Worth the wait - a story

[Stratherrick]

When I was measured for my only kilt, a Hunting Fraser, from Hector Russell's on Prince's Street in Edinburgh (then made in Inverness and posted on to me), I didn't rush to buy it and all the associated accessories. Here's what happened:

First of all, I'd made sure with my wife, Rexie, that we both had three days off, not easy for two Registered Nurses as we don't have 'weekends' as such. We drove the hour and a half to the capital and settled in to our hotel - no expense spared, heck, the outfit was a £1,000+ purchase itself! Mid-afternoon we went along to the shop and found a salesman and I informed him that I wanted to go through the whole rirmarole of talking through what I might or might not want, but I was NOT going to buy on the day, Friday.

The chap, Kevin, now sadly moved on to another company, was fine with all this and we spent over two hours going through discussions about tartans, sporrans, hose etc. I knew some things, like not buying a huge bandsman's sporran like I'd seen some folks wearing, but Kevin kept me right all the way through with little tips, e.g. stating you should tie your brogue laces on the outside above your ankles and not at the front!

I came back on the Saturday and was measured up and took away my other purchases. For me, taking my time over two days was such a memorable experience. I had waited until I was 40 years old to get my kilt, partly because I didn't have the funds until then, partly as my ex-wife had always laughed at my ancestry, constantly pointing out that it was my grandad who was the last one born north of the border.

What's your story of that first purchase?

Bruce

[Splash_4]

Another great thread coming on!

My story starts a little different. The oral family history has always had my Great-Great Grandmother coming over from Scotland pregnant. This did not mean a lot to me until a couple of years ago when the wife and I traveled to Scotland. During our time there, we had a stop at Gretna and, surprise, there was a wedding going on. The wife turned to me and said "I think you would look great in a kilt!"

During our stay in Edinburgh, we walked up and down the royal mile, stopping in various shops and looking at their wares. Still unconvinced that I wanted to be kilted, the wife bought me a book titled "So You're Going to Wear the Kilt! and that was the end of the purchases for that trip.

Fast forward a couple of years and many hours of reading and researching (including joining this site) and I bought a Stillwater standard Black Stewart to see if wearing the kilt was for me. My first outing was to a Christmas party for our church. As the sky did not cave in on me and I got a number of 'interesting' reactions (not to mention how comfortable it was) I got hooked. That same evening, on the drive home, my wife informed me that I was going to purchase a wool kilt in the surname tartan and she was going to pay for it. She said that she really liked the look and that no man looks bad in a kilt..

[Stratherrick]

Splash

That's a great story!

It's funny how we all came to the kilt. I suppose I was about 18 when I first put one on. A visiting elderly cousin brought one with him one time, and I borrowed it for a night on the town. Once bitten 'n' all that...

Like you, I hope we hear some good tales!

Cheers

Bruce

[caig]

We always had holidays in Scotland and as a young child I remember seeing pipe bands marching up and down the street in the summer, and I would feel the hairs on the back of neck stand up and get a great feeling seeing these kilted pipers and drummers. It was not until I took up Scotttish country dancing about 14 years ago at the age of 45 that I actually purchased a kilt.

I was instantly hooked !

I now have 19 kilts ( Im never gonna catch Hamish !). I wear a kilt every minute I am not in the office. I hike in it, drink in it, travel in it etc etc.

[IrishGodfather]

I don't have a very interesting sotry of going to Scotland and all that, but I have been wanting a kilt since I was 14 or 15 years old, so I bought a Sport Kilt this past April. In May I found this forum, and now I have other kilties to help fuel my obsession, and also I now have an SWK Irish Nat. and I hope to keep the collection growing.

Not a very interesting story, but I did wait 6 years until I finally took the plunge, and I must say, it was well worth it.

[12stones]

No interesting story for me either. I've always loved the look of a kilt and thought I'd like to wear one. So, last year I decided to look into my celtic heritage and do some genealogy work, and in my search I came upon this forum. Soon after (thanks to XMTS) I was able to find and obtain my first SWK Leatherneck and was hooked.

