How to buy a kilt - the way it used to be done

[Troglodyte]

I was confused by your statement, because Lochcarron uses Scottish wool for their Strome. I had to re-read it to realize I had glossed over the "and processed" portion.

Although processing is done in England, I do love Lochcarron's commitment to doing as much as possible in Scotland.

I am involved with a musuem that has Scottish traditions as its raison d'etre, and encouraging handicrafts such as knitting and weaving is a main feature.

It is impossible to find in practical quantities wool or yarn that is truly Scottish - that is grown, processed and finished in Scotland. There are still weavers and spinners operating on a commercial scale, but they grudgingly admit thier wool is imported or processed outside Scotland.

Modern agricultural practices are partly to blame, as the old breeds have been replaced with those suited to ease of care and meat-yield, which is at the expense of the fleece quality and suitability for the wool-trade. It also demonstrates the hugely successful marketing of the Antipodean producers.

What Lochcarron is doing for Scottish wool is highly commendable, but much more is needed to save both the remains of the domestic wool industry and the breeds of sheep whose fleeces gave the distinctive character to the old cloths. But Scotland is not alone in this, as this is a UK-wide situation, and is even wider than that.

Consequently, every time someone buys a PV kilt, or foreign-made jacket or sporran - indeed, any item of Highland dress made outside Scotland - I see it as them are knocking another nail into the coffin of Scottish culture and tradition.

[Troglodyte]

Thanks for that link! What a time-capsule.

Interesting to see the wearing of Day Dress without tie, the shirt collar open and sticking out. Was that a thing? I don't know if I've seen vintage photos showing it.

Everything else accords what I would expect from the period of "traditional Highland Dress"

-kilt with 7 yards (interwar catalogues generally offer kilts in 6, 7, or 8 yards)

-kilt in the "ancient" colours (which post-WWII can outnumber the number of "modern" tartans listed)

-brown sporran, black shoes

-hose in a common tweed-jacket colour

-red flashes regardless of tartan or hose, note flashes are from the traditional worsted wool tape

Some of the kiltmaking things are interesting, such as going straight down with a ruler when chalking the front-apron edge, while Elsie Stuehmeyer did it freehand and with a gentle curve.

Ditto the pinning and basting of the pleats- Elsie didn't do either, but stitched the pleats freehand.

It's funny how they leap from basting the pleats to the finished kilt! The stitching and cutting out the pleats, the lining, etc are skipped over.

I love the do's and don'ts chart! Interwar catalogues and articles are full of words like "proper" "correct" and "must", the very things that rile people on the internet these days.

Shirt collars opened and laid over a jacket was most definitely a-la-mode in the 1950s - casual style before youth culture fashions of the '60s took over - so the look is normal for the student types in the film.

I like to see the weavers in their work-wear - of tweed jacket and chalkstripe flannels, and, again, open-neck shirt. Chalkstripe flannel is now only ever seen in Savile Row suits, and we think we are dressed-up smart when we put on tweeds these days.

National Service was at its height in the UK at the time of this film, which meant all men did a two-year stint in the Forces once they reached their 18th birthday. It is more than likely that the 'students' in the film will have done their service, and those that went into a kilted regiment will have learnt regimental kilting ways that got continued once back into civilian life.

The kilt made in the film looks rather modern to my eyes - there is little in the way of rise above the waist - but is well-suited to the casual way it is worn in the final scenes.

The reaction of the public in the street as our hero leaves the kiltmakers is interesting - they seem not to notice the kiltie striding-by, let alone his kilt. I find I get the same lack of interest today, which shows how Scotland's national dress is regarded in its homeland.

[Troglodyte]

In the mid 1950s I wore kilts, I had two, leather straps, fastening on the right, rather long on a 5 to 6 year old.
They were quite old when I got them - but I suspect that if the straps had been replaced it would not have been at all obvious.
My sister point blank refused to wear them and I suspect they were passed on to a cousin, but I do wonder just how old they were, (I suspect over 20 years) and how long they lasted.
Whilst I had them they were washed by hand - I suspect that one encounter with hot water in a washing machine would have ruined them beyond recovery, but back then many garments were woollen and my mother used to wash items by hand in the evenings, leave them to drain overnight and then lay them out on a towel to dry.

Many traditional garment had long lives - English smocks, for instance, were often handed down for a couple of generations or more in the case of children's sized ones. Wool, linen and cotton are long lasting, hard wearing, and were mended or reworked with little thought of it being 'just not the thing'.

Anne the Pleater

Even hand-washing a kilt shows your mum is more daring than I would ever be..!

Although I have put tartan fabric though a hot-wash cycle in a wshing-machine, as well as doing it by hand, to see what the results would be, I have no confidence the structure of a kilt would stand up to it.

I mean, the canvas and lining will respond in different ways to the woollen fabric, and the results may be disasterous - so I'm glad to hear your kilts survived their ordeals.

