Threads Magazine

[Barb T]

As Bonnie Heather says, the methods in Ann's short article and her Folkwear pattern instructions are a little different than the methods I outline in The Art of Kiltmaking. I have specific reasons for making kilts the way I do, and I've tried to outline the rationale in my book. In the end, though, there's no "one right way" to make a kilt, despite the breast-beating that sometimes goes on! ;-)

Ann's instructions are perfectly fine if you have a simple tartan. If you have a tartan that is at all challenging to pleat, however, or if the person is a challenge to fit, you won't find instructions in either the Threads article or the Folkwear pattern to help you figure out what to do. Every tartan and every person is different, and I tried in my book to teach people how to make decisions so that, in the end, it wouldn't matter what tartan he/she chose to work with. It takes a lot of space in a set of instructions to do that, and Ann simply didn't have space in either the Threads article or in the Folkwear pattern to address this. That's why my book is a book and not a pamphlet!

[Barb T]

And of course I have my signed copies of TAoK (1st and 2nd printings).

I'll try to post a review and comparison of the four once the magazine arrives.

Steve - you really only need to compare three things, because the 1st and 2nd printings of TAoK are only different in a couple ways - the back cover photos, the suppliers list, and correction of a few typos. The rest of the content is identical.

[Alan H]

I remember that article. It's a nice article but it's not by any stretch of the imagination a manual on how to make a kilt. It gives kilmaking insights to those who are curious and competent seamstresses and tailors, who might know what it takes to make one. It is NOT a kiltmaking guide for those who haven't made a kilt before and are sort of starting from scratch.

That said, it's entirely worth a read and the model they picked for the cover picture is a knockout.

Also, Ann Stewart, respected kiltmaker for 60 or more years, states quite plainly in the article that she has a mans kilt, personally herself, and she wears it and loves it.

So for the Kilt Religious Fanatics who foam at the mouth of the idea of a woman wearing a kilt for any reason outside of playing in a pipe band....well, now...