Self-made kilts

[Jeremiah]

Has anyone here made there own kilt? If so, how difficult is it? Is it possible without a sewing machine? I realize that some professional kiltmakers post here, and their insight is appreciated, but I'd like to hear from more homegrown operations as well.

[bubba]

I've made several kilts and other guys on the board have ventured into kiltmaking as well. Yes, you can make one without a sewing machine. If you want to make a traditional kilt I recommend highly getting Barb T.'s book The Art of Kiltmaking from www.celticdragonpress.com. The book will take you through the process from beginning to end. Well worth buying.

[Livingston]

Jeremiah, there are several kilt makers on this board that are willing to give advice. Just look under the Kilt Advise forums and you should get an idea. You can also post questions there and will receive all the answers you could want ;)

[Jeremiah]

Thanks, I'll check it out. Have you ever put pockets in a kilt or anything like that?

[Southern Breeze]

There is a TON of info on kiltmaking here. I've made two and it's not "too" hard. Good luck.

[Pleater]

It is really easy, you just need to know a few different stitches, be able to do a bit of maths so you can work out the number and spacing of the pleats, and fold cloth in straight lines along a thread.

It helps if you have a couple of bags of safety pins and a tape measure, a flat surface to measure on, a steam iron and ironing board. I use quilters pins and fabric marking pencils when measuring plain fabrics - and a long ruler rather than a tape measure. With a patterned fabric you can use the pattern rather than measuring.

The type of cloth used for traditional kilts seems very forgiving, you can, apparently, hand sew a kilt, wear it a while, then take it apart, iron the creases out and start again, and there is little evidence the cloth has ever been worked on. Finer cloth would have needle marks. I have made make multiple adjustments and alterations and put in tacking and basting threads to help with the folding and holding of the cloth, and as long as the threads do not get pulled awry nor any thread in the cloth is cut, all will be well.

If you use a cloth with man made fibre in it can be damaged by using the iron too hot, giving it a hard, melted edge rather than a crisp pleat, or a permanently polished look again by melting the fibres - but that is just something you learn with a bit of practice on spare bits of the cloth.

[bubba]

Thanks, I'll check it out. Have you ever put pockets in a kilt or anything like that?

No, I made all mine on a more traditional model.

[The Wizard of BC]

Pockets are my passion.

I think every kilt should have pockets. Traditional and Contemporary. Even my X Marks Tartan kilt has side slash and rear welt pockets.

And no I'm not a trained tailor. I figured it out as I went along. Probably took ten kilts till I got one I was satisfied with.

Start with Barb's book if you are going to do a hand sewn traditional.

If you want to do a Contemporary, just ask. I don't know it all, but I'll help where I can.

[auld argonian]

Pretty funny...I do miss pockets on the kilts but everyone observes that I have my hands in my pockets most of the time. It's just one of those habits that one gets into. My dad told me when I played ball back in High School that he was happy that basketball shorts didn't have pockets or I'd be standing there on the court with my hands in them.

Maybe one pocket would be a blessing because I still can't get a good level of organization going in the sporran. We've discussed the possibilities of auxilliary sporrans and pouches before and I figured that I'd just find a leather belt pouch of the flat variety and find a comfortable spot to keep it on the belt.

Best

AA

[Jeremiah]

Pockets are my passion.

I think every kilt should have pockets. Traditional and Contemporary. Even my X Marks Tartan kilt has side slash and rear welt pockets.

And no I'm not a trained tailor. I figured it out as I went along. Probably took ten kilts till I got one I was satisfied with.

Start with Barb's book if you are going to do a hand sewn traditional.

If you want to do a Contemporary, just ask. I don't know it all, but I'll help where I can.

I think I want to start with contemporary, as it seems it would be easier to not have to line up the pattern. The first thing I want to try is to add pockets to my camo Sportkilt. Anything I should consider before I give it a shot?