Forrester or Douglas Next Kilt?

[hunterblawthyhorn]

My family connection is Foster which is a sept of Clan Douglas .... however they have their own kilt as well.

When searching both clans online, there did not seem to be much Forrester activity in my neck of the woods. There was Douglas though ... so when I happened to find myself with the opportunity to pick up a PV Douglas modern kilt for a reasonable price ... I did. I promptly went about kitting myself out properly and then took advantage of the Longs Peak Scottish Irish Festival being on the horizon. As luck would have it, my daughter was to compete in Irish step dancing and the Douglas Clan AGM was also occurring. Wooohooo!!! Met some very nice folks!!

Thus my first kilted excursion was launched. Had an absolute blast.

I'd like to invest in a bit better quality kilt. Since I'll probably not be accruing a vast fleet of kilts, I figured to take my time, ask some questions and really consider my options.

I have been looking at pictures, commentary on the forum and the website ..... and it seems that a New House kilt made with William Wilson and Sons of Bannockburn colors D.C. Daliesh tartan by Matt would be just the ticket.

So .... the next question would be 4yd box pleat or 6yd knife? It can get hot in Colorado in the summer (hate the heat) so the 4yd box has some allure ... plus it looks very smart and has history. The 6yd also looks quite nice and would seem closer to the current standard. Leaning slightly to the box pleat as it might be a bit more unique. Not quite there yet though.

The other question would be Forrester (I like the modern) or Douglas (I like the ancient)?

On the one hand, I have some strong memories of my Great Grandfather William Foster .... on the other hand the Clan Forrester tartan was designed in 1986 in a collaboration between Dr. Gordon Teall, president of the Scottish Tartans Society, and the Clan Forrester Society here in the USA.

So Great Gramps would never have worn that kilt. I believe he'd have worn the Douglas. When he passed his sister came to the US from Scotland and gave my sister a dress in the family tartan but that was long ago and it is long gone.

So there it is ..... box or knife pleat and Forrester or Douglas????

If anyone has wrestled with similar dilemmas .... I'd welcome their insight on how they valued the points of each side of the equation.

Thank you for reading the post.

Henry

[mookien]

Henry: It's entirely up to you, because you are the only one who will really care. Since you asked, however, I would get your clan kilt first. Buy it in the 6-yard knife pleated style simply because it contains more wool and will swing better.

Then, if you want a more "unique" kilt, get the box-pleated style. Or, better yet, for uniqueness get a Kingussie kilt. You can read about that historically rare kilt at ...

http://newhousehighland.com/kingussie.html

Finally, I recommend not letting hot weather be a deciding factor between the two styles you are considering. I doubt there will be much difference in perceived heat between them. I own both 4- and 6-yard kilts and I can't feel any difference.

Whatever you decide, good luck, and post some pics at the appropriate time.

John

[Riverkilt]

Same advice as always - BUY BOTH! Nice to have a variety to choose from.

[hunterblawthyhorn]

John,

I hear you on the "my clan kilt" ... my initial thought was just that and get the Forrester ....

But, my Great Grandfather William Foster passed in 1974 or 75 and the Forrester tartan did not exist at that point. So, the last person in my family tree who would have been wearing a kilt would have been wearing a Douglas tartan. That would have been my clan kilt at the time. Kind of makes my decision making a bit difficult. I like both ..... also complicating the choice.

Understand it is in the end enitrely up to me, but I was curious if others had had similar decisions to make what things they weighed.

I appreciate the responses.

John, curious since you have both 4 and 6 yard kilts ... which you end up selecting more often when it comes time to "kilt up"?

Henry

[mookien]

Henry: I have 4, 5, 6, and 8 yard kilts. To my recollection I have (almost, see below) never selected one for its length/weight of cloth. I almost always choose based on the tartan and my interest/whim of the moment. Once I have it on and am engaged in whatever it is that I am doing, I don't pay much attention to it, especially its weight.

Occasionally, I will pick a kilt based on how I think it will look with some other part of my kit. For example, recently I wanted to show off a new coyote sporran that I just got from USA Kilts. In my fashion-challenged opinion I thought it would look good with my Douglas Reproduction tartan. It did! - to me, anyway.

Judging largely from your comments, I suggest buying your first kilt as if it were going to be your only one and base your selection predominantly on meaning-to-you and sentimental association. Those are priceless and little else matters.

Good luck.

John

PS: For purposes of accuracy and completion I must own that I have a heavy-weight Dalgliesh 8-yard kilt sewn with a high-rise waist. Since it almost completely covers my stomach and kidneys, it is very warm. I do choose it sometimes when it is snowing and/or there is a lot of snow on the ground. See pics below.The size/order of the pictures is seemingly unpredictable to me, but note the snow in the first. I was practicing for possible fisticuffs in the other. Note the high-rise waist. You should be able to click on them for larger renditions, if you like.


IMG_0270.jpgIMG_0267.jpg

[mookien]

Henry: Sorry for the mucked-up post above. I simply edited in the last text about clicking on the pictures and the editing tool apparently deleted all my paragraphing. (?!)

For my own edification I will probably try to correct it with further editing just to see what happens.

John

[hunterblawthyhorn]

John .... very good advise. Eventually I'll sort it out!

On another note ... do you have a picture of that coyote Sporran? I was looking at one on another site.

Considering my war on the beasties .... I was thinking to own a coyote sporran might be fitting.

[mookien]

I was able to restore paragraphing via the editor, but it leaves unanswered the question as to why my paragraphing was destroyed in the first place by simply adding a sentence of text.

Also, I have no idea why the pictures overlay the signature field in post #5, but it would appear to be some kind of bug in the forum's editing software.

I will enter a new post in the Tech Questions thread and call attention to this thread and the editing difficulties.

[mookien]

John .... very good advise. Eventually I'll sort it out!

On another note ... do you have a picture of that coyote Sporran? I was looking at one on another site.

Considering my war on the beasties .... I was thinking to own a coyote sporran might be fitting.

Yes, there are a couple pictures of it in the thread ...

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-ramble-80426/

I think it was the last one Rocky (at USA Kilts) had, but he may be able to get you one.

I note that you are a member of CDSNA! So am I, but for the life of me I can't understand why they let me in. I had to promise to be good, whatever that means.

I hope you don't mind too much (thread jacking and all that), but I may insert one of those pictures of the coyote sporran here just to try to reproduce the problem I encountered above.

Slainte!

PS: Now enter some new text before the pic.

PPS: That worked, but I cannot add text under the picture. When I click under the picture in Advanced mode, the insertion cursor does not appear. That seems to be a (maybe, the) problem.

PPPS: Now enter some text via the "Edit Post" function. I still cannot get the text cursor to appear after the picture. This is probably related to the picture over writing the signature area.

Sans Jacket Front View.jpeg

[hunterblawthyhorn]

That looks pretty darn nice. The kilt is very very nice. I believe Chuck Mirabile one of the CO Regents for CDSNA has a very similar kilt at the AGM in Estes Park. What is the benefit of the "hard" tartan?

Thank you for posting the link and the picture.

Henry