I am going to wreck it, I'm sure...so I need help!

**Burly Brute** · 9th November 10, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by Mikilt

Zach,
If you intend to use your kilt as bedding, you might consider a great kilt. It's a single, unpleated piece of fabric. The drawback is that it takes you longer to get dressed and if it rained during the night, your kilt needs to be laid out in the mud in order for you to put it on.

Mikilt

Some info from one of our advertisers: http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/celtic-...t-history.html

That is essentially what I am desiring, the issue is the price...and my size haha.

**Burly Brute** · 9th November 10, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Tartan Hiker

Go to Joann's or some other fabric shop and see if you can find some budget wool or wool blend. Be sure it's double width (at least 58" wide) and get three yards...four if it's a really good deal. You should be able to do this for between $50 and $75.

The only issue with that, is I would like a clan tartan...but alas, now it becomes an issue of money again. Plus I would like something durable, as I would like to use it for a long time.

Side Note: I started a thread in the Historical Highland Attire a few days ago, before this one turned into a discussion on this topic. Could you move these posts and replies to that thread? I hate hi-jacking this thread with my bothersome questions. Thanks again to all!

-Zach

**Tartan Hiker** · 9th November 10, 08:11 PM

I merged several of these posts into this thread from another thread per the OP's request. Merged posts go in chronological order, so a few seem a bit out of place, but I'm sure you can sort it out.

**Pleater** · 10th November 10, 03:38 AM

Using a modern tartan for a great kilt and then going hiking in it - hmmmm.

I forsee problems with that.

First, an authentic size might not be sufficient - pure wool tends to be woven 54 inches wide and wool blends 60 inches. I think anyone taller than 6ft is going to find that is not enough.

It might be necessary to join several lengths along the selvages - though it could make some people go faint at the thought - then hem top and bottom - to make the kilt large enough.

Modern wool is nice and clean, no lanolin, no felting - so it will not stink - but neither will it be water repellent. I suggest that you regard the great kilt more as an overcoat and have a waterproof garment and several durable space/survival blankets so you can create a dry windproof shelter/sleeping space.

Having spent time out in our British weather I am a great fan of Gortex and reinforced foil coverings. Wool garments and blankets are good, but not when wet.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**Chas** · 10th November 10, 03:51 AM

I am going to wreck it, I'm sure...so I need help!

With all respect, Zack - isn't that a given. If you are going to wear a bulky item of clothing 24/7, it is going to get wet and dusty and muddy and smokey and stained (plant and food and human) and torn and generally dishevelled and stinky.

I am not saying that you shouldn't do this, I am saying that you should go into it in a realistic way. Be aware that you might destroy your great kilt.

Either way good luck. And don't forget pictures.

Regards

Chas

**NewEnglander** · 10th November 10, 04:47 AM

If I were you (and this does sound like a rather interesting idea), I'd find some the most inexpensive piece of wool you can get your hands on and do a trial run with that. I'm thinking of the olive drab wool Army blanket I keep in my Jeep. That way you can see if the whole great kilt thing is actually practical for you before you drop the cash to make one in your family tartan.
Good luck!

**Jock Scot** · 10th November 10, 07:11 AM

Just something for you to consider, the climate in Scotland is harsh on occasion, for sure.BUT our highest mountain is just over 4000 ft and no one lives at that height, yours are regularly much higher than that. In Scotland we have the help of the Gulf Stream to keep up our temperatures more than a bit. Your weather is far, far more extreme. Yes we can easily do hypothermia, wind chill, exposure, torrential rain, severe Atlantic storms, snow(4ft is unusual), sleet and death on the hill. We have below freezing temperatures, but rarely does it get below -15C and -20c is a once or twice a year event.But no one in their right mind goes out in the great kilt in those conditions!Remember, no Scot has ever had to suffer your type of climate in Scotland. And you want to go out in even more severe weather wearing a great kilt? I admire your thoughts,but with the greatest of respect, don't do it! If nothing else think of the poor devils that have to sort out the mess as it will inevitably turn out to be. Sorry laddie, I have to be honest.

**Jock Scot** · 10th November 10, 08:51 AM

No I am not a ranger, just a countryman who has seen too many ill prepared souls who have unrealistic expectations of their equipment and their abilities-----if they have any of either----- and have heard far too often, the cries of anguish from those left behind.

I am not at all sure where our friend is going and I am sure that he has more than a fair idea what he is doing, but-----------.

**wildrover** · 10th November 10, 09:42 AM

Reading between the lines a bit...

Don't get overly caught up in the romantic idea of kilting up and striding over the heather with the sound of pipes at a comfortable & picturesque distance and an impossible stag outlined on a nearby hilltop or however Jock put it a while back, I'm paraphrasing.. Wool is a durable material, and kilts are comfortable, however a kilt is not necessarily the best clothing for every job.

There is nothing more uncomfortable than wrapping up in a wet bedroll at night. You are likely to freeze your *** off, nothing less...or to put it another way, if there's bad weather, be smart and get out of it. Abandon the idea of wild shaggy Scotsmen stoically tramping over the moors through all manner of hell in their great kilts...if they had to do it, they probably weren't any more comfortable than anyone else would be in the same situation, and were probably thinking "only three more miles to the house!", which is what most people caught hiking in bad weather are thinking.

With that in mind, the army blanket idea is perfect. Get a few, sew them up as necessary, pleat them if desired, and give it a try. Just don't blame us if you come back with monkeybutt and hypothermia

.

Spend your money on a nice 16x8 in your family tartan, get your regular hiking kit, and get out the door. I have hiked in my kilt, I have clambered over rocks while wearing it, gone up and down ladders, walked through rain storms and hail, and forded small creeks. If chafing is addressed, you will be fine, also, you will be much more comfortable if you have something to change in to, post-hike. I recommend the old standby, loose sweatpants, or the other classic, Carharrts...then you can BS around the campfire without smoking or torching your kilt, and without accidentally showing your goods to all your buddies while you're kicking back on the ultralight camp chair you packed in. The kicker here is that in all the aforementioned conditions, the upper half is covered in either a vented Gore-Tex hardshell, or a quick-drying "race shirt", or both. Water is not an issue. Regarding the kilt and water, you have to work to soak the inner apron and the insides of the pleats. If the inside of your kilt is soaked, you either just forded a creek or you were standing on your head in the rain.

...Spoken from experience, BTW. I actually just brought some surf shorts, but in colder weather, a larger pack with foul-weather clothing is a requirement to avoid becoming a statistic. Try a great kilt from surplus army blankets, pack additional gear according to your local weather patterns, and see how it goes.

As regards cost, kilts are a niche market, and are now viewed and treated by most as a luxury item, and the price reflects that as well as the quality and hand labor that goes in to a niche market item.

The bottom line? Hike in your kilt. Once you do, if you ever go without it again, you'll be wishing you had it! But abandon romantic ideas and be appropriately prepared for your climate and terrain.

**Jock Scot** · 10th November 10, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by seumasFinn

No, I didn't mean to say you were...nor to deprecate your advice....apologies if it came off so...I guess I would expect someone to try his gear out somewhere where one can bail out if necessary...and part of my post was to echo that when we do something stupid in the backcountry other people may put their lives at risk to rescue us...

No apologies necessary my dear chap, I quite understood what you were saying. I was just making sure that I did not have a label(Ranger) that I did not earn!