I am going to say this again here, and then I'm going to say it again and again till the rabble is tired of hearing it.

The secret to a kilt, and I mean any true kilt has nothing to do with the pleats, or the stitching or the fabric. It is all in the method used to take the stress of a body moving inside a garment.

In almost any piece of clothing today all the stress is taken by the stitching. As mass production looked for ways to keep costs down the first thing they did was leave out the interfacings. It is thought that if it's not seen, it won't be missed.

If you take out the cases where the fabric of a garment is worn through or torn you will see that it will usually be the fabric right next to the stitch line to give way. This points to the stitch line as the weak point of a garment.

The interfacings and reinforcements take up those stresses and keep them away from the stitching. THIS IS THE SECRET TO THE MAKING OF A KILT.

In a Traditional Style Kilt there is a horse hair canvas strip sewn inside that stretches from the straps on one side to the buckles on the other side. This canvas is what you actually wear. The outer fabric can then just float on the outside with out the stess being on the stitch lines of the Fell.

In a Contemporary Style Kilt we use a waistband (with interfacing inside it) to take the stress of strapping the kilt on.

These are just two ways of keeping the stress of a moving body away from the stitch lines. By doing this the sewn down Fell area remains intact. The pleats are free to move and swish. And the aprons do not develop puckers.

When reading Barb's book, everything up to the chapter on the hair canvas is just preparation to get to that point. My advice to anyone wishing to make a kilt is to skip the entire front of the book and read the interfacing chapter first. Once you understand why the interfacing is there and how to put it in then go back to the begining and start to make the kilt.

Every person who wishes to call themselves a kiltmaker needs to understand just what is hidden behind that liner of a kilt.

OK, I'm going to step off my soapbox now. The next installment of this tirade will be "Steeking, what's the big secret."