You're dead right about the durability of woollen cloth garments. About 45 years ago, I inheritied some of my grandfather's gear, which included things I know he had made in the early 1920s. I fortunately had the good sense to grow up to be the same size and height as him, so his old clothes fit me perfectly (even now!) are still being worn after 100 years.

The kilt I wear most frequently is also about 100 years old, so the cost-per-wear and value for money of the old thing is at the bottom of one scale and the top of the other. Only wool has this longevity in my experiance. It's geat stuff.

[Steve Ashton]

"I see it as them are knocking another nail into the coffin of Scottish culture and tradition."

I am not sure I would phrase it in this way. It is a simple fact of the world today that it is far easier, faster, and less expensive to buy weaving yarn that comes from Merino sheep from Australia or New Zealand, Washed/carded/combed in India, spun in Pakistan, dyed in Venezuela or Brazil and used in Tartan weaving mills.

Even back when England was a major wool producer, while most of the herds grazed on church land, much of the processing was done elsewhere. That is one of the ways the Low Countries got wealthy.

In Scotland the large Royal Land Grants had to raise sheep for export just to pay the taxes.

So perhaps another way of expressing it is that the current practices are the Scottish tradition.

[Pleater]

One reason for the processing being done in England could be the water quality - the same reason my kilts survived, as the water in South Yorkshire is very 'soft', it lathers easily and doesn't form a scum with soap.
There was always a box of Lux soapflakes by the big sink, all the woollen things were washed with that, carefully dissolved in warm water then the cold tap run to bring the temperature down to just tepid.

I suspect that the inner part of the kilt was linen as it was slightly glossy - polished by decades of wear.
It had a new lining made from a pillowcase and sewn in rather badly - my mum wasn't at all handy with a needle, unlike her mother who was absolutely brilliant at all sorts of making and mending.

Anne the Pleater

[figheadair]

One reason for the processing being done in England could be the water quality

No, it's nothing to do with that and everything to do with economies of scale. Scouring is required for all grades of wool, not just that used for tartan in Scotland. There is simply not the market to justify establishing a Scouring Mill in Scotland.

[Jock Scot]

No, it's nothing to do with that and everything to do with economies of scale. Scouring is required for all grades of wool, not just that used for tartan in Scotland. There is simply not the market to justify establishing a Scouring Mill in Scotland.

Now that makes complete sense to me...........unfortunately.

[Troglodyte]

"I see it as them are knocking another nail into the coffin of Scottish culture and tradition."

I am not sure I would phrase it in this way. It is a simple fact of the world today that it is far easier, faster, and less expensive to buy weaving yarn that comes from Merino sheep from Australia or New Zealand, Washed/carded/combed in India, spun in Pakistan, dyed in Venezuela or Brazil and used in Tartan weaving mills.

Even back when England was a major wool producer, while most of the herds grazed on church land, much of the processing was done elsewhere. That is one of the ways the Low Countries got wealthy.

In Scotland the large Royal Land Grants had to raise sheep for export just to pay the taxes.

So perhaps another way of expressing it is that the current practices are the Scottish tradition.

I'm not with you here.

Anyone who buys an item of traditional Scottish Highland dress from a foreign producer is depriving the native Scottish artisan.

Whilst the buying customer will have his own ideas, and may have no qualms with buying a Pakistani sporran or a PV kilt from an American maker, none of this trade goes to Scotland and so this is the coffin-nail I mentioned.

Personally, I have no problem with people prefering to buy cheap foreign alternatives, but in doing so they must accept that they are buying what you might call fakes. I would much rather they buy the genuine item from a traditional Scottish maker, but each to their own.

What we cannot do is pretend that the foreign-made items are traditionally Scottish (no mater how well-made they are) or that they are preserving a dying Scottish culture. When it comes to these things, it is far better to make our choices based on value rather than price.

[Jock Scot]

I'm not with you here.

Anyone who buys an item of traditional Scottish Highland dress from a foreign producer is depriving the native Scottish artisan.

Whilst the buying customer will have his own ideas, and may have no qualms with buying a Pakistani sporran or a PV kilt from an American maker, none of this trade goes to Scotland and so this is the coffin-nail I mentioned.


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Personally, I have no problem with people prefering to buy cheap foreign alternatives, but in doing so they must accept that they are buying what you might call fakes. I would much rather they buy the genuine item from a traditional Scottish maker, but each to their own.

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From where I am placed, I absolutely agree with you. I have never understood how buying goods from outwith Scotland and with no Scottish connection with its production helps Scotland one bit. To say otherwise is entirely insincere. Buy from anywhere in the world, other than Scotland or, perhaps the UK if you so choose, but please don't delude yourselves that you are buying the genuine article or supporting the "home country" or even more importantly, its artisans.