Where to buy straps and buckles

[Michael A]

Yes I am working my way through Barb's book and I couldn't find a buckle supplier per se, but there were some general Scottish dress shops in the USA listed.

I bought fabric at retail minus 10% XMTS discount and minus VAT - a 13Oz House of Edgar Grant, which will suit Sydney weather well.

I managed to find some tailor's pride on eBay (only 3 yards), so that is good. I will get the buckles from the above link so thank you Steve.

Oh. What are people's thoughts on the buckle side attaching with a small leather bit vs a wool attachment? I have two of each variant on my current four kilts.

[Dollander]

I got mine from Kilts Wi Hae: http://www.kiltswihae.co.uk/kilt-mak...lies-354-c.asp I got mine via their eBay store, but they're the same ones they have on their site. The only issue you may have is that they tend to take a while to arrive.

I've used the buckles with and without the leather tabs, and while the leather tabs do save you the trouble of making them, the fabric tabs are a lot easier to sew on. I wound up marking the holes on the leather with a pin and then using the denim needle on my sewing machine to manually punch them, so that I could then sew the tabs on with a regular needle with relative ease. Yeah, I'm not the type to buy a tool that I'll only get limited use if I can improvise with something I already have. But when it came to the fabric tabs, I used Barb T's flash-making technique to create them: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...flashes-32660/ Just be sure to leave a gap in the hem tape for the prong of the buckle to poke through.

[Barb T]

What are people's thoughts on the buckle side attaching with a small leather bit vs a wool attachment? I have two of each variant on my current four kilts.

For the ones at the waist, it doesn't matter at all - they're hidden under the kilt belt.

If you have a second buckle on the fringe edge, the tab WILL show, so it depends in part on how visible you want the tab to be. The advantage of a wool tab is that you can match the tartan, and if you do a good job, the tab is essentially invisible from anything more than a few feet away. A leather tab could be decorative, however, and you might like the look of that. But it will be glaringly obvious even from a distance as a dark rectangle on the tartan.

The other advantage of a wool tab is that it's easy to sew. A leather tab is also commonly machine stitched on, and, personally, I don't think that looks good on an otherwise hand sewn garment. But it could be punched and hand stitched decoratively. Again, you'd have to like the look.

Oh - and I always buy my buckles and straps from Highland Xpress, the site the Steve mentioned. They have both black straps with silver buckles and brown straps with brass buckles (which look very handsome on a kilt made from one of the weathered tartans).

Canvas I buy from B. Black and Sons in California (http://www.bblackandsons.com/heavy-w...ral-p-426.html). I buy Heavy Weight Hymo - it's great, comes 74" wide (1 yard is enough for 3 kilts!, which makes it VERY reasonable in price), and it's gridded, which makes cutting straight strips child's play!

[Michael A]

I ordered a bunch from Highland Xpress and settled for wool tabs.

[Barb T]

Brilliant plan!