Update to my activity

Been a long time since I have posted.  I still wear a kilt everyday.  Nothing new to report.  I have not been making any kilts lately.  Other projects getting in the way.  I have fabric on the shelf waiting for me to make a kilt  out of them.  Wool tartan fabric for traditional kilts and cotton/poly for utility type kilts. 

What I have done is gone back and located the missing pictures that were stored on Photobucket.  Fortunately I have all the originals.  It is just a matter of finding them.  I have not done a very good job of cataloging my photos.   I have been able to find them by looking at the post date in this blog and then going back to the picture folder with that date or close to it.  Most of the posts were about a photo that was taken around the time of the post.  I have switch cameras through the years so the folder are in different places.  I don't have all of them updated yet.  I am back to around 2011/2012 time frame.  Still a lot to find.

I also discovered many of the external links to other web sites are no longer valid.  I am not surprised at that.  Web sites come and go.  

Winter is fast approaching so my kilts will go from lighter weight PV, or cotton/poly, to heavier wool kilts and wool blend kilt socks (Lewis kilt hose).   Winter is NOT my time of year.  A sever winter is when the temperature goes below 60 degrees F. 

Kilt On!

Mike

 

In a previous post I talked about boots for kilts.  This is one boot you DO NOT want.  Back in April I was working in the attic.  I fell out of the attic landing on the concrete floor in the garage.  I landed on my feet but the left foot took the force.  I ended up breaking the Fibula bone at the ankle. Also, a bad sprain of the ankle.  Urgent care put this boot on my leg. X-ray indicated it was a clean break so no surgery was required.  I ended up wearing that darn boot for ten weeks.  I have now fully recovered. 

I was wearing pants at the time.  That goes to prove that pants are evil.  Stay with kilts.  A lot safer :)

 

Screwed Up By Photobucket

Several years ago Photobucket changed their policy of linking to images stored on their site.  They demanded payment at some ridiculous level to continue linking to my photos on their site.  OK, it is their site and I know providing networks, servers, and storage for all those images takes money.  I stopped adding photos on Photobucket but maintained what I had on the site.  For the most part the links continued to work.  Not long ago I got an email stating they changed their policy again.  I had too many images stored on their site to qualify for a free subscription.

Fortunately, I never used Photobucket (or any other site) for my primary storage of photos.  I maintain my own local storage and at least two backups of all images.  The online sites are mostly for convenience of being able to show others my photos and linking to pages such as this.

I got fed up with Photobucket and deleted my account and all images on their site.  I had forgotten I used their site for images on this blog.  Other than more recent posts all my images here are now broken links.  I have all the original photos.  I just need to figure out what photo went to what post.  I will try to fix those over the next few months.

Just goes to show don't trust any third party storage service.  Be it for photos, music, files or what ever.  This is especially true if using a "free" site.  I don't trust my paid sites either. They could change policy or just go out of business at any time.  Always maintain your photos somewhere where you have control.

Kilt shoes, socks, and boots

Before I wore kilts I had three pairs of shoes.  A nice dress pair that I wore to the office or anyplace nice.  A pair of cloth shoes which I always called “tennis” shoes.  Wore these for casual activities.  The third type were steel toe boots for cutting grass or any work that had a chance of foot injuries.  When the kilts came along this all changed. 

Maybe I was overthinking this but the shoes I was accustom to wearing just did not feel right with the kilt.  The dress shoes were fine with a traditional kilt and kilt hose.  The “tennis” shoes with crew socks did not cut it even with a utility type kilt.  I would wear that combination with shorts but for some reason it did not fit the kilt.   The steel toe boots looked and felt the best but the ones I had were all beat up from working in the yard.   So I started to look for alternatives.  I looked at what other “kilties” were wearing. 

I see a lot of open toe shoes like sandals with utility kilts in the summer.  I don’t like open toe shoes for myself.  I feel someone is going to step on my toes.  I also don’t think my toes look that good anyway.  So they don’t work for me. 

