Best material for a test kilt

[The Wizard of BC]

When you get right down to it, there is only one way to learn how to make a kilt. Start at the beginning and take it all the way to the end. And then do it again, and again.

So, if you start with good fabric your end result will be a good, wearable kilt. If you think of it as just practicing the only result will be a bunch of fabric, that you paid for, that you can't even wear. Using practice fabric is actually a waste of your good, hard earned money.

The stitching is just one part of the whole. There is the proper basting and pressing. (Again, good kilt wool will take and hold a crease far easier and better than anything else).
Then there is the internal construction. Getting that right is something you just have to do with your hands and eyes. Hand and eye coordination is what you learn most of all in kiltmaking.

This is why those of us who have done it always seem to give the same advice. Over the entire process you will improve your stitching with every pleat. By the time you finish your first, you will be experienced enough to know where you made errors and be ready to start your second, better kilt, while you enjoy wearing your first.

If you had spent good money on practice fabric you have just wasted your money on something that you will never wear.

[brewerpaul]

Ill have to throw in the towel and agree with all the kilt makers here when it comes to just going for the good fabric. My suggestion was based on economics and a chance to get a bit of practice if you havent sewn much. This leads to what has been said, if you dont wear it what good is it. I can say in my learning to sew Ive done the same thing, used the fabric I wanted for the project. I started with the never have touched a machine sewing of the apron and the pajama pants and that was my practice. 5 waist coats, 1 Inverness Cape, 1 kilt jacket, 1 English style hunting vest quilted on the inside, 1 Tweed jacket from a fleece jacket pattern, 3 shirts, and a couple of caps later I can say I never made any for practice, I made them to wear. Even at that I considered each one a learning project so the next one would be better. So when I do finally jump into the kilt making Ill also do it with material I will wear. Cant argue with the sound advice of those with the experience.

[Barb T]

And I'll toss in my 2 cents. Not only do I agree with everyone about buying the best wool tartan you can afford for your first kilt, but I would buy 16 oz fabric, as opposed to lighter weight tartan. Good quality 16 oz kilting tartan is actually _easier_ to make a kilt from than lighter tartan or cheaper fabric. Heavy tartan doesn't scootch as much, and the stitching thread hides itself better along the edge of the pleats.

So, your first kilt will come out better, and you'll struggle less if you get real kilting tartan than if you go for "test" fabric, lightweight tartan, or saxony from Joann's.

[usonian]

I am by no means a very experienced kiltmaker, but I've made two from Barb's book. I made the first one out of non-stretch denim, following the same reasoning that I didn't want to spent a lot on fabric for my first effort. Denim in particular is really hard to sew and does not drape at all like a 16oz wool tartan... it was heavy and stiff and I never even wore the thing after all the time I spent on it.

Kilt number 2 was made out of 16oz wool tartan from Marton Mills - even with the overseas shipping, the 4 yards I purchased directly from them was really very reasonable; not *cheap*, but nowhere near as expensive per yard as most third-party vendors charge. If they have the tartan you're hoping to make a kilt out of, contact them and and ask for a price sheet. The difference in sewing was night and day, so much easier to fold and stitch (and stitch straight, thanks to the built-in lines) and as soon as I started I wished I could go back to kilt number one and just start with the tartan.

The way traditional kiltmaking works, you can go back and re-do the most crucial steps; so if you finish sewing the pleats and decide they're crooked, or uneven, or came out too large/small at the waist or hips, you can rip your stitches out and do some or all of them over. Once you cut out the excess fabric on the inside of the fell you're past the point of no return, but by that point you'll already have the trickiest, most precision part done and feeling ready for the home stretch. It's a pain to have to go back and redo pleats, but better to spend that time making a nice tartan kilt than spend it working on something you're not going to really love when it's finished.