NewAlexis Malcolm Kilt

[Mike n NC]

Put this off long enough, got a few minutes to sit on my duff and type so here it is as promised. Have to make do with a verbal for now since I don't see any way of posting pics at the moment. If someone wants to PM me and tell me how to get them in this thread then I'll hop right on it.

Spoke to Alexis toward the end of December, first part of January. We talked kilts and kilting, stitching, material weight, pleating and material cost. Since my first choice is a special run only tartan, I choose to go with an 8 yard traditional handsewn in the Edzell U. S. Navy tartan (go figure) in 13oz material pleated to the white stripe. If you aren't familliar with this tartan then I suggest going to her page and looking at it since I could never describe it well enough here.

Up front Alexis told me there would be about a 5 month wait for the kilt, she's that busy. Compairing price and wait times with other makers, none of who are known to me other than through this board, I elected to go with Alexis and now I'm very happy I did. I picked the kilt up at the post office on Wednesday and had to sit and look at the box until I got home that evening to look it over and try it on.

My first impression was of it's weight, my god it's heavy! Next I looked at the color and sett, the blues are deep and vibirant and the white stripe seperates and the red defines them very well. Turning it over and looking at the pleats the first thing I notice is that there doesn't appear to be a bit of variation in the width or spacing of the pleats and looking at the placement of the stripe, I bet it doesn't vary by more than a mm from pleat to pleat. Having my child bride hold it up, the pleats fall perfectly straight, no wandering, very even both around and down. Being a bit persnickety and knowing that you guys would want to know, I measured each pleat about midway down. 3.5 inches with never more than a 32nd of an inch variation. Visible part of the pleat is 3/4 inch...oh, there are 30 pleats not counting the reversed pleat.

Inside, lined all the way around with a small lable sewn to the lining in the rear naming the tartan and the maker. Directly below that is a small tag with my initals stitched in gold. Inside the front apron is sewn a lable which gives my name, measurments, tartan and date it was completed.

On closer examination, I guess this thing is sewn cause I can't find no stitches. Actually when I fold the kilt and look closely at the waistband I can sorta see a few stitches deep within the folds but I had to look for them, hard. Hardware is solid and heavy, no concern of it not holding up to years of use. Same can be said of the straps, good wide, heavy leather that with occasional oiling should last the life of the kilt (which will no doubt outlive me).

Then I put it on. Carefully strapping it on, finding the holes in the strap and adjusting it to fit...the weight disappeared. This thing fits like it was made for me (well duh!) Falls perfectly over my hips, hangs just right, still with no wandering in the pleats. I didn't have a chance to wear it out and about yet but the small amount of walking I did do in it felt wonderful and the sway was in the words of my wife, "nice swoosh". Even on my boney old butt. With the 2 inch rise, the 22 inch length falls right at the top of my knees, perfect.
To top it all off, Alexis makes a set of flash from the same cut of material and includes them at no extra charge.

At $385 (at the time, don't know if price has gone up with currency fluctuation) this is a hell of a deal. I think Alexis is a keeper guys!!

At the same time I ordered a kilted skirt for the child bride in the Confederate Memorial tartan. This is the 11oz material, about 1.5 to 2 yards. Machine sewn but it shows the same quality and care in the workmanship. So Doc, if you have any doubts about a Confererate Memorial kilt from Alexis, forget them. After seeing the quality of both products, I don't think you can go wrong here.

I'll have some pictures up as soon as I can guys.

Mike

Pics here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/grimsw.../ph//my_photos