8” and 10” Boots became my shoe of choice for causal kilt wear.  In the summer I wear knee socks pushed down. My favorite boot were 10” Harley boots I got from Sears.  I wear them this way with utility kilts and tartan kilts in a casual fashion.  I thought the boots would be heavy and hot in the heat of the summer.  Cheap ones might be.  These are all leather and they have been fine in the summer.  For winter they would also work but the general impression I got from others is boots work with push down socks.  Not socks pulled up to the knee.  But in the winter that is where I would want the socks high and the boots. Also the boots would be better in snow than low shoes.  My solution was screw the negative comments about boots with knee socks.  They work for me so I wear them that way when ground conditions are less than ideal.  These boots could be 8” or 10” motorcycle, hiking, or work boots. 

Pictures with the 10" Harley boots and socks down.

Is there another alternative to 8” or 10” boots with knee socks (be they knee socks or better kilt hose like Lewis)?  Why can’t you find knee high boots for men?  The women wear them all the time in colder weather.  I did find a few men’s knee high boots.  They were either motorcycle boots, almost knee high western boots, linemen boots, costume knee boots (think steampunk) and Engineer boots.    My intended purpose was for a more casual wear with utility kilts and tartan kilts in a casual situation.  Not to be used for a traditional kilt look or a “suit” kilt equivalent.  Let’s examine each of these. 

I wanted a kilt outfit for Halloween and was looking for  something Steampunk related.  I found “Steampunk”  boots that lace up from the bottom.  Three problems here.  First these are cheap and not well made.  Synthetic material that was hot and uncomfortable to wear.  Lacing them up took forever.  About 45 minutes to put them on.  Worked out well for Steampunk but not for anything else.  I did find an alternative.  I don’t recall where I got them as I searched on just about every boot site I could find.  They have lace up front but a side zipper. You tie the laces once then you never have to change them.  Use the zipper to remove the boot.  Fit and feel much better than my first “costume” boot.   Were these men’s boots?  I doubt it.  Size is 10.  I wear a men’s size 9 or 9.5. 

My original costume laced up knee boots for Steampunk

I looked at various motorcycle boots.  I did find a few that were knee high. Never bought any to try.  Something not quite right in the look but they may have worked.  May look at these again someday.

Western Boots.  The general thought in the kilt world is western boots just don’t work.  I agree.  Won’t consider these any farther. 

Linemen boots.  I liked the look the best but the better ones are very expensive and delivery times were long.  They be too heavy as these are intended for linemen not fashion.  I did not obtain any because of the cost. 

Engineer boots.  Yes, such a boot does exist.  They are plain in design and knee high.  Hard to find, very expensive, and long delivery time.  If I recall one pair I found was over $400.  From the pictures these would be ideal.   Take a close look at these boots.  What do you see?  They look just like women’s knee high boots with a 1” heel.  They may have a strap more or less than the women’s equivalent.  Also the tread is more aggressive which would be ideal in the winter.  The cost and availability prevented me from obtaining a pair.  So what about looking across the aisle in the shoe department?  See if I can find the same thing.  The fit would be a concern.  I found the rule of thumb in size is take your men’s shoe size and add two.  So I wear a 9 medium.  That would be an 11 medium. Looking at DSW shoes I find size 11 is the largest common size. The width is the same.  So if your shoe size is larger than a 9 you may be out of luck as your options drop.  Using the Engineers boot design I found the same thing on the DSW site.  The only difference was the location of a strap.  Cost was not bad and quality looked to be within reason.  Ordered a pair in black.   I was surprised to find they fit perfectly.  I was concerned not only about the fit in the foot but also in the calve.  The height was also correct.  I have worn these out several times in the winter in a casual situation.  Never a negative comment or “hey, you have on your woman’s boots”.  Never a positive comment either about the boots but then I normally don’t about any of the shoes I may have on with the kilt.  I think these work.  Your opinion may vary.   The only negative I have with them is the wimpy tread on the bottom.   Not much tread there if any snow is present.    So until another option develops I will continue to wear these knee boots in the winter as an alternative to my 10” Harley boots and knee socks.  

