Length of material for a great kilt?

[AlisterMacAlister]

Etymologists are those who study the meanings and origins of words and phrases.

Not one has ever been able to determine the origins of "The whole 9 yards".
One story is that it is the amount of fabric in a kilt. Sorry, a full traditional kilt is made from 8 yards.
One story is that it is the length of the belt of bullets used in a WWI fighter. Sorry, bullets are counted by the number or rounds per belt, not the length of the belt.
One story is that it is the amount of fabric needed to make a man's custom suit. Sorry, a Saville Row Tailor need no more than anyone else. About 2 to 4 yards.
No one knows where the phrase "The whole nine yards" comes from but it is not kilts.

I understand that much, but what I'm asking is this: is a full 9 yards of fabric actually necessary in order to make my own great kilt given the measurements I listed up above? I suppose my main point in asking is that MacAlister of Glenbarr Hunting Modern is not the cheapest tartan in the world..

Thanks!
-Mark

[Steve Ashton]

Nope.
The amount of fabric needed for a kilt varies.

And there is still some debate over what a Great Kilt actually was.

Some like myself believe that it was much more like a blanket you may have seen around the shoulders of N. American Indians. An adaption of the Irish Brat.

Others point to one or two old samples of single width fabric that have been sewn together to give double-width.

Both are about the same size - around 2 yards wide by between 2 and 4 yards long.

[Luke MacGillie]

Welcome!

You and I are not much different in size, I wear a great kilt almost exclusively, abeit while doing 18th Century reenacting. Mine is made from 3 yards of double width fabric, I could probably get away with 2 and a half yards, but its nice to have the extra.

Like Steve alluded to above, historically there is a whole lot of evidence that in the military, soliders were issued single width plaiding which was butted together to make something akin to todays double width tartan cloth. When the 77th Regiment of Foot was raised for service here in North America each solider received 12 yards of plaiding every 2 years. My feeling, and only a feeling, I cant document it, is that they were making either 1 great kilt out of 6 yards, and one kilt out of the other 6 yards.

Later when the great kilt fell out of favor a slightly narrower type of fabric became common, this was referred to in documents as kilting.

In many military documents the word tartan is very often used in reference to the red and white check material used to make hose.





In case you have not seen these write ups, they are worth the look:

https://albanach.org/did-the-early-b...ce9#.p9zr5cp4h

http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/A_H..._MacGregor.pdf

Hope this helps!

[figheadair]

Like Steve alluded to above, historically there is a whole lot of evidence that in the military, soliders were issued single width plaiding which was butted together to make something akin to todays double width tartan cloth. When the 77th Regiment of Foot was raised for service here in North America each solider received 12 yards of plaiding every 2 years. My feeling, and only a feeling, I cant document it, is that they were making either 1 great kilt out of 6 yards, and one kilt out of the other 6 yards.

Luke, got to disagree here, a least as far as the early Highland Regiments were concerned. Loudoun's 64th for example were issued 12 yds to make a plaid, no mention of them ever wearing a feileadh beag and even if they did, it was more likely to have been made from an old plaid and to have contained 3-4 yds not 6.

[jhockin]

Luke, got to disagree here, a least as far as the early Highland Regiments were concerned. Loudoun's 64th for example were issued 12 yds to make a plaid, no mention of them ever wearing a feileadh beag and even if they did, it was more likely to have been made from an old plaid and to have contained 3-4 yds not 6.

Peter:
With 12 yards ( single width) do you think they would have been making one "great kilt" or two ( keeping in mind that we are often told the average highland man was much small and slimmer, than the average man, today)?

[Luke MacGillie]

Since that 12 yard issue to the 77th was supposed to last 2 years, that to me means 2 garments, it could be one great kilt, and one kilt, or 2 great kilts. There is not going to be one hard fast rule, as it was up to the Regimental commander. During this period you have the 42nd using kilts, while in the 78th they were expressly forbidden.

[figheadair]

Peter:
With 12 yards ( single width) do you think they would have been making one "great kilt" or two ( keeping in mind that we are often told the average highland man was much small and slimmer, than the average man, today)?

My understanding is that they were using the full 12 yds (possibly with pleats all the way around per the feoleadh mor worn by Lord Duffus, and that they reused the old material for a feileadh beag once they had a second issue.