What to buy?

[Heath]

okay, i've gotten about $130 bucks for my birthday....i'm currently having a kilt made by a friends mother who is an accomplished seamstress, but hey, you can never have too many kilts right? what i want, are your opinions on what would be the best kilt to get for that $130. i know i'm not going to be able to get a tank or anything close probably, and i'm okay with that. what do you guys think is the best kilt i could buy for that kind of money?

[Colin]

You could see what USAkilts has in stock for Casuals, or get a Stillwater standard or two, or one heavyweight, or some accesories (here's the closeout list too http://www.stillwaterkilts.com/closeouts.html) or how about a Canadian Casual kilt, or an Irish American kilt from Tartanweb http://www.tartanweb.com/specialoffe...wool_kilt.html the posibilities are endless...

or you could save it and buy something later on? what fun is that though.

[switchblade5984]

ha! you can get close to a tank!

the stillwater Heavy Weight

or the ebay tank!

[cavscout]

Don't forget about the value of a leather sporran strap and / or kilt belt

You could put a deposit down on a Freedom kilt and pay the balance off in a month or so.

Or for the immediate gratification get on the phone with Rocky and give him your measurements for a new casual kilt.

[Bob C]

Get a Stillwater standard. You'll have enough money left over for a sporran and a sgian dubh, assuming you don't already have those.

[Panache]

Another vote for Stillwater

$80 Stillwater Standard Kilt

$12 Kilt Hose

$5 Flashes

$25 Belt

$32 For the premium tassled sporran

Total= $154 (not including shipping and tax)

You get a complete kilt outfit and all accessories you need for your other kilt when it's completed.

Can't go wrong with Stillwater

Cheers

[O'Neille]

If that was my bank roll I'd be looking at the closeouts in a Stillwater Heavyweight wool. That's the closest to a traditional kilt you can find for that kind of dough. And the closeouts aren't that much more than a standard. O'Neille

[Kid Cossack]

Heath:

Before we can answer your question on what to buy, we need to know more of what you want.

What's the weather like in Indianapolis? If I'd gotten a full on eight yard 16 ounce "tank" (i.e., traditional style kilt) I might still be in trousers. I live in Houston---hot and humid in the winter, that is. I started off with a Utilikilt. For hot and humid, I'd look to a UK (for the modern/contemporary style), a USA Kilts casual (five or so yards of poly-viscose) or a Stillwater ECONOMY (yeah, an economy---five yards vice eight yards of acrylic,and you can feel the difference). For cold weather, I'd look for wool or poly-wool or acrylic

Do you want a tartan? I love my Stillwater heavyweights, but the tartan selection is limited. (The shadow tartan in saffron, green and black is dynamite, however!) USA has a wider variety of tartans, but they don't have everything.

Do you want a contemporary style? Low on the hips? Or up around the floating ribs?

How often do you plan to wear it? And what are you likely to do when you're wearing it?

I'm not trying to conduct an interrogation here, I'm just asking some of the questions I ought to have asked myself before I started out. I've taken some missteps along the way (like waiting so long to get a USAK!), but it's been a great journey, and I've progressed as I've gone along.

With that said, my advice would be to either call up Rocky at USAKilts and order a poly-viscose casual or to order a Stillwater kilts heavyweight---depending on the weather. The Stillwaters are only an option if the 24" length will work for you. If that works, and you have a more or less "off the rack" type body, Stillwaters are great, and the service is fantastic---expect your kilt in under a week from time of order.

Rocky and Kelly at USA Kilts make a simply fabulous kilt----made to YOUR measurements, and trust me on this my brother, that makes a difference. About the only thing I've found wrong about the USA Kilts is that, as a handmade garment, it takes longer to get to you---a couple of months.

And whatever you do----have fun doing it.

[Blu (Ontario)]

The other option, of course, is to put the $130 away and add $20 a month to it for a year. Then buy a quality custom kilt that you will be proud to wear and will last a lifetime.

But who has the patience for that!?

.

[Tattoo Bradley]

I'd definately jump in line with the rest of the crew and say go for the SWK heavyweight, or a USAK Casual. Keep in mind, you can pay Rocky (USAK) a small nominal fee and get that rush ordered to around a week.