Two DIY tweed kilt jacket conversions

**MT4Runner** · 20th December 11, 11:35 AM

Keep your eyes/ears open for other Norse/Scottish descendents. Maybe we could order a 56" x 30yd bolt one day.

I'm sure my Mom would love to use some as she's always wanted to make a Bunad. She's gotten a lot more involved with Sons of Norway lately.

I'm more keen on the blue/red tartans, but I could be convinced.
The muted color of that migration tartan is nice, too.

**Thomas H** · 20th December 11, 11:40 AM

I would commit to buying into a large order as well .

I will be on the look out for any others that might be on the forum or
around that might go in on an order. Thank You

**MT4Runner** · 21st December 11, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by MT4Runner

I'm sure my Mom would love to use some as she's always wanted to make a Bunad. She's gotten a lot more involved with Sons of Norway lately.

OK, so no Tartan in Mom's grandpa's district bunad.

I'm still interested in a bulk purchase. Will keep my eyes/ears open.

**Thomas H** · 21st December 11, 11:12 AM

10-4 , I can be on the look out as well . I hope your trip is going well

**MT4Runner** · 27th December 11, 04:08 PM

Well, reading this makes me a little less excited to do a kilt in Norwegian Centennial tartan (designed by D. McGill):
http://www.carolinatartan.com/fraud.htm
http://blog.albanach.org/2007/03/int...-it-again.html

In other news:
I thought I'd taken more pics than I did. Guess I didn't! :laughing:
I finished the pocket flaps. The scallops are about 1/2" high. It was tough to sew while still on the jacket. Lots of basting.

Pins show depth of scallops and center point.

Since I missed the pics on sewing the scallops in the pocket while still on the jacket, here are the details:

Baste (red circles) where you want the points to remain. Basted stitches get in the way less and are more flexible than pinning.

Shove the edge of the fabric up inside the flap.
This is easier said than done.
The fabric will try to roll.
Pins or basting come in handy here.

"Fingerpress" along the black line. Baste with stitches on the green lines.

Do the same with the lining and then stitch the very edges together.
Actual isn't quite that sharp. The fabric tended to ease the curves.
I'm at this point now. I need to press before I pull the basting stitches out. I'll leave the tight basting stitches in the red circles.

If I had sewn the flaps loose, I'd have put the "right sides" of both flap and flap liner together and stitched the edge, then turned the flap inside out and pressed.

I'm learning to like basting. It holds the fabric more evenly than pinning without bunching or puckering, and keeps it laying flat.

Off to build buttons!

**MT4Runner** · 27th December 11, 04:09 PM

I ran very short on fabric with this short coat. I didn't have enough to double layer the epaulettes, so I lined them with a piece of brown canvas that I had leftover from my first UK knockoff handmade kilt. Brown thread is just temporary basting to hold the wool in place on the canvas. In the future, I may baste between the layers to keep them together.

Wool tweed was cut 1/4" bigger all around than the canvas liner. 1/2" would have been better on the straight edges, but 1/4" was required to make the tight radius near the buttonhole. I sewed the buttonhole by machine before we left on our road trip.

I sewed 1/8" outside the canvas liner with a straight machine stitch (black thread). Zigzag would have distorted the edge too much and would have made the later hand whipstitching difficult. The straight stitch holds all the fibers together near the edge and gave me something solid to sew through when hand stitching (dark green thread).

**Thomas H** · 28th December 11, 04:56 AM

Looking great , Can t wait to try this myself. I am still not sure how to post pictures yet but hopefully will know by the time I try this conversion too.
Thanks