Where do Kiltmaker's Learn Their Craft?

[Riverkilt]

I know Kathy Lare went to the Keith School and got certified there, and has gone back to be certified in new skills...think she's the only certified kiltmaker in the U.S.....?

I know other kiltmakers learn the craft by figuring it out, or reading books, or by apprenticing with more experienced kiltmakers.

Got to thinking about it when folks mention ordering kilts from mills...who are the people who sew them up over in Scotland?

How do you tell the difference between a schooled and certified kiltmaker, an apprenticed kiltmaker, or a self-taught kiltmaker when choosing your craftsman/craftswoman?

Talking about hand sewn traditional kilts here, not contemporary kilts.

Posted here rather than the kiltmaker's forum since this is about the kiltmakers of traditional kilts rather than kiltmaker's products. Hope that was right.

Don't mean to question anyone's "credentials." Just trying to understand the craft.

Thanks for any input.

Ron

[Panache]

Ron,

What a great idea for a thread. I hope we can get to hear from Matt Newsome, Rocky, Cannuck, and Barb (among our other kilt makers) about where and how they learned their art.

Cheers

[Scottish Chi]

Very good question! While looking to have my first traditional kilt made I was concerned about the kiltmaker's training, qualifications, and level of experience. There isn't much to help someone make an informed decision. I feel very lucky to have found X Marks for guidance. Here I found out about folks like Kathy Lare, Barbara Tewksbury, Matt Newsom, and others. I feel more confident knowing the person who is making the kilt than I do relying on a business who may "farm out" my kilt. As you stated this is not meant to question anyones creditials. It's just that anytime I invest what is to me a large sum of money I prefer to know the Craftperson/artist.

I am not aware of any other source of information on kiltmakers that is as informative as the collective experience of the members on this website. But then you know that I'm sure - your posts were some of the first that helped me. And I thank you.

Cheers! Bill

[Southern Breeze]

I'm looking forward to these replys as well. I've made several myself and being certifiable helps. :rolleyes:

[MacHummel]

Well
I learned my craft from a very nice elderly women here in Fergus who wanted to pass on all she knew, as a young girl she and her mother made kilts in Scotland Pat is a wonderful lady and I hope I have made her proud.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Ron, great topic. I too look forward to hearing others responses. It is not like kilts are mainstream enough, like car mechanics, that we can ask our neighbors/coworkers/friends their recommendations for a good kilt maker!

[smaughazard]

Ron, great topic. I too look forward to hearing others responses. It is not like kilts are mainstream enough, like car mechanics, that we can ask our neighbors/coworkers/friends their recommendations for a good kilt maker!

That's one of the key reasons I joined XMarks in the first place: the amount of knowledge represented here is amazing! Lucky, too, I guess, that my closest kiltmaker is Matt Newsome!

[Panache]

So OK kiltmakers, we kilted rabble will now sit down, shut up, and listen.

Tell us you stories...

[MacWage]

For would be kiltmakers, the links on the main homepage of this forum are helpful. I used them for my first. I have picked Matt's brain as well. Being poor and cheap, I sought a good book and was directed many times to Barb's book. Matt raved (as much as he would) over it. It was the best $30 I've spent. It is EXCELLENT for an amateur and her and her writing partner's credentials/experience is on their web site (see Barb's homepage link on her name badge). It GREATLY improved my abilities and what makes a good, bad, and mediocre kilt.

I'll shut up now for more qualified kiltmakers to expound.

[Riverkilt]

I'm realizing I asked a two pronged question. My original intent was to find out how people learned to sew traditional kilts. That's sort of evolved into how individual kiltmakers learned their craft.

Some display their training and credentials - like Kathy Lare on her website http://www.kathyskilts.com/ if you click on the "About Kathy" link.

Howie Nicholsby says in the introduction to his 21st Century Kilts catalog that, "I first created 21st Century Kilts in 1996 at age 18 whilst doing a crash course in the wokshop of my parent's busines Geoffrey (tailor) Highland Crafts Ltd." So his training seems to be growing up in the trade.

In an article (2003) about the growing contemorary kilt market Robert McBain of the Keith Kilt School was quoted, "
Robert McBain, who trains a dozen students each year in traditional kiltmaking at the Keith Kilt School on the Moray Firth, believes the industry as a whole needs to define the kilt, come up with a set of standards and endorse it as a group.

"Every industry has its own set of standards and its own specification about what an item actually is and what it should be," said McBain. "We need the same sort of standard for when a customer buys an item, they know they are buying a genuine article."

The Kiltmakers' Association of Scotland began stamping kilts with a "quality assurance" label in 1999, when it was feared that some of Scotland's kiltmakers were beginning to produce kilts of substandard quality.

As a regulatory body, the association also seeks to establish the "highest standards" in Scottish kiltmaking. The art of kiltmaking, however, is largely subjective" http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...6/ai_n12586578

Which is what I was trying to figure out. If I as a buyer of an expensive, traditional, hand sewn kilt want to know the craftsman's experience, training, and credentials - how do I find them out? Many Scottish companies subcontract to unknown craftsmen. Many of the individual craftsmen seem to have just evolved somehow.

Who is my craftsman? Where were they trained? Is traditional hand sewn kiltmaking something that can be learned from a book? Does one need to apprentice? Does one need to attend school? Are there other kiltmaking schools than the Keith Kilt School?

Robert McBain learned kiltmaking in the Army. Now he runs a famous school that graduates are rightly proud of attending. Yet others llike Robert MacDonald earn the craft in the Army too, but go into business.

So the question seems to be well wrapped around both aspects of where does a person go to learn the craft and where did the person we want to order from learn the craft.

There's a difference between the enthused on this board who venture into kiltmaking for others for a fee and kiltmakers like Kathy Lare who invest in an education and credentials and guild membership or Jimmy Carbomb who I believe apprenticed with a kiltmaker.

Not questioning anyone's ability. Not saying anyones gooder than anyone else. Just wondering how we find out about individual kiltmakers or where an interested party would learn the craft.

Ron