A box on the Doorstep

**SteveB** · 30th March 09, 04:35 PM

I arrived home a few minutes ago to find a neat box between the doors. Now I need to open it and find out if it is the end of a long jones. Take lots of pictures, figure out how to get them out of the camera, then get them to photobucket, and then on to Xmarksthescot.com.

More to come

**Mael Coluim** · 30th March 09, 04:42 PM

Did the box look like this?

**Freelancer** · 30th March 09, 04:48 PM

Congratulations. I'm waiting on a similar box myself. It should come in a day or two.

**wyldathart** · 30th March 09, 07:11 PM

I got one of those today myself LOL

**SteveB** · 30th March 09, 07:30 PM

Yes it is from Rocky!

The decision time, first a nice large cup of tea (off to the right in the photo), now do I open the box or work on my practice chanter? BTW, my tutor lurks on the board and knows my screen name). Turns on the metronome and does the timed gracenote scales and throws.

Then the box gets opened...... and out comes a set of flashes in the MacNeil of Barra Ancient tartan with the sett and twill in perfect alignment. Thus ends a very long jones.

I ordered this kilt on 12 November 2008 when Rocky was having a sale on Premier Kilts in surplus tartans. MacNeil of barra Ancient was not among the sale tartans...bummer. I have been planning for a kilt in my tartan for a long time and decided to pull the trigger, and ordered the kilt at full price. Rocky then emailed a nice deal to me. USA Kilts is in the process of launching a new line of Hand Sewn in Scotland Wool Kilts, and would I like one at a discount, if I reviewed it for him, much the same has already been posted by Rex Tremende on another thread. Rocky used one kiltmaker for Rex and another for me.
The logistics of setting up this would take time, and I was not in a hurry for the kilt. This has been a rather light weight jones, as I expected some time for the new process to work. Quality is well worth the wait. From the box sprang a MacNeil of Barra Ancient kilt.

This is indeed a lifetime kilt. It is fully hand sewn.

The basting stitches are still in. I found it interesting that the kiltmaker basted the pleats in groups of 8 or so pleats on all three rows. There are 28 pleats across the backside.

More to come................

**Rex_Tremende** · 30th March 09, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by SteveB

USA Kilts is in the process of launching a new line of Hand Sewn in Scotland Wool Kilts, and would I like one at a discount, if I reviewed it for him, much the same has already been posted by Rex Tremade on another thread. Rocky used one kiltmaker for Rex and another for me.
The logistics of setting up this would take time, and I was not in a hurry for the kilt. This has been a rather light weight jones, as I expected some time for the new process to work. Quality is well worth the wait. From the box sprang a MacNeil of Barra Ancient kilt.

Is that the case? You scamp! I thought you were holding out on me - but it turns out you were just on hold. I knew that you had a kilt on order under similar circumstances. I thought for sure yours would come first, so I kept waiting for you to announce something.

Well, I can't wait for the rest of the review.

Regards,
Rex.

**SteveB** · 30th March 09, 07:59 PM

The kilt has two sporran strap loops in the rear. They are practically invisible.

The kilt comes with two ribbon loops, which work well to hang the kilt from a peg, temporarily, if needed. The buckles are mounted to the interfacing, with the tartan aligned quite well. The lower buckle appears in the photo to be out of alignment while the kilt is not on me, but falls into alignment as soon as the straps are buckled around me. The straps are a nice satin finish, and are supple as well as heavy duty. The finish on the buckles is smooth and polished. The horizontal alignment of the tartan across the pleats is absolutely perfect.

Please notice that the tartan matches as does the twill on all three buckles. There are four double stitched rows holding the buckles to the interfacing.

The under apron strap is shown here. It has two rows of stitches holing it to the interfacing. Although more than adequate to do the job, my other tanks have an "X" stitched between the rows. The satin tone of the strap works well with this tartan.

The outer apron straps are entered neatly through the tartan to the interfacing. The front apron "hangs" on the interfacing very smoothly.

The alignment of the fringe with tartan on the outer apron is clean and neat the whole length.

More to come.............

**SteveB** · 30th March 09, 08:03 PM

Rex, I apologize for misspelling your name in my earlier post.

**Bugbear** · 30th March 09, 08:29 PM

Congratulations!

**SteveB** · 30th March 09, 08:53 PM

I left the basting stitches in and strapped this work of art on my fat body. It fit like it was a part of me. The waist buckled in quite comfortably, and the two inches above the top strap flared out on the sides quite nicely to fit with my ribcage. There is but little flare in the rear or on the front apron, a sign of true craftspersonship. The fell stops at exactly the proper level on my backside, and the taper is perfect. The length is exactly where it should be, the top of my knees. The outer apron sits nice and flat, as well as begins and ends at the middle of my sides. ( 9 and 3 o'clock)
It is now time to sit in the chair with fine tools to remove the basting stitches as this kilt is definitely a keeper.
For the suspense section, a few more nice details:

The under apron liner with the USA Kilts logo, and the "Dry Clean Only" tag. This liner floats on the interfacing.

The rear lining also floats on the interfacing, and is stitched to the pleats just below the cut away section. This helps the kilt "sit" on top of my fat backside without distorting the sett.

The under apron is only tapered for about 8 inches. This is not a bad thing as it sits well out of sight when worn. Most of my kilts are tapered for 11 or twelve inches.

I had requested the kilt pleated to sett. This is my preferred way of displaying the tartan. In examining the 28 pleats before removing the basting, I found only one pleat where the sett had even a hint of spread.
I should mention that as the tartan has black as one of the colours, the black thread used is very invisible where the bottom of the fell is double lock stitched.

After removing the basting stitches, some more examination is in order.

The pleats are about 3-1/3" deep with 5/8" width.

I had mentioned one pleat having a very slight hint of spread. This lead me to the seam for binding the two halves of the tartan together. It is on under pleat number 14. The tartan is very well aligned. The picture does not show it as well as it actually appears. There is a slight offset due to the angle the fabric is sitting. I did not want to flatten the pleats to show it any better. The stitching on the "outside" appears to be by machine, but on closer examination is really an accurately spaced hand stitch.

Inside the kilt pleats is this interesting display of what appeared at first to be rough cloth edge. Nearly invisible are binding stitches the whole length of the outer edge of the two pieces of fabric.

Even more to come...........