Just echoing the comments about using wool in your first attempt. You will get very frustrated trying to make cotton do what Barb describes.

For my first real hand-sewn (first one made from Barb's book), I used Pendleton wool fabric in a Black Watch variant weave. Found it on eBay at a good price and it is often available -- seller named oldhippiecloths lists a lot of Pendleton, for example. The fabric is softer than a classic kilt weave but the selvedge on the piece I got was fine for kilt use, i.e. no hemming needed.

Welcome to the fold, so to speak, and good luck!