Kilt making advice - Hawaiian fabric?

[janellrs]

Need some advice from people who have made their own kilts - about the actual process and the fabric used.

My boyfriend has a whole kilt wardrobe - several in traditional tartan and a khaki Sport Kilt. For casual wear and fun - and to be the ALL-TIME WINNER of the Friday Hawaiian "shirt" contest at work - he would love to have a kilt made of Hawaiian print fabric. Thus my quest for this Christmas. (I am aware of the new Hawaiian print kilts on the Sport Kilt site - but, no thanks. The fabric is too girly and looks like a skirt!)

I found kilt making instructions on this site (thanks!), and I've found several sources of Hawaiian print fabric online, but 99% of it is the lightweight cotton shirt fabric - which could be very, er, hazardous in a stiff breeze.

Can I add a lining (and what kind of fabric) to the Hawaiian print to give it some extra weight? What's the best way to go about doing that?

Any other kilt-making tips, word of wisdom, and best practices are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Chas]

Give paulhenry a PM. He has done this sort of thing before with great success.

Regards

Chas

[bubba295]

Why not just a double layer of the same fabric? If the length of the kilt were short enough then it could be a matter of folding the material in half, but keep us posted please. I would like to see one in Hawaiian print.

[dutchy kilted]

Do you pleat it to the stripe or sett?

[Paul Henry]

Hello, and welcome.
I make both traditional and modern kilts in all sort of fabrics, whether tartan wool, or silk,or linen or cotton or denim, to furnishing fabric.
Sorry but thin cotton is just not really going to work very well, doubling the cloth causes lots of problems, it could be bonded to a substrate, but that really does affect the hang of the kilt.The best thing is to try and find some heavier weight cloth. I normally sew the edges of the pleats both on the inside and the outside which helps to stop some of the creasing, but realistically a cotton/linen based kilt is going to crease.
I'm happy to talk to you about this if you would like.
Have a look at my website, you need to go to my profile to find it as I'm forbidden to actually tell you myself!

[Whidbey78]

Do you pleat it to the stripe or sett?

Neither. It's pleated to the palm tree.

[piperdbh]

Neither. It's pleated to the palm tree.

Aloha oy vey!

[BroosterB1]

Neither. It's pleated to the palm tree.

I'd like mine pleated to the hula girl.

[Alan H]

You could make a kilt from a more substantial fabric, but sew in strips of tropical pattern cloth such that they'd "flash" when the pleats opened.

Here's a picture of such a kilt that I made for Bethany Owen, one of the throwers here in Northern California. She has fabric with flames inside her pleats...yours would be Hawaiian print.



West Imboden, one of the throwers from southern California also has a kilt like this.

[Bigkahuna]

Does it come with two coconut shells??