perfect (like the nice edges on my Matt Newsome or my Scottish Handsewn one). I believe this is just the nature of the PV material.
For the material feeling so light it has a great “swish factor” which is going to make this my favorite kilt for Scottish Country Dancing (already field testing at our SCD class) especially with the warm summer months almost on us.
The only glitch regarding this order was that Rocky forgot to send me the USA Kilt patch. I didn’t want it on my kilt, but I still wanted it. One quick PM and it was in the mail the next day.
I think it makes a great hat badge!
All in all I highly recommend USA Kilts Semi-traditional model.
My thanks to Rocky and Kelly!
Cheers
Jamie
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