A large dose of overconfidence was present when I declared I was going to make my husband a kilt. This was back in February, the wedding which provided the deadline was early August. Plenty of time right?
I bought the Folkwear 152 Kilt Pattern and started the process of understanding how to make a kilt. I then instructed my husband to pick his tartan. He selected the Campbell Modern Dress in a double width, we bought it on the 6th April, which happens to be national tartan day so it was slightly discounted!
I finally started making the kilt on May 31st. The only space large enough to lay the fabric was our garden, and to weigh it down we used our cocktail making ingredients! To keep the tartan as straight as possible for cutting I used some of my clips on each prominent line to keep the selvedges together. I’d measured Matt repeatedly to check the length of the kilt but cutting the fabric was absolutely terrifying as it was the most expensive fabric I’ve ever used. Side note, shouldn’t have cut it, should have ripped it for more accuracy!
I did not end up using the Folkwear pattern, whilst others have had success with it, I absolutely could NOT get on with it. There was no information on how to determine which side of the fabric was the right side (crucial for markings), steps were in a different order to a lot of information available online and I needed a lot more handholding. After a couple of weekends of tears and feeling pretty stupid not being able to understand what was required of me, I bought The Art of Kiltmaking (TAOK) by Barbara Tewksbury and Elsie Stuehmeyer. I also found the wonderful forum that is Xmarksthescot and finally started getting somewhere.
Me and maths have a well documented history of not being friends, fortunately the process of how to measure for the kilt and how to break down pleat depth at the waist and the hips was explained like a dream. I had by this point also watched a lot of Robert MacDonalds highly detailed videos and so I used my cricut to cut out specific spacers for the waist and hip pleat widths.
The book has an in depth explanation of how to tell what side is the right side of the tartan. It also enlightened us that we had selected an asymmetrical tartan, this requires different handling and is not recommended for a first time kilt. At this point, as we had already cut the tartan we decided to forge on and have the imperfection as a style choice.
On June 13th the First pleat finally went in. There are two types of pleating, regimental and to the sett. Matt wanted his kilt to be pleated to the sett, so I had spent time marking and identifying how to make this look good. I had struggled to get my head round the first pleat and I truly recommend to anyone aiming to make a kilt that they should look at multiple pictures of kilts where they can. Also, downloading from up the colour version of the original plates in the TAOK from the order the book section of the website is a great plan.
By the end of the day, I had made 13 of the 27 pleats. I also had some lovely needlemarks on my finger as I hadn’t used a thimble and so for the next set I had put some washi tape around my finger which worked pretty well! Following making the next 13 pleats I sewed the two lengths of fabric together. I had definitely done something slightly wrong as when I made the pleat at the join there was not as much fabric as there should be. If I ever choose to make a kilt again (never say never) I’m either going to pick a single width tartan or make sure I read the joining section and the adding the pleat here until I properly understand it.
One thing I didn’t realised before making a kilt was that you CUT OUT FABRIC FROM THE PLEATS. This is terrifying, any sense of confidence I had started with was gone by this point. Once I’d cut one I was slightly less terrified and felt confident to do it another 26 times. The canvas and structural elements went in without too much strife and the basting stitches really helped things start to take shape. I thoroughly enjoyed pulling the threads to make the fringing for the edge of the kilt, a very fun job.
It’s obvious from the title that I was making this kilt during a heatwave. It was a challenge to say the least to be sitting under this much wool. I decided to do the pressing step for the kilt in the garden because my sewing room was already sweltering. This step was quite therapeutic and really helped me to start seeing all of the progress I’d made. You can choose to press before or after the waistband goes on, I chose before because it worked better with life as I’m in London for work a lot at present.
Matt made the straps of the kilt and this was the step which really started to pull a lot of it together for me. Sewing through the overapron edge one was a challenge which required a leather needle, some patience and a thimble instead of washi tape. I removed the basting stitches two nights before the wedding and it was not as painful as I feared it might be.
Overall I would call making my first kilt absolutely HUMBLING. I love a good technical project and honestly this was next level. The only thing machined on this kilt was when I put on the waistband. Everything else was hand stitched. I look at the kilt and I know where 2 months worth of weekends has gone. I was lucky that the kilt didn’t need too much shaping between the waist and the hips and if I make a kilt for myself I know it’s going to need a lot more pressing to get the shaping correct. I would very much recommend The Art of Kiltmaking book for anyone who wants to make a kilt.
I may end up doing a separate post but for now please also marvel at Matts sporran and belt, which he made. Self taught in leathermaking and imported his own sealskin.
I breathed a big sigh of relief when Matt blended in at the wedding amongst the professionally made kilts. That was when I managed to believe I had done an acceptable job!
Seams Like Vicky 