Irish Kilts and Tartans

[RadioKen]

Gentlemen:

What a fascinating article! Now I have even MORE kilt history and information with which to bore my wife to tears!

I do have a question regarding the color photograph of the saffron school kilt: Has anyone here seen the kilt in this photo personally? As has already been pointed out, the photo shows the pleats running in the opposite direction than what is typically seen on a knife-pleated kilt. I've printed plenty of photographs, both in a darkroom and digitally, that have been flipped horizontally, either intentionally or by accident. I couldn't see anything in this photograph that would allow me to say that the photo is definitely oriented one way or the other, though admittedly the details aren't terribly large on my computer screen.

On the subject of the caubeen, I have this to say, for what it is worth: I'm a fan of hats. My typical daily headwear is a type of Belgian beret in black wool which, when worn with the soft band turned out instead of in bears a marked resemblance to the photos of caubeens I've seen. My understanding of "caubeen" as a word is that it originally (and broadly) meant "little hat", and could have been used to refer to any number of small styles, brimmed or otherwise. It's been pointed out that the Scottish bonnet and the Irish caubeen are very similar to one another and also to other soft, "beret"-styles worn in Europe over the past few hundred years. I'm not learned enough to make any strong statements one way or the other, but are we looking at a case of fashion migration (and hold-over?), or concurrent evolution? Not that it matters to me, really; I like the style regardless of origins. But I'm the sort of person who likes Knowing Things and this sort of question gets my curiosity going (much to my wife's annoyance).

~Ken

[macwilkin]

Gentlemen:

What a fascinating article! Now I have even MORE kilt history and information with which to bore my wife to tears!

I do have a question regarding the color photograph of the saffron school kilt: Has anyone here seen the kilt in this photo personally? As has already been pointed out, the photo shows the pleats running in the opposite direction than what is typically seen on a knife-pleated kilt. I've printed plenty of photographs, both in a darkroom and digitally, that have been flipped horizontally, either intentionally or by accident. I couldn't see anything in this photograph that would allow me to say that the photo is definitely oriented one way or the other, though admittedly the details aren't terribly large on my computer screen.

On the subject of the caubeen, I have this to say, for what it is worth: I'm a fan of hats. My typical daily headwear is a type of Belgian beret in black wool which, when worn with the soft band turned out instead of in bears a marked resemblance to the photos of caubeens I've seen. My understanding of "caubeen" as a word is that it originally (and broadly) meant "little hat", and could have been used to refer to any number of small styles, brimmed or otherwise. It's been pointed out that the Scottish bonnet and the Irish caubeen are very similar to one another and also to other soft, "beret"-styles worn in Europe over the past few hundred years. I'm not learned enough to make any strong statements one way or the other, but are we looking at a case of fashion migration (and hold-over?), or concurrent evolution? Not that it matters to me, really; I like the style regardless of origins. But I'm the sort of person who likes Knowing Things and this sort of question gets my curiosity going (much to my wife's annoyance).

~Ken

The photo is from the Pearse Museum in Ireland, Ken. I contacted the curator, Brian Crowley, regarding similar photos I had seen in the Irish Kilt Society's newsletter several years back.

Regarding your question on the caubeen, It's my personal opinion that the jury is still out on that -- I've seen a caubeen described as a "shabby old hat" in the style worn by the stereotypical Irishman of the mid 19th century.

T.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

FWIW: My gardener used to refer refer to his flat cap as a caubeen. I think that to today's rural Irish-- and probably most Irish prior to 1921-- the word caubeen means whatever hat they are wearing, as opposed to the military bonnet worn by Irish pipe bands, etc.

[macwilkin]

FWIW: My gardener used to refer refer to his flat cap as a caubeen. I think that to today's rural Irish-- and probably most Irish prior to 1921-- the word caubeen means whatever hat they are wearing, as opposed to the military bonnet worn by Irish pipe bands, etc.

Exactly. Much like geographic names (Argyll, Balmoral, etc.) were assigned to jackets and other pieces of Highland kit, I think the word "caubeen", which meant "hat" or "cap", was simply assigned to the military bonnet.

T.

[BoldHighlander]

Great article Matt & Todd!

As an aside, (because we did not have an "official" tartan), about 5 years ago I was involved in a vote undertaken by the Ó Mórdha Clan Society to adopt the solid green as the "official" clan kilt w/ a swatch of the St. Patrick's tartan worn behind the clan badge upon the caubeen

[RockyR]

Pleats going the opposite direction on a traditional kilt are more difficult b/c most sewing machines are 'right handed'. To make a kilt with pleats going the opposite direction would require sewing the kilt with the bulk of the fabric on the kiltmakers RIGHT side, under the arm of the machine. When I made my Reverse Kingussie tweed kilt for myself, I had to do the first HALF of the kilt that way... not fun.

[Hothir Ethelnor]

Actually Rocky you can sew from the bottom of the fell up when sewing the reverse pleats.

[O'Callaghan]

Actually Rocky you can sew from the bottom of the fell up when sewing the reverse pleats.

Ladies kilts would normally have the pleats running in the opposite direction, so I was thinking they wouldn't do that if it was really so difficult.

[ccga3359]

Rocky was refering to when using a sewing machine not hand stitching.

[O'Callaghan]

Rocky was refering to when using a sewing machine not hand stitching.

So how do you sew a ladies' kilt on a machine? Not that I want to make one, I'm just curious. Could this be why Sport Kilt makes all theirs the same as their men's kilts?

All the others I've seen have been the opposite of men's ones, i.e. they close on the other side and the pleats run the other way around. In fact it's a telltale sign at renfests when you see guys who have their pleats running the wrong way around, so you know that they have 'converted' them from ladies' kilts by changing the closing.