Drawstring Belted Plaid

[Bugbear]

Hi all, I'm thinking about making a drawstring belted plaid. What would be the best easy to get stuff to use for a drawstring?
I should also add that it will be used like a blanket at times, so the drawstring needs to be soft enough to not cause problems.

* Here's a description I posted further down.

Here's what I want the plaid to do. I'm planning on putting a loop of thread or fabric where I want each pleat to be. The paracord goes through the loops, then the pleats can be drawn together kind of like opening a curtain. This idea comes from Matthew Newsome's albanach.org in an artical called "Did the Belted Plaid Have a Drawstring?" http://www.albanach.org/drawstring.htm
I will be using the plaid as a blanket/ sleeping bag by folding it in half width wise. It will be twelve feet long and so six feet when folded.
I also use wearing blankets a lot during the winter, so the plaid will probably be used in this way from time to time. I want to be able to put the plaid on fairly quickly because often I will be gathering up my blanket and going outside early in the morning to keep citrus and other plants from freezing. More often it will be to stop the cats from fighting in the un-heated end of my house.
Another way I will use the plaid is to hang on the wall either in the winter or summer for a little extra sound and heat insulation. I tend to only heat and cool one end of my thin walled house and I've found that hanging my wearing blankets and that type of thing on the wall makes things a little quieter and a little easier to heat and cool. Keep in mind I live in the desert.

* I wore a belted plaid, not too long ago, with the pleats sewn in. As I put it on, it reminded me of a robe without sleeves. This is very much what I want to have. I don't want the pleats sewn in though because of the use as a blanket, so the draw string is the practical answer.

[Tartan Hiker]

Military surplus paracord.

Not exactly "period", but it will slip easily through the keepers, and if you ever find youself dangling by your kilt from the nose of a 14th-story gargoyle, you won't have to worry about it breaking!

[Mr. MacDougall]

Just cut yourself a length of tartan, fold it in half, and then fold those halves in half, so that the cut edges are inside. Like this: (3

(If you imagine that the ends of the 3 are contiguous with the paren, and the center stroke is lose) then sew along the open edge. That'll create a cord that won't ravel.

[Bugbear]

Hmmm! That reminds me a little of how robes are sometimes belted with a piece of the same fabric made into the belt. That makes me wonder if the drawstring thing can be put on the outside of the kilt with loops and a built in belt. That might work with using it as a blanket. Thanks.

Just cut yourself a length of tartan, fold it in half, and then fold those halves in half, so that the cut edges are inside. Like this: (3

(If you imagine that the ends of the 3 are contiguous with the paren, and the center stroke is lose) then sew along the open edge. That'll create a cord that won't ravel.

[Bugbear]

Ok, I looked up parachute cord. It sounds like that would work if I can find a short length like less than a thousand feet. At least I have an idea of the width of the cord now. Thanks.

[Brian F]

Ok, I looked up parachute cord. It sounds like that would work if I can find a short length like less than a thousand feet. At least I have an idea of the width of the cord now. Thanks.

If you have a military surplus somewhere close by, they should have parachute cord by the foot. At least all the ones I've ever been to do.

~Yeti

[Bugbear]

Guess I would need about nine feet for the length of the pleated part of the kilt. I didn't think about it being that long, but now I'm wondering what you do with all the slack in the cord after you pull the pleats together. That would leave something like seven feet just hanging there. That doesn't seem quite right though...

[ChattanCat]

There are some good prices on ebay for paracord right now. I got some for making an epaulette.

[Bugbear]

It sounds like paracord is good stuff to have around. I see a lot of... I think 514, paracord and in diferent colors too. If I do end up getting a thousand feet, it won't go unused around here. I'm still puzzled by the amount that will be left over after pulling the pleats together. I guess I could wrap it around my waist twice. Guess that's 550 paracord.

There are some good prices on ebay for paracord right now. I got some for making an epaulette.

[Kid Cossack]

It sounds like paracord is good stuff to have around. I see a lot of... I think 514, paracord and in diferent colors too. If I do end up getting a thousand feet, it won't go unused around here. I'm still puzzled by the amount that will be left over after pulling the pleats together. I guess I could wrap it around my waist twice.

Paracord's thin enough and flexible enough (it really is some GREAT STUFF, Homer) that you could coil up the seven feet and slip it into your sporran, maybe even have a little wallet made for it.

I've thought about turning six yards of tartan I've got into a great kilt with a drawstring, and I've NEVER considered using anything but paracord. (aka 550 cord.) Add a couple of rolls of rigger tape/high speed tape/50 MPH tape/duct tape and you could build the Taj Mahal.

When American History is being studied a thousand years from now, we will not be remembered for Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, FDR or Microsoft: we will be remembered for paracord and rigger tape.