Mary Black wrote “tartan weavers are born, not made, and it takes a bit of doing for most of us to achieve a well woven tartan until we have had considerable practice.” I find this to be true and add that attempting to make a kilt from the weaving through the tailoring is not a project for the timid or inexperienced weaver. I have been weaving for about 30 years and found that the weaving was actually, for me, the easiest part of the making of the kilt. The challenge of fine yarn, lots of color changes, and as even a beat as possible are disciplines learned over time at the loom but when it came to measuring pleats to the sett, hand sewing thousands of stitches, and then (the most frightening part) cutting out the bulk of the 25 pleats made me question whether I had taken on more than I was capable of.
So channeling my inner Mary Black and Kati Meeks, I took on this project. I found excellent tartan wool imported from Scotland at Camellia Valley Farms. It is fine enough to make a kilt with and the sett of 32epi was perfect for the tartan sett size. There are many fine books and articles on tartan weaving and finishing the yardage. I recommend reading them all before tackling a project like this. For sewing the kilt the Barbara Tewksbury and Elsie Stuehmeyer book ‘The Art of Kiltmaking’ is the best reference and I used it to make the kilt. I would read a section and then reread it. Next I basted the kilt, then, it seemed, took out the basting and basted it again. Reread the book and did the whole process over if it wasn’t as good as I could get. Whew!
Someone asked me if I would ever make another kilt. Yes I would, but only for a very special person. This is truly a labor of love – love for weaving – love of sewing – and love for my son-in-law.
