Making kilt and breechcloth for Choctaw/Scotch-Irish boyfriend

[janelle]

Hello -

I hope this subject is acceptable for this forum. I am new to all this.

My boyfriend is Choctaw Indian and Scotch-Irish. His dad was Choctaw and his mom was Scotch-Irish - He was born on the reservation but his mom took him to live for a year in Scotland with her family and he also visited there frequently.

As part of a large Martin Luther King celebration tomorrow he is supposed to be performing traditional indian dancing with two different native groups. Unfortunately, it appears that the box of his traditional breechcloths have been lost after a recent move we did.

My idea was to make new breechcloths using Scotch-Irish plaid material. That way his traditional Coctaw breechcloths would also give respect to being half Scotch-Irish. Apparently when he was young his mom made several breechcloths from the plaid material and the tribal groups approved. The pictures I have seen of them look good. I bought fabric for this yesterday.

I wanted to take this a step further and try to make combination single garments that were both Kilts AND breechcloth. Again I would use the plaid material and make a normal breechcloth with the fabric hanging down from the front and rear of his waist. The I would have optional fabric that would attach to the sides to turn the breechcloth into a kilt when needed/wanted.

I am frantically trying to get all this done tonite and have it be good enough that no "wardrobe accident" occurs - wouldn't be good to have a naked native dancing on the stage for MLK!

The native people I have spoke to see nothing wrong with me making his breechcloths out of the plaid material as an act of support for his half Scotch-Irish status. I am curious to know how the Scotch-Irish will feel have a Coctaw halfbreed dancing in a plaid breechcloth that is a stripped down kilt?

If this works good I might try it again when we go out for St Patrick's day celebration. It seems like a cool way to respect both cultures.

[JohnnyO]

Hi Janelle,
If it helps at all, this old Scotsman living on the banks of Loch Lomond can't see any problem with your guy celebrating his ancestry with his traditional clothing.
I've seen a Scots Sikh here in Scotland wearing a Sikh tartan kilt & matching turban, and very smart he looked at his wedding.
Hope you get it all sorted in time for the MLK event, and enjoy.

John.

Bring Forrit the Tartan.

[FossilHunter]

Hello -

I hope this subject is acceptable for this forum. I am new to all this.

My boyfriend is Choctaw Indian and Scotch-Irish. His dad was Choctaw and his mom was Scotch-Irish - He was born on the reservation but his mom took him to live for a year in Scotland with her family and he also visited there frequently.

As part of a large Martin Luther King celebration tomorrow he is supposed to be performing traditional indian dancing with two different native groups. Unfortunately, it appears that the box of his traditional breechcloths have been lost after a recent move we did.

My idea was to make new breechcloths using Scotch-Irish plaid material. That way his traditional Coctaw breechcloths would also give respect to being half Scotch-Irish. Apparently when he was young his mom made several breechcloths from the plaid material and the tribal groups approved. The pictures I have seen of them look good. I bought fabric for this yesterday.

I wanted to take this a step further and try to make combination single garments that were both Kilts AND breechcloth. Again I would use the plaid material and make a normal breechcloth with the fabric hanging down from the front and rear of his waist. The I would have optional fabric that would attach to the sides to turn the breechcloth into a kilt when needed/wanted.

I am frantically trying to get all this done tonite and have it be good enough that no "wardrobe accident" occurs - wouldn't be good to have a naked native dancing on the stage for MLK!

The native people I have spoke to see nothing wrong with me making his breechcloths out of the plaid material as an act of support for his half Scotch-Irish status. I am curious to know how the Scotch-Irish will feel have a Coctaw halfbreed dancing in a plaid breechcloth that is a stripped down kilt?

If this works good I might try it again when we go out for St Patrick's day celebration. It seems like a cool way to respect both cultures.

Since MLK day is today, I don't know if there's much help we can offer now.

However, if this is something you want to continue doing in the future, we might still be able to provide feedback.

To start, I don't see anything wrong with your idea, in fact it sounds fascinating. This is from an American of Scottish descent rather than an native Scot so your mileage may vary.

Would it be possible for you to post some pictures of the garment you want to make in it's standard form? Pictures of what you were able to produce for today would also be interesting as the local Indians (Kumeyaay and Luiseño) do not wear breech-cloths in their traditional dress (as far as I have seen).

[davidlpope]

Hello -

I hope this subject is acceptable for this forum. I am new to all this.

My boyfriend is Choctaw Indian and Scotch-Irish. His dad was Choctaw and his mom was Scotch-Irish - He was born on the reservation but his mom took him to live for a year in Scotland with her family and he also visited there frequently.

As part of a large Martin Luther King celebration tomorrow he is supposed to be performing traditional indian dancing with two different native groups. Unfortunately, it appears that the box of his traditional breechcloths have been lost after a recent move we did.

My idea was to make new breechcloths using Scotch-Irish plaid material. That way his traditional Coctaw breechcloths would also give respect to being half Scotch-Irish. Apparently when he was young his mom made several breechcloths from the plaid material and the tribal groups approved. The pictures I have seen of them look good. I bought fabric for this yesterday.

I wanted to take this a step further and try to make combination single garments that were both Kilts AND breechcloth. Again I would use the plaid material and make a normal breechcloth with the fabric hanging down from the front and rear of his waist. The I would have optional fabric that would attach to the sides to turn the breechcloth into a kilt when needed/wanted.

I am frantically trying to get all this done tonite and have it be good enough that no "wardrobe accident" occurs - wouldn't be good to have a naked native dancing on the stage for MLK!

The native people I have spoke to see nothing wrong with me making his breechcloths out of the plaid material as an act of support for his half Scotch-Irish status. I am curious to know how the Scotch-Irish will feel have a Coctaw halfbreed dancing in a plaid breechcloth that is a stripped down kilt?

If this works good I might try it again when we go out for St Patrick's day celebration. It seems like a cool way to respect both cultures.

Janelle,

A couple thoughts. First, the Scotch-Irish didn't wear much tartan, which was traditionally worn by Highlanders. In fact, the Scotch-Irish and the Highlanders were typically antagonists during the Revolutionary War. if you do decide to go this route, consider purchasing 18oz. "regimental" tartan from House of Edgar. It has a lightly fuzzy nap and is closer to the finish of stroud material which clouts were traditionally made from.

David

[Adoom]

Curious to know how this turns out. My wife is Anishenaabe (Ojibwe) and as such our son has a very varied family shrub including Scottish and Manx, but also likes to honour his Ojibwe ancestry.