Hello from South Jersey (the state, not the island)

[Dollander]

Greetings, everyone. I've been lurking for a few months and figured it was high time I joined the discussion. After a recent re-awakening of the "Scotiophilia" of my youth, I bought my first kilt this past August (a UT Kilts standard utility kilt in "Highlander Grey") and haven't worn trousers since. Well, I guess if you count shorts as trousers then it's been since I got a Sport Kilt in September to wear to the gym, but either way, I've now fully converted to the non-bifurcated way of life.

I've since graduated to making my own. I did skim over the X-Kilt instructions (the pleat taper formula was a big help ), but mostly I just examined the structure of my UTs to replicate it in denim. Then an early Autumn chill inspired me to skip my plans for PV and go straight to 16 oz wool, albeit in the same shallow-pleat RevK style. I'm currently working on one in Murray of Atholl, and next will be Murray of Tullibardine, then MacCallum, then...

Anyway, I just wanted say hello. I look forward to being part of the X-Marks community.

Ian

[Kiltedjohn]

Welcome from across the Atlantic. I'm a Scotsman living in the English midlands.

[Tarheel]

Well met Ian. Way to go on jumping in the deep end of the pool. Take your time and you'll enjoy the results much longer. Glad to have you with us.

[Father Bill]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble!"

[ibrew4u]

Welcome from Colorado.

[Tomak]

Hello and welcome from Southern California.

[ASinclair]

Hello Ian!

[Dollander]

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

Way to go on jumping in the deep end of the pool. Take your time and you'll enjoy the results much longer.

For the record, I'd originally only planned to make the two Murray kilts (my surname), since I figured I should at least have more than one if I'm gonna wear them every day. But then I found the MacCallum fabric on eBay for slightly less than it would've been from Scotweb, and decided it was meant to be. Like many Americans, I once falsely believed the whole Mc = Irish/ Mac = Scottish thing, thus I'd always assumed that my great-great-grandmother McCallum was Irish. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that not only is it a Scottish name, but that I like the tartan as well.

Ideally I'd like to eventually have kilts to represent all aspects of my heritage. But the Breton and German tartans are custom weaves, I'm not crazy about the County Roscommon, all the Italian tartans are restricted...so I think I'll just focus on my Scottish ancestry for now.