Picture of DSW knee high boots with solid color kilt

Picture of the DSW knee high boots and the Bamboo Ribbed Tights

By the way, I have two choices for knee socks.  In colder weather the Lewis Kilt hose are an excellent choice with a tartan kilt even as a better looking casual wear.  For more casual and to push down in the summer I use Gold Toe knee socks in black.  I think these only come in white and black.  I use to get knee socks from a company called Sock Dreams.  While they intended all their socks for women they found one particular style were popular in the kilt world.  These socks are sized in both men and women sizes.  They are available in multiple colors.  I have a few of them but in the past year wore mostly the Gold Toe.  I did dye a few of the white Gold Toe knees highs into other colors.  That worked out ok. 

For the very cold days of winter I have another option.  SockDreams sell heavy over the knee socks that work out very well in the cold.  That product is called “long cuffable crunchable socks”  SKU: [DS]-[LC].  They also have heavier tights called “Bamboo Rayon  Rib Tights”.  SKU: [FT]-[905].   If  you are in the size range for their “one size fits all” then they will work well.  I have even worn these as “long johns” under jeans when the temperature is around zero F.  The other option is from a place called G. Lieberman & Sons. There are also known as ActiveSkins.  This particular product is A829 Thermofabric Opaque Full Support Tights.   Not as thick as the Bamboo tights from Sockdreams but these are made for men.  I wear these with tartan kilts and up the Lewis Kilt hose over top of them.  That way I have the color and look of the Kilt hose but my skin is covered above the knee by the tights.  This has worked out well for me in temperatures down to zero F.   I found the length of these to be a little short.  I am 5’11” and 185 pounds.  I ordered the XL for the additional length.  Even then I have to make sure I get them pulled up as much as I can starting at the foot.  Otherwise they are short in the crotch. Not an issue with the SockDreams tights.   I guess I have long legs ;)

Post from another blog about "kilt cops"

I ran across this blog post where the author talks about "kilt cops", "tartan Nazis", and the need (or not) to be Scottish to wear the kilt.  I have run across the "kilt cops" and those that think only men in Scotland can wear a kilt.  The latter I think is more of someone trying to find an excuse to keep as many men out of kilts as possible.  Those with with a real fear of men in un-bifercated garments.


https://swingfreeforcancer.org/2016/10/27/kilt-cops-tartan-nazis-and-the-need-or-not-to-be-scottish/

UNFORTUNATELY IT LOOKS LIKE THIS WEB SITE HAS BEEN REMOVED

Making Kilts

I have been learning to make kilts.  Mostly hand sewn traditional kilts.  It is a long process doing this all by hand.  Somewhere around 40 to 50 hours of work for one kilt for the inexperienced kilt maker.  An experienced kilt maker could do it in 30 hours.

I have found the hardest part is sewing the pleats.  You have two difficulties to overcome.  The hardest for me has been keeping the width of the pleat constant and true to the desired measurement.  The pleats taper from the hip to the waist.  If  you are off just a little on each pleat you could be off inches in the final measurement.  The second is keeping the horizontal stripes aligned so you have a straight line after sewing each pleat.   Otherwise you have a horizontal stripe that looks like a stair step.

Below you will find pictures of the various steps involved.

Start with a lot of material.  Depending on the sett size, person's measurements, and pleat style  you could have 4 to 8 yards of material wound up in one kilt.

This one is 16 oz wool that is made for a kilt.  Material comes in double width so if  you need 8 yards in a kilt you can buy 4 yards, cut it half and join the two sides for 8 yards.  This works if the tartan is symmetrical.  This tartan is Wallace Hunting.  This is the tartan you see on the Scotch Tape packages.  For this kilt I only needed 4 yards as it was a box pleat design which takes less material. In the picture above I had 3 yards so I had to join both sides to get my 4 yards.  I should have ordered 4 yards then I could have made two kilts. 

Before you even go to this point you would have determined how you wanted to pleat this kilt.  Type of pleat:  knife, kingussie, reverse kingussie, box, double box, or military box.  There may be more options but those are the ones I am familiar with.  Are the pleats to be pleated to a stripe (one of the vertical color lines), if so which one, to the sett (so it looks just like the material laid out not pleated).  Once you have that and the measurements you can layout the kilt.  In the picture above I have marked the front apron.  In the next picture I have marked one of the pleats. This is a box pleat so they are wider than if I was doing a knife pleat.  I have a hard time keeping the width correct so I have started to mark the edge of the pleat with a chalk line and pin it multiple places.  The pleats are sewn down from the "fell" line to the top of the kilt. Note the taper to the waist. The waist line is 2" down from the top of the kilt.  The taper stops at this point and the pleat width is then straight to the top of the kilt.