[Arlen]

I can't remember my very first Kilts because my mum would make them for us when we were wee.
Here's a picture of myself and my two sisters as well as some of the other neighbourhood bairns with the Kilts my mum would make. (We were all going on some sort of march for something. I don't recall.) I'm the wee one in the middle of the bottom row. The girl holding my hand on MY left is one of my sisters and the tall one in the midle, back is my other sister.



As far as the first Kilt I purchased, that's quite a story.
I'd gone some years without wearing anything more than a hire Kilt on special occasions.
I had a cousin's wedding coming up, I was 18 and working in my first full time job. (Only 7 years ago but it feels like 20!) I had thought about renting again but decided I wanted a Kilt of my own and headed out to Hector Russell on Buchanan street.
I'd hoped to get an ex-rental Kilt but the ones in my size (I was very overweight at the time) were out of my range.
They did, however, have some full, 8 yard PV kilts. (Remember, this was a good bit before the market was swamped with cheap PV kilts and these ones were good quality.)
So I got one in the Macdonald Modern tartan with a new sporran, hose and a shire that I liked.
I wore it proudly to my cousin's wedding but I soon lost a lot of the weight and now my Dad has the Kilt for his own!

It was a 5 more years before I went ahead and decided I could wear Kilts whenever I wanted and started my Kollection.
Now I am waiting for my seventh and I have a list of 6 more that I want to get at some point in the future!


Here's my Dad in the Kilt that was the first I bought on my own. (I don't have any pictures of myself in it.)
Yes, his sporran is fat too low.

[kiltedsawyer]

I say "First Kilt," in the same way that I used to think it funny to introduce my "first wife" as such, but I do plan to have several more, kilts that is. My kilt, a 9 yd MacLaren modern from House of Edgar was a gift from my current wife and many of my friends when I turned 50. I am still blown away knowing that so many of my friends chipped in to purchase this kilt, it will always be the favorite, no matter how many I am able to purchase on my own. I had wanted a kilt for several years but didn't really think I'd ever have the $$ to spend on an article of clothing. It just seems to mean so much more knowing that so many people contributed to it.
Respectfully,
David

[Cynthia]

I love this thread! Great stories, everyone!

When my husband and I first started dating 16 years ago, he had mentioned to me how he always wanted a kilt. He wanted to wear one to our wedding, but we never had an actual wedding (we're hoping to have a vow renewal someday and change that!). He finally purchased a SWK Standard in Black Stewart and loves the whole kilt/accessory thing (he also wants to start training for the Highland Games when he drops a little more weight).

One of his great grandmothers (I think, I have trouble keeping my own family straight) always said she had Scottish ancestry. We're still trying to look into his genealogy, but he did discover Welsh ancestry (he also has Danish, Swedish, Italian, and a few others like German, I believe). He was so thrilled to at least discover the Welsh, because although he knows he can still wear the kilt, it really bothered him that he couldn't find that Scottish connection yet (plus, it made it harder for him to find tartans he likes). He has seen some of the Welsh tartans and loves them! The great thing is, I would be more than happy to wear those as well because my last name (Griffith) is apparently of Welsh origin (I still need to research my genealogy mysteries, augh! Why do all of our trails just stop??).

Speaking of me.... My Dad told me that his mother and her mother both thought they had Irish ancestry. While looking into kilt information for my hubby, I decided I wanted to get back to my genealogy searches (I dive into it heavily and then take long breaks from it). I discovered one of the names (Grant) was of Scottish origins, and then I was contacted by someone researching their family. She not only gave me a few more ancestors that I didn't know about, but told me one of hers (McNeill) married mine! That totally had me hooked on looking into tartans of my own, aside from the Griffith tartan, of course. My Dad hasn't been in good health the past few months, and I wanted to get something tartan because I was feeling left out. SWK finally got some of the Irish National in my size in the Thrifty line, and I bought one. Although I haven't found my supposed Irish ancestors, the tartan makes me think of my Dad and I'm glad I bought it (I also sent photos to my Mom to print out for my Dad to see).

