Where to buy straps and buckles

[Michael A]

I have searched above, but cannot find any posts on where to buy straps and buckles to make a kilt.

Google showed two options:

http://www.houseofedgar.com/acatalog...er_s_Bits.html

And

http://www.jwoodleathers.co.uk/prods...d-buckles.html

But neither seems to do online ordering and the House of Edgar necessitates a fabric attachment for the buckle rather than leather (does that matter?)

Dues anyone else know a good go-to site for these?

Picking up all the bits is not so easy. I managed to find 3 yards of tailor's pride on eBay, so that was something.

[The Wizard of BC]

Many kiltmakers, including myself, get them here -

http://www.highlandxpress.com/bucklestraps.html

[Adrian]

From personal experience -
J Wood leathers have a minimum order value its about £30, I've bought a quantity from here.
House of Edgar - you need to be trade and hold an account with them. The alternative is to persuade someone else who deals with one of these to sell on some, that's always possible if you have paypal and can pay carriage.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/a...1&d=1481216676

[Hielandman]

Hi,
any leather worker will make you the straps, they wouldn't be much. You can get buckles from Tandy Leather, or even EBay, all that sort of thing is on there, leather strap, included. Good luck!
Don Smith

[The Wizard of BC]

If you have a copy of "The Art of Kiltmaking", look in the back for the list of kiltmaking accessory and fabric suppliers.

I get hair canvas interfacing at my local fabric store. This is one of the large chain stores and they do not always have the same type or brand of stuff so when I find really good stuff I buy a lot.
Almost any hair canvas or what may be called "sew in interfacing" or "jacket interfacing" will do unless you are going to make an heirloom quality traditional kilt like Barb makes.
The purpose of the hair canvas is to give vertical body to the kilt like the boning in a corset so as long as it does its job and is of decent quality you should be OK.

I buy my straps and buckles from Highland Xpress because they almost always have stock (I buy 500 sets at a time) and the quality is first rate and always the same.

I buy fabric only direct from the weaver. I never buy through a retailer or jobber. Thread, lining and other small stuff is also purchased direct whenever possible.

One of the hardest thing to do when you start a kiltmaking business is finding suppliers. If you are doing it as a hobby the job is even more difficult. The best advice is to find out where the pro's get their stuff and buy from the same place. But many companies do not like to share their suppliers lists. (I actually had two employees who went into my computer and copied all my suppliers and customers contact info and started their own shop)

[Stoff]

Bad juju, man. I hope that your former employees get the karma that they have earned.

Stoff

If you have a copy of "The Art of Kiltmaking", look in the back for the list of kiltmaking accessory and fabric suppliers.

I get hair canvas interfacing at my local fabric store. This is one of the large chain stores and they do not always have the same type or brand of stuff so when I find really good stuff I buy a lot.
Almost any hair canvas or what may be called "sew in interfacing" or "jacket interfacing" will do unless you are going to make an heirloom quality traditional kilt like Barb makes.
The purpose of the hair canvas is to give vertical body to the kilt like the boning in a corset so as long as it does its job and is of decent quality you should be OK.

I buy my straps and buckles from Highland Xpress because they almost always have stock (I buy 500 sets at a time) and the quality is first rate and always the same.

I buy fabric only direct from the weaver. I never buy through a retailer or jobber. Thread, lining and other small stuff is also purchased direct whenever possible.

One of the hardest thing to do when you start a kiltmaking business is finding suppliers. If you are doing it as a hobby the job is even more difficult. The best advice is to find out where the pro's get their stuff and buy from the same place. But many companies do not like to share their suppliers lists. (I actually had two employees who went into my computer and copied all my suppliers and customers contact info and started their own shop)

[Michael A]

Yes I am working my way through Barb's book and I couldn't find a buckle supplier per se, but there were some general Scottish dress shops in the USA listed.

I bought fabric at retail minus 10% XMTS discount and minus VAT - a 13Oz House of Edgar Grant, which will suit Sydney weather well.

I managed to find some tailor's pride on eBay (only 3 yards), so that is good. I will get the buckles from the above link so thank you Steve.

Oh. What are people's thoughts on the buckle side attaching with a small leather bit vs a wool attachment? I have two of each variant on my current four kilts.

[Dollander]

I got mine from Kilts Wi Hae: http://www.kiltswihae.co.uk/kilt-mak...lies-354-c.asp I got mine via their eBay store, but they're the same ones they have on their site. The only issue you may have is that they tend to take a while to arrive.

I've used the buckles with and without the leather tabs, and while the leather tabs do save you the trouble of making them, the fabric tabs are a lot easier to sew on. I wound up marking the holes on the leather with a pin and then using the denim needle on my sewing machine to manually punch them, so that I could then sew the tabs on with a regular needle with relative ease. Yeah, I'm not the type to buy a tool that I'll only get limited use if I can improvise with something I already have. But when it came to the fabric tabs, I used Barb T's flash-making technique to create them: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...flashes-32660/ Just be sure to leave a gap in the hem tape for the prong of the buckle to poke through.

[Barb T]

What are people's thoughts on the buckle side attaching with a small leather bit vs a wool attachment? I have two of each variant on my current four kilts.

For the ones at the waist, it doesn't matter at all - they're hidden under the kilt belt.

If you have a second buckle on the fringe edge, the tab WILL show, so it depends in part on how visible you want the tab to be. The advantage of a wool tab is that you can match the tartan, and if you do a good job, the tab is essentially invisible from anything more than a few feet away. A leather tab could be decorative, however, and you might like the look of that. But it will be glaringly obvious even from a distance as a dark rectangle on the tartan.

The other advantage of a wool tab is that it's easy to sew. A leather tab is also commonly machine stitched on, and, personally, I don't think that looks good on an otherwise hand sewn garment. But it could be punched and hand stitched decoratively. Again, you'd have to like the look.

Oh - and I always buy my buckles and straps from Highland Xpress, the site the Steve mentioned. They have both black straps with silver buckles and brown straps with brass buckles (which look very handsome on a kilt made from one of the weathered tartans).

Canvas I buy from B. Black and Sons in California (http://www.bblackandsons.com/heavy-w...ral-p-426.html). I buy Heavy Weight Hymo - it's great, comes 74" wide (1 yard is enough for 3 kilts!, which makes it VERY reasonable in price), and it's gridded, which makes cutting straight strips child's play!

[Michael A]

I ordered a bunch from Highland Xpress and settled for wool tabs.