How Do You Fasten the Fly Plaid?

[PiobBear]

At various times I wear either a fly plaid or an Irish brat. With both, I pin them; a large safety pin just below (anterior to) the brooch, and a small one at my shoulder (both pins inside the coat). There's just too much activity going on on my left shoulder to leave the thing simply flapping about (a brat would just fall off), and one of my brooches has this great spike on it; not something I want to poke through a jacket.
You could replace the spike with a piece of piano wire; my favorite brooch came second-hand (one of my best EBay finds) without it's pin, and that's how I repaired it. Don't sharpen it too much; you want it pointy but blunt enough to separate the fibers without cutting them.
Never leave brooches, pins, kilt pins, etc. in place when not in use. Pewter and steel can oxidize, permanently damaging the cloth.

[Jack Daw]

Thanks, everyone for the great advice!

PiobBear!!

I'm glad you responded as a fellow piper. The first time I piped in my formals, the drones kept sliding off my brooch. So, I moved ther brooch over to my right shoulder. How do you keep the drones from sliding off your shoulder from the brooch??

[PiobBear]

How do you keep the drones from sliding off your shoulder from the brooch??

My brooch always ends up framed between my bass & middle tenor. It's never presented a problem for me.

[Jack Daw]

My brooch always ends up framed between my bass & middle tenor. It's never presented a problem for me.

Looks like I will have to have a dress rehearsal before next weekend to make sure I can situate my drones and brooch as you.

Thanks, PiobBear

[PiobBear]

In the picture, you'll see that my brooch is placed high on my shoulder, where it should be if pinning a traditional piper's plaid, not low on my chest (there's probably a very practical reason for why they're pinned up high like that). Dress regulations of the Regimental Drum Major's Association specifies the emblem squared away and the top edge even with the top of the shoulder.
As a piper, I choose brooches that are relatively flat and snag-free that can't interfere with or scratch my drones, very similar to most military brooches (again, probably made that way for a very practical reason, and it's not economy, for many of them aren't cheap), unlike those civilian ones that most Highland wear shops sell with that big cut-glass stone in a prong setting sticking out of them.
Also, I tie in my drones so the bass drone is raked aft and the blowstick points naturally towards my mouth. The way modern synthetic bags with their plastic stock collars make everything stick out at a right angle I find unnatural, awkward, and uncomfortable.

[Jack Daw]

Last night for Burns Supper, I wore the brooch a bit higher on the shoulder pinning it only to the fly plaid, then pinning the fly plaid to the pc (NOT, the lapel). It all worked fine. Thanks for the advice, everyone.