I would still love to trace my ancestors back so I can travel to the places they came from. I'm also hoping to find out for certain if the names I have are correct, where they're from, and add more tartans to my list. And I'm determined to find out the mystery of Christopher's supposed Scottish ancestors.

Until then, we have plenty of tartans we can get and enjoy. Now to just get more extra cash to buy them, and finish losing weight

[Galb]

My first purchase was an impulse buy. I was at the Dunedin Highland Games in Florida with my wife. We had gone, not just to see the games as it was my first games/festival of this kind, but also because we had some family that was down there at the time. My father wanted to see his old cousins and such, and so we went. Well, we got there and I noticed everyone as kilted. To be honest, I didn't expect it to be in such abundance. The sounds of many pipe bands filled the air and basically set the mood for the entire day. I was already enjoying it and I hadn't even gotten in the gate. Well, we walked in and decided to search for our clan tent. I was told there was one there every year. We found it, and the three people there welcomed us in like family. It was kind of funny. We stopped and said hello, and looked over the booth. We were greeted very warmly, but when I mentioned that we were Galbraith's, we instantly became family. I was educated a bit on my clan's ancient ancestry and were shown pictures of the Culcreuch Castle and the Scottish countryside. When my parents finally arrived I introduced them to our "new family". Shortly after that my father's cousins arrived and we all got a "clan/family" picture. I keep in touch with these clan members throughout the year now through emails and such.

I'm rambling. Anyways, I was admiring the kilts of my clan members at the booth and I decided to wander off and glance over the wares of the vendors at the games. Well, I came across this one who had an insane abundance of stuff. I noticed that there were kilts everywhere. Knowing that I was in the 1% of men that were in pants that day, I quickly began looking for my clan's tartan. I didn't see it anywhere. I saw a ton others, but I didn't want to wear another clan's colors. I wanted mine. I continued to look when I stumbled across a tartan called Scottish National. I thought, "the colors and design are very similar to my clan's. Even better, it seems to not be associated with a clan, meaning it is for all Scots!" I became excited, but couldn't find my size. I was looking for my pants size of course. Hey, I didn't know any better.

I became discouraged until I saw one last Scottish National that was missing the tag. I picked it up and took it to the guy and asked what size it was. "Thirtee-tu" was the reply in a very heavy Scottish Accent. Bingo. Then I sheepishly asked him, "can I try this on, and if it fits, will you help me with everything I need?" A large smile crept across his face as he said "Absolutely lad." Maybe it was because he knew he was about to make a couple hundred dollar sale, or maybe it was because he was about to help a Yank into his first kilt. Either way, he was pleased to help and got me suited up with the kilt, the kilt belt, the sporran, kilt pin, and hose. At this point I stopped to save some wares for future years at these games. As we were finishing getting me ready my mother and wife stumbled across the same vendor to see me all kilted and paying the man. I had finally gotten my kilt. I would come to learn later from here that the kilt was a Gold Bros. and not the greatest, but definitely a great starter kilt. But I don't care. I had a kilt!

This past year I went to the games again, and that same vendor recognized me as I walked in the gate. His wife told me, "when we saw you walk in with your father I nudged my husband and told him 'hey, that's the young man you helped last year!" I was shocked they remembered me but it was a great feeling. At this point I had only worn the kilt twice, once to each games. But after coming home this year, I decided to wear it more often, which has started an addiction. I now own two kilts with another on the way, three sporrans, one belt, a pair of hose with a couple pairs of flashes, and a sgian dubh. At night after coming inside from my gym, I get kilted. On weekends, I am kilted. Going out somewhere, I am now kilted. It's gotten so bad that the last time my mother saw me she asked "Are we ever gonna see you in pants again?" Haha. I told her, "Maybe. Come by my work. I wear pants there."