Monday, July 30, 2007

THE MAKING OF A KILT......

Here you see some examples of tartans used for the making of kilts.
When we were in Scotland, we have visited the Scottish Kiltmaker Visitor Centre in Inverness at the Highland House of Fraser. Did you know that for one kilt you need 8 yards of fabric? And that a kilt for a man weights 12 to 14 kilos?
It was wonderful to see the craftmanship of the ladies that are sewing the kilts by hand, the fabric is very heavy and certainly not easy to sew through. I talked to the very friendly owner of the shop and he told that there are more then 400 tartans. When I told him that we were all quilters, he was so friendly to sell us small pieces of the fabric for a nice price (woolen tartan fabrics are very expensive, the cheapest one was around 50 Pound a yard)and I am looking forward to make a cosy woolen quilt of them in the wintertime. If you ever go to Scotland and want to know more about the making of kilts then you can learn a lot about
it over here: Highland House of Fraser.
Did I tell you that they also make the kilts for the English Royal Family?

I also forgot to tell about the pictures, the first one is a view on the Ben Nevis from Inverlochy Castle in Fort William and on the second picture you can see the mist come closer between the mountains of Loch Lomond. Next time I'll show some more pictures.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

My momster, Susan, mentioned your entry to me. The world of kilts is even more complex than you saw there at the visitor's center -- in addition to the modern, 8-yard, knife-pleated kilt you saw being made, kilts are made in a variety of modern materials, such as poly-viscose, and in shorter-yardage "casual" styles, which have fewer pleats across the back.

As for tartans, I find them fascinating -- the Scotish Tartans Authority lists literally thousands of them, and the list grows every year as new tartans are registered!

JK said...

Helllooo our Wilma! How are you doing hon? Are you feeling better? I am so glad to see that you are blogging again. If you need anything or even a shoulder, you know Les and I are always here okay?

I know nothing about kilts, so thank you for sharing all the information hon!

Ati said...

Hallo Wilma, Ik zie een stukje van een kilt die ik heb, een echte. Gekocht in 1981 bij een kleermaker in Inverness. De ruit heet Mac Cloud.
helaas kan ik hem niet meer aan, teveel kilo's erbij :(
Ben blij dat je weer dingen op je blog zet.