Tartan Choice

[Miah]

I grew up being told by my mother she was Scot/German and My father was English/Scot, well through much searching i can't find a faimily tartan although I found some info about the Hilliard family being part of a clan but not a Hilliard Clan. now that i have found a few more traditional style Kilts i am thinking that a "casual kilt" may be a good buy.
but I am torn as to what tartan to wear. I know you can wear what ever you like and all that jazz but i would like to have a reason for picking a certin tartan. Any help on this would be great oh I also found a "Leather Neck Tartan"
I served in the US Marine Corps for 6 years and it is still a big part of my family and my wife's family. but this tatan is harder to come by and the kilt makers that carry it are a tad out of my reach.
I am looking in the sub 200$ us market if at all posible,
the wife is worried that i woun't wear it enough to be worth it.


Any advise on a Tartan would be great

[bubba]

Miah, I hunted on the net some and couldn't find a Clan connection for Hilliard. You might look at Black Watch, Royal Stewart, Black Stewart or one other of the general use tartans. www.stillwaterkilts.com has some pretty low prices. For $200 you could get 2 kilts from them. The folks that have Stillwater kilts say they're very good for the money, not cheap junk. The only thing about Stillwater is they only come in a 24 inch length so they need to be shortened for most of us. All that takes is a fine zigzag stitch at the proper length for you, then cut them off just below the stitch. Other than that, the kiltmakers represented on this forum are fine craftsmen and make excellent products. Stillwater uses acrylic fabric while alot of the others, including Bear, USA and Chris at Cheapkilts use poly/vis. It's really all about the budget and what you want.

[Alaskan Celt]

[Miah]

thats what it was a sept Hilliard was a sept family way back and they were weapon makers and they were taken in under another clan but now i can't find the info and forget what clan it was.

[Graham]

Bubba the Stillwater site says their kilts are all a standard 24" length.

What happens when that is far too long? My length is 21", 24" would be well below the knees.

[bubba]

Graham, you run a fine zigzag stitch around at the right length and cut it off just below the stitch. Pretty simple really. Just be sure not to sew the pleats down

[Alaskan Celt]

[Miah]

ah ha! here is a link i found that has a variation on my name spelling but it shows that hallyard was a sept of skene
http://www.scotclans.com/whatsmyclan/h_list.html