How long does it take to make a kilt?

[bonnie heather]

It takes me 20 hours or more to make a traditional hand stitched knife pleated kilt. When I started as an apprentice, it took much longer. I was taught to do it right, work carefully, make tiny invisible stitches, and match the tartan perfectly. It's important to me, even though it takes time. Now, after several years, it's second nature and goes smoothly, thus a little faster.

I hear that some people can make a hand stitched kilt in only ten hours, but I don't know how that's humanly possible.

I tried making a child's kilt with a sewing machine. but it was much harder to perfectly line up the tartan stripes on the felling, and very frustrating. I re-did the pleat sewing over and over, and came to the conclusion that hand stitching is faster and better for me, because I can get it perfectly by hand.

[Farlander]

...
I hear that some people can make a hand stitched kilt in only ten hours, but I don't know how that's humanly possible.
...

It does not seem humanly possible! Yet, according to master kilt maker Elsie Stuehmeyer, that was a requirement to become a journeyman kilt maker at Thomas Gordon & Sons. Truly amazing!

[Wompet]

My handsewns have been in the 20-30 hour range as well.
The few machine-sewn kilts I've made took less time, but they didn't have canvas or linings ...

It does not seem humanly possible! Yet, according to master kilt maker Elsie Stuehmeyer, that was a requirement to become a journeyman kilt maker at Thomas Gordon & Sons. Truly amazing!

When she said that, did you get the image of the Kilting Gnome and her ilk sequestered in a Glasgow shop, surrounded by bolts of tartan that were being woven by Rumpelstiltskin in the corner?
Or was that just me?

[Barb T]

It takes Elsie 18-20 hours to make a kilt (at least that's what she's always told me). I'm typically in the 20-24 hours range. To be honest, if someone is actually completing a kilt from start to finish in 10 hours, he/she is not making a kilt the way that Elsie and I do.

[Dixiecat]

I once chatted with the kiltmaker that was working at a local Scottish regalia store. He had been in the UK forces making kilts. He said it was common to get an order just before the end of the day and deliver it the next morning. It meant working all night. He worked by pleating to the stripe and pinning first.

[James C]

I hear that some people can make a hand stitched kilt in only ten hours, but I don't know how that's humanly possible.

We here at Burnett's & Struth can make a kilt all handsewn (bespoke) in 10 hours. We have been doing it for over 40 years and quality is the highest. Our Master Kilt maker is Margaret Struth-Gaff and she was trained by Kinloch Anderson of Edinburgh the offical Kiltmakers of the Royal Family. Our experience allows us to make kilts in a timely fashion without sacrificing quality.

Just ask any of our customers. They include Pipe Bands, Regiments, Celebrities, everyday people and of course X Mark the Scot members.

We are professionals at our trade and quality is never sacrificed.

[Barb T]

All I can say, is, more power to you. I could no more make a kilt in 10 hours by the methods that I learned from Elsie Stuehmeyer (who apprenticed at Thomas Gordon's in the 1940s) than I could fly to the Moon.