New Kilt

[Hamish]

I 'accidentally' clicked on the link to the seller and 'absent mindedly' ordered a kilt - one of the cheap ones - in Black Watch.

It arrived today - poor thing.

OK if you were rushing along waving a claymore no one would notice that your kilt pleats are different sizes and not straight, and that the stripe does not run down the middle of the pleat, nor that it is straight, not narrowed to the waist.

I will just have to take it apart and reform all the pleats if I am ever to wear it - once I am thin enough to have enough material - I ordered the largest size as I suspected it would be skimpy - but as it has no double pleats or shaping and two seams within the pleats, should I just save it as it is as an awful warning to those who want something cheap?

I will hang it beside my sewing space for the time being.

Maybe I should buy some Black Watch tartan and make a real one.

If I start to think about setting up my loom and weaving some myself then I will KNOW I have totally lost all sense of reality.

Actually my loom is just the right width .....

I am afraid that bears out what I have always maintained: That one gets only what one pays for in this life!

Pleater: just a quick, unrelated question - where in Dorset are you? Barry has recently begun posting here - he's near the Dorset coast - and I have family connections with the area to the west of Poole and the Isle of Purbeck. I think we should plan a southern counties of England kilts gathering before too long!!

[Pleater]

Our house is on the ridge to the East of Poole harbour - I can see the Purbeck hills across the water from the back bedroom window.

There must be something in the air around here at the moment.

You'll have to let me lose a few pounds and make a few good kilts before organising a meeting - my enthusiasm for making kilts is such that I have about six under construction at the moment. They would not take so long if I did not try to get millimetre accurate pleats. I might also get one finished if I did not go from one to another at random.

I just noticed - the bought kilt is made up inside out - the twill runs contrary to 'standard', left hip to right knee instead of vice versa. Ah well - it will do for gardening.

[Moosehead]

Well, I asked them about deep first and reversed last pleats and the answer was NO. So, not for this guy.

[dwg]

I'm very sorry to hear about your findings with this kilt the one I got was the £49.00 one and as yet it looks ok !
Derek

The parcel might have been within earshot of a bleat on its way from Antrim, but I strongly suspect that is the closest to a sheep the kilt has ever been.

There is no country of origin label, no washing instructions, no fibre content. There are two flaws on the under apron, two pulls in the fringe and that is without even taking out the holding stitches.

I just took a thread and heated it - it melted to form a hard bead - so it is man made. Well - 34.99 plus 6 UK pounds packing and postage - I was not expecting something to set my pulse racing.

I have seen very few kilts 'in the wool' and none to examine closely, so I was interested to see what was on offer.

I do have the satisfaction of seeing that I can take a bed sheet or curtain material and make a better looking kilt than this.