Now it is time to sew the pleats.  This take the most time.  Starting out it took me an hour for each pleat.  If you have 25 pleats and it takes an hour that is 25 hours just for pleats.  Even longer if you sew one (or more) in and they are wrong. Then you have to remove the stitches and do the bad ones over.  You are sewing from the top of the kilt to the "fell" line (middle of the butt).  For me that is 7-1/2".

Pleats are all sewn down at the top. Now it is time to get the bottom part of the pleats in place.  They are not sew.  Wool can be shaped with steam and pressure.  So we will press the pleats in place. That will leave a nice crease along the edge of each pleat.  To make sure they are in the correct position the pleats are "basted" down.  I put in 3 or 4 rows of basting.  Here there is one row at the bottom and I have started on the one just below the fell line. You can see the white thread. At least two more rows will be added.

Next I will work on the internal construction of the kilt. Wool will stretch so I can not just have the wool holding the buckles.  The kilt would quickly be stretched out of shape at the top.  So a stabilizer is added between the two points where the buckles are attached.   This is just a length of cotton that won't stretch.  I decided to put a little surprise in the kilt should anyone ever take it apart.  Used this Star Trek material.  You won't see this once the kilt is complete.  It will be covered by the interfacing and lining.

I must not have taken any pictures of the remaining internal construction of that box pleat kilt.  So I am showing a different knife pleat kilt. This one was pleated to the sett.  In a knife pleat kilt the inside of the pleats above the fell line are cut out.  It is just unnecessary bulk that can be removed. Not an issue in a box pleat as there is not that much material.  The cut out pleats are covered with a stabilizer.  Historically, this would have been horse hair canvas.  This is a synthetic canvas used here.  This stiffens the top of the pleat.  The interfacing is installed in all traditional kilts regardless of the pleat style.

Here is a picture of me cutting out the pleats.  Up until this point I could have removed all of the stitching of the kilt and started over making changes to all that I have done.  Once I cut the material out I am committed to my design.  This is the area of the pleats that are sewn down.  So the inside of the pleat is just a closed loop that has no purpose.  So we cut this excess material out. This area will be covered by the interfacing.

Other work that has to be done is adding the waist band and finishing the apron and under apron edges.  I add a fringe edge to the apron. The edge of the apron is curved and when folding back the edge we try to keep the stripes aligned.  This causes the material to pucker.  Being wool this will shrink and flatten out when pressed.  The stitching helps hold it flat during this process. All the white basting will be removed when we are done.   In the next picture the waist band has been added.  The stripes in the waist band must align with the strips on the front apron.  Unfortunately they will not align for the remainder of the kilt.  They will be off even when the kilt is pleated to the sett.

The last step is to add the lining. This covers the interfacing.  At some point the buckles and straps are added. I use an inside strap and buckle on the underapron.  Most kilts are made with all buckles on the outside of the kilt . This requires a button hole for the under apron strap.  I also only use two buckles. Many kilts are made with a third buckle that is really not required.  Maybe it is for a dancer's kilt but for the rest of us it is not.  I don't think the third buckle was on traditional kilts.  That was more of a modern addition.  

Completed box pleat kilt

Completed IPA (International Police Association) tartan kilt.  The QA inspector is looking it over.  I guess it passed as she is taking a nap after all the hard inspection work.

Utilikilts and Ebay

I now have a rather large collection of kilts. I have not counted them for a while but I would guess over 25. I should write up something on my collection at this point. Post for another day.

