Quality question

[davidlpope]

I've seen a kilt in a local secondhand shop that looks a perfect fit for my man. I have asked them to set it aside because I'm not 100% certain what to look for in terms of quality. There's no label, it seems quite weighty. It looks hand-stitched, which is what first attracted me to it... but the price is really good!

Any 'giveway' pointers that I should look for to either confirm I have a bargain or avoid like the plague?

The give-away that I most often use is to look at the pleats. How wide are the pleats (the reveal) in th portion of the stitched area near the waistband? 8-yard knifepleat kilts will be narrow, about 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide. Next, look at the depth of the pleats. Since most kilt fabric is about 6-9 inches wide per repeat of the pattern, the pleats should be about 3 inches deep.

Now, look at the bottom edge of the garment. Good kilt fabric has a finished selvedge, so there should be no hem, except in the odd case where the kilt has been shortened or the original fabric did not have a finished selvedge (e.g. "Welsh tartans").

The arrangment of the inner/outer aprons on the garment should be outer apron wrapping from left hip to right hip. Most women's kilt skirts have the outer apron in the reverse.

Finally, measure the length of the garment. Most men's kilt run around 24-26 inches. Most ladies' skirts are longer.

The absolute best option would be to take multiple close-ups of the garment and post them here. We'd be able to tell you for sure whether this is fish or fowl.

Best of Luck.

David

[piperdbh]

I'll add to my neighbor's response and say that you should check the alignment of the horizontal stripes in the pleats. If the stripes line up well, then the kiltmaker was paying attention. If the horizontal stripes don;t line up well, or look crooked, then you've got a poorly aligned kilt, which would take destroying to fix. As Brother Pope says, take pictures and post them here and we'll let you know yea or nay.