New belt

**IsaacW** · 11th January 16, 07:24 PM

Well done, and I too am a fan of that boar fur sporran! Rustic wow!

Isaac

**Jack Daw** · 13th January 16, 08:25 AM

Very clever designs by your wife! Nice broguing on the belt, too. (Two of my 2X great grand uncles moved to Muscoda in the mid-19th C and raised families).

**Todd Bradshaw** · 19th January 16, 11:47 AM

Marite is progressing nicely with the dress that will go with the belt. It's 13 oz. Marton Mills kilting wool, fully lined with a really fine weave cotton up top for itch protection and some slicker stuff in the skirt part. It's a really complex sewing project and having to match the tartan at darts, seams, sleeves and any other junction has probably doubled the amount of time it has taken to make, but it will be worth it in the end. The cuffs still need to be added, then the top and bottom joined and the lining secured, but the hardest parts are done. It will open all the way down the front with about sixteen buttons. The skirt part is cut with the tartan running on a diagonal and the upper part horizontal to prevent the top from sagging and bias-stretching from the weight hanging on it. Overall weight is not too bad (lighter than the 8-yard kilt that Barb made for me from the same cloth, which has a rather refreshing, lighter-than-normal weight, but is still gorgeous). Anyway, the end is slowly coming into sight and pretty soon I'll get to see my belt in action (which seems like a rather humble project by comparison).

**IsaacW** · 19th January 16, 12:09 PM

Beautiful work on the jacket and dress

**Todd Bradshaw** · 4th February 16, 12:12 PM

No good photos of the dress in use yet, due to work schedules, available sunlight, etc. but it is done and it is gorgeous. Marite did a fantastic job of matching the plaids where the various parts meet, which was no small task, and combining a couple of patterns to get what she wanted. It added a lot of tedious labor time to the process, but it was worth the wait. It's 13 oz. Marton Mills "Bute" kilting wool in the navy version of our T-6 tartan, fully lined with a fine weave cotton and it buttons all the way down the front.

Barb T made me a beautiful knife-pleated kilt from the same fabric and I think our next project may be a tartan vest to go with it. Either that, or possibly try that curious vest-with-sleeves-style jacket, either from tartan or some dark blue Cheviot tweed that we have.