In this post I will talk about the Utilikilts I have. My first Utilikilt was purchased in the summer of 2008. What I liked about that kilt was the soft feeling of the cloth and it was machine washable. Being a utility type kilt the pockets on the side were very handy. There were a couple of things I did not like about it. Minor really but they bugged me none the less. One was the pleats would curl up. The second was the hem was not parallel to the ground. As for the pleat curl I have been told that happens for a number of reasons. I don't know if this is the real reason or just someone's guess. It could be just a behavior of cotton or because of the type of thread used to sew down the edge of the pleats. Who knows but I guess I can get over it. As for that tilted hemline. The utilikilt were designed to be worn at pant's waist rather than the higher natural waist of a traditional tartan kilt. Look at just about any guy in jeans and notice the belt line. It will be tilted down toward the front. More noticeable if the guy has belly. The Utilikilt (at least the earlier versions I have) the distance from the top to bottom of the kilt is the same all the way around. They had a "beer belly" option that would account for the tilt.  I have never run into one with that option. So when you wear the kilt the waist will be tilted down in the front so the hem will also be tilted. Lower in the front.

My kilt was particularly bad about this tilt. I did not realize it for almost a year. I examined it more closely and found the length in the front was longer then in the back. That made it worst. It would have been better if that was the other way around. So one day I decided to modify the hem to try to remove that tilt. You can see the modified length in one of the pictures below vs the other kilts that don't have any adjustment. To do this I left the back alone and raised the hem starting at the side to up about an inch and a half in the front. So now the kilt hem is parallel to the ground. Unfortunately there was a minor problem. When I ordered the kilt I had a custom length which I purposely made a little on the short side. So my kilt was set to about an inch above the knee cap. Guys have legs too get over it. So now I needed to bring up the front. The length was already backwards as I said above. So now I had to raise the front. The end result was the kilt is shorter than before and it was short enough to start with. So this kilt is now more for knocking around the house working on projects.

 I wanted to get another Utilikilt but those things cost some money. What kilt does not cost a lot. So I started to look around Ebay. Guys will get these kilts and then end up not wearing them so they turn up on Ebay. I set up a search on Ebay for Utilikilt and would get an email when one showed up on the site. Did not take long for my query to get a hit. I ended up getting three kilts over about a year and a half. The first two I obtained were standard style Utilikilts. They are way too long but that is good because I can now re-hem the thing and get rid of the tilt without the end product being too short. I have not done so yet. I noticed something else. The first one I got on Ebay did not have snaps under the belt line. The one I purchased in 2008 has snaps. Turns out this Ebay kilt was an earlier model. The design and manufacturing process has changed somewhat over the years.

 I am going to digress here a moment. Inside of the kilt there are a couple of labels. One has a date code among other information. I wish the people putting Utilikilts on Ebay would photograph that second label. Most just photograph the first with the size.

On this photograph notice the label showing the factory of manufacture and the material 65% poly and 35% cotton.  After that is 08/08 which is the date:  August 2008.  That is my first Utilikilt.

The last one I got on Ebay was a Mocker style. The Mocker kilt was intended to be the kilt equivalent of a pair of Docker pants. Nicer material then the standard Utilikilt. Also, the pockets were built into the kilt rather than hanging on the side. More pants like. So this was a much nicer kilt. I don't think this kilt was ever worn. I won't be able to change the hem on this one as the length is just where it needs to be. I don't want to end up making it any shorter. So I will put up with the tilt.

Here are the four I have now. My first is in the upper left. The Mocker is in the upper right. The two longer standard ones are on the bottom. No I don't have a dog sporran. That is my helper who just wanted to lay on the kilts during the photo session.

In this photograph you can see the missing snaps under the belt line of the 2005 model. My 2008 model has the snaps. I have no idea when they added the other snaps but that was a good idea. That kilt without the snaps has a date code of 2005. I will add a couple of snaps to this 2005 model when I modify the hem. That second kilt is also long so I have plenty of material to work the hem.

Here is my modified hem. You can see it is shorter in the front to make up for it lower at the waist. From the side the hem is now parallel with ground all the way around.

On the other kilts the the distance from top to bottom is the same front to back

On the Mocker the pockets are built into the pleat rather than hanging on the outside. I have circled the pockets which you might be able to make out in the photo. On the back there are two hip pockets rather than just one on the standard.

That is my review of my Ebay Utilikilt purchases. If you want a Utilikilt try searching Ebay. You might find one that will save you a few bucks.

Kilt on my friends!