Finally... kilted goodness! *pics*

[Tobus]

I'm posting this, hopefully within board rules, to review my recent acquisitions from Josh at Skye Highland Outfitters (who is an advertiser here). And also to show off some other accessories I'm proud of.

This is my first 'tank', a 16-ounce, 8-yard wool kilt. I decided to go whole-hog with matching Argyle hose and a horse-hair sporran. I placed this order a while back and resisted the urge to "jones" for it. I'll be honest here; there were some delays along the way, ranging from getting delayed in customs to having the package run over by a forklift by the extremely talented folks at the US Post Office. But Josh has been a real gentleman about it all and did his level best to work with me and make sure I'm a satisfied customer. End result: I am!

The wait was arduous, but worth it in the end. Enough with the preliminaries, though. Pics or it didn't happen, right? So on to the pics!

I'm taking Jock Scot's advice and trying not to worry about matching. Hence, my mixing of brown and black leather. More on that later. Here's my new outfit:



As I mentioned, the kilt is an 8-yard, 16-ounce traditional wool kilt. It's knife-pleated to the stripe, and woven in my clan tartan, Colquhoun (Ancient). I am very pleased at the fit. I'm not used to the bulk and weight of this much wool, though! It'll take some getting used to. But the kilt itself seems to be of excellent quality construction. I checked the yardage along the bottom of the pleats and came up with 7.91 yards, which is more than I expected. I'd been led to believe that most "8 yard" kilts, especially for small guys like me, would not really be close to 8 yards. But this one is. Another angle:



And below is a close-up of the sporran. I absolutely LOVE the look of horse-hair sporrans, and am happily joining the movement to bring them back into style amongst kilt-wearers. This is one of Josh's Skye Roamer #2 models, and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of room in the pouch. I had heard that most horse-hair sporrans were almost useless for carrying anything, but this one seems to have enough room for my essentials. It has more room, anyway, than most "day sporrans" I've seen.



And of course, here is the obligatory pleat shot.



You'll notice that my sporran strap is a little long. I just got it cut out today and haven't finished it yet. Heck, I haven't even punched the holes for the Conway buckle at the back, which you'll see in a minute. So ignore, for a moment, the long sporran strap billet hanging behind me. It'll go away once I get the holes punched and end trimmed.

Here are my matching tartan hose:



I've been buying increasingly better quality hose in the last year, and I have to say these are the nicest I've seen yet. Josh makes them to custom measurements, and they fit perfect. They're a nice weight of wool, and not scratchy like some other wool hose I've worn. The colors are a great compliment to the tartan of my kilt, and I think it looks just smashing!

Oh, and those are my fairly new brogues that I ordered from Sanders & Sanders in England a few months ago. I love these shoes, and wear them to work (unfortunately with pants) several times a week. I got them for kilting, though, and finally I have an outfit that does them justice!

The kilt belt I'm wearing was a birthday present from my wife (my birthday was yesterday, which made the arrival of my goods from Skye Highland Outfitters that much more timely). As I've mentioned before, my wife is a saddle-maker and leather worker. She made this belt, designed the pattern, and custom tooled the leather herself. The quality and depth of the tooling beats the pants off of embossed leather any day!



The brown color is an airbrushed dye, and the belt is finished with Neat-Lac. I intended to wear this belt with my brown brogues, but I wanted to show it off with the rest of this outfit, and to hell with matching the leather colors!

The buckle came from the Scottish Lion Import Shop (made by Lochcarron, or at least that's what the box said), which you may recall I posted about a few weeks ago. I was starting to worry about the order, but it showed up unannounced and thankfully it met my quality expectations. I like the look of the pewter buckle as opposed to a shiny buckle. I had to make the closure piece myself by bending 1/8" rod to shape (which was surprisingly much easier than I thought; I did it in about 15 minutes on my bench vise).

Anyway, my wife also included a tiny thistle on the back of the kilt belt. I thought it was an excellent touch. (And yeah, I reiterate that my sporran strap needs holes for the Conway buckle.)



So... whaddaya think? I'm just thrilled at the whole thing.

[NorCalPiper]

Hey Tobe-
Let me be the absolute first to say how AWESOME you look!!! Man.......Just smashing!

[2a5t2f7]

Awesome was the right word!

[Downunder Kilt]

Great looking kilt, belt, sporran, hose and shoes and to me, it's a go together ensemble. The only thing I would recommend is not to put the kilt belt through the loops at the back but put your sporran strap through them.

Congratulations on getting yourself a fine looking outfit

[gordontaos]

You look Mahvelous!

[artificer]

Sweet! Everything looks great. I guess it WAS a happy birthday

BTW: congratulations to the wife, the tooled belt turned out amazing, and I really love the way it works with the buckle.

[Tobus]

The only thing I would recommend is not to put the kilt belt through the loops at the back but put your sporran strap through them.

Ah yes, I do recall now that that's the best recommended way to do it. I shall do that in the future. Thanks!

Hey Tobe-
Let me be the absolute first to say how AWESOME you look!!! Man.......Just smashing!

Thank you sir! Excellent work!

[Nighthawk]

The overall outfit is great... but as an ammature leather worker, I have to say, that belt is STUNNING!! Someday I'll be able to make one like that for myself...

Oh, and by the way- my birthday was yesterday, too. All I got was a home made cake... Happy birthday!!

[Hothir Ethelnor]

ye're looking mighty grand there.

[MacMillans son]

Very nice Tobus! My compliments to your wife and Josh on their beautiful work.

Does your wife have any interest in making other belts? I would be interested in having a conversation with her if she does.

Brooke