Light Weight Kilt Jacket

[davedove]

Could anyone give me a recommendation for a lighter weight kilt jacket? I have a jacket, but it's made of heavier wool and I just don't want to wear it in warmer weather. What I'm looking for is something equivalent to a light summer sport jacket.

[Prester John]

I would think that the best solution to this would be to "tailor" a normal jacket to work as a kilt jacket.

Does this sound reasonable? I'd be very interested in knowing who has done this, and what they recommend also.

I wonder if there are any pattern recommendations for such tailoring. Hmmm.

[prattw]

No patterns, but the appendix of _So You're Going to Wear the Kilt_ gives some recomendations on how.

My Advice (FWIW):

Step one. Find a lightweight jacket that you like. Thrift stores are the cheapest, but there are sales. Get one with patch pockets.

Step two. Locate a seamstress with a good reputation to cut the jacket down. (Or a tailor, but they charge much more.) Take the jacket, and some clear pictures showing kilt jackets being worn. Wear your kilt, with sporran. The seamstress will mark the jacket while it's on you. There are choices to make regarding the pockets. A) Move them up to where the seamstress or your SO say they look best. B) Just move the flap while discarding the pocket (my wife's choice). C) Forget about the pockets altogether. (My wife considers that putting stuff in your pockets ruins the lines of the jacket.) If you simply remove the pockets you'll need to brush up the fabric where the flaps were sewn.

Step Three. Reach for your wallet. A good seamstress hereabouts charges about $30 for this. (A tailor will run closer to $80. OTOH, you may feel more comfortable dealing with a tailor, who will require fewer and less knowledgable instructions.)

Will Pratt

[davedove]

I was wondering about that. I don't imagine there was that much demand for light weight jackets in Scotland. After all, it's not known for it's sweltering heat.;)

[auld argonian]

Actually, I saw some jacket/sport coat seperates at the Target store near me that looked pretty good for the price and for Target stuff...they're not quite as "constructed" as a conventional sport coat and might be easier to modify for just that reason.

We also have a chain of stores around Chicago (I assume that they have them elsewhere) called "Value City"...they seem to stock last years styles and overstock and I've found a few serviceable sport coats there - including tweeds - over the years. One of the tweed jackets that I bought was new and set me back a whopping $9...sounds about right for raw materials for an experiment with one's tailor.

best

Auld Argonian

[clancelt]

If you wear things that are a little out of the ordinary(i.e something other than a Suit and tie) you can never beat finding a good tailor. I lucked out and found a master tailor who came from Hong Kong. He is very good, fast, and not too costly. He does all of my shirts and jackets. A good tailor is a nice person to have access to.

[Alan H]

I bought a nice tweed jacket at the Society Saint Vincent de Paul (Catholic Charity store) for $7.50. It was a Woolrich jacket, really quite nice and in perfectly reasonable shape. It was fully lined.

I looked long and hard at pictures of Crail and Argyle jackets online and inspected a friends Argyll jacket at a Highland Games. Then I sat down with scissors and the Singer straight-stitch machine. I had my wife make some measurements as to length while I had the jacket on, wearing a kilt. I coached her, looking in the mirror.. One long Saturday afternoon later, and a WHOLE lot of pressing with an iron to re-set the lapel crease, and voila....Kilt Jacket for $7.50 and a bunch of labour. That beats $275 for a new one, as far as my pocketbook is concerned.

The key is that the lower pockets HAVE to be patch pockets, stitched on top of the jacket. If the pocket is slit into the material of the jacket I think you'll never make it look right.

[Raphael]

If you are to alter a jacket for Kilt wearing, use a tailor. A Tailor will also make the jacket fits better and give it a tailored look.

[An t-Ileach]

What about Jerry at What Price Glory? The Scottish regiments were issued with cotton KD (khaki drill) jackets for wear in hot climes - you can see them in pix from WWI in Palestine, Iraq, Gallipoli, and Egypt. I'm sure Cajunscot knows more about these than I - I suspect there was also a KD issue for the South African War, and probably for general wear in India. If you can get hold of one of these, at the very least it should provide a tailor with an inspirational pattern.

[Southern Breeze]

Have you checked scottishtartans.org ?