Kilt Blog

On Winter Solstice I officiated my Neo-Pagan Church’s first wedding. I know the bride and groom quite well, and they asked me to wear a kilt. I had planned to get a cheap acrylic Clergy tartan, but they didn’t want me to buy anything just for the ceremony, so I instead wore a Stillwater Kilts Heavyweight Wool in Blackwatch. This was an excellent choice, it has been a cold and heavy winter in Northern New Mexico, and the ceremony was down several miles of unplowed, snow covered roads where I got briefly stuck in a Land Rover. Still the wedding was great fun, and all the more so for being kilted.

My lovely wife, who just make me the “knucks” fingerless gloves in these pictures, let me splurge on a slightly used Utilikilts Workman’s kilt for the holidays. It arrived yesterday. I should note that the temperature outside was in the single digits (fahrenheit) with a bitter wind, so I am wearing long-johns and heavy wool hunting socks. Subjectively the kilt is warmer than cargo-pants, given the same other clothing.

The kilt was advertised was having been worn for a week-long festival, and was obviously used but in good condition. It saved me enough money to make it worth buying used, though the used utilikilt market on eBay offers surprisingly strong resale prices.

The first thing I noticed when putting it on was that it curls the pleats, just as my UK Demin does. The second was that the fit, for the same size, was exactly the same. The third, was that the pockets were somehow smaller. I love my other UK’s huge pockets, which are squared off at the bottom, but here they were cut diagonally, which pushes all my pocket stuff together, but gives a more pleasing aesthetic. Living well outside of normal police patrols, I often carry a S&W J-frame in my UK’s pockets. It fits comfortably in the UK Workman’s pockets, so I suppose I am happy enough.

I was surprised by the construction of the hammer loop. It is a strip of leather which attaches with snaps, for adjustment, to the inside of the inner apron. I wonder about the practicality of that, basically one must reach up under his kilt to adjust it… at least I live out in the boonies where this wouldn’t offend anyone who might one day be close enough to see.

Of course, the outside of the pockets have handy miniature pockets, as with many toolbelts. These snap down for flexibility and are nicely sized for the various screwdrivers, etc, which I might need to carry while working in my kilt. It also features “modesty snaps” for the shy to bifurcate on ladders and roofs. I suppose, if one must, they could be useful, however they do make the kilt look and feel like a bizarre pleated diaper (pictures intentionally not included).

Overall I like this kilt better than my UK Denim or Original, but I do start to wonder about the value. The retail price of the UK workman is current $225, making it seem an expensive garment to wear doing construction. The savings from buying on it eBay make that a bit easier, and oddly so does the fact that its already used. The material is the same as is used in carharts, and should wear well, even with heavy use. I’m not sure that I could work sans tool-belt all of the time in this kilt, but surely I could most of the time. Its also certainly more fashionable that the Denim or Original, and for some that I a primary concern.

Overall: B+

Service: N/A

Quality: A-

Comfort: A-

Value:B+, would be lower if I’d paid full price

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Today I was shopping for groceries at my local health-food store while wearing my UK Original. Even though we got nearly a foot of snow during a recent storm I am still wearing my kilts.

A middle-aged woman swoops out of the vitamin aisle, and quite loudly says, “Oh I love your Man Skirt! I think they are so hot…”. Clearly she meant it as a compliment, so I just said thanks.

Popular author, JK Rowling, is always big news. Her appearances are attended by thousands. So, when JK Rowling talks about kilts, that makes for Kilts in the News.

At the recent Pride of Britain Awards, the best selling author and Edinburgh resident saw the heroes from the Glasgow ‘bombing attack’ donning the kilt, and reportedly said “When I saw them standing there on stage I thought, ‘God I love a man in a kilt.’ I married one after all,”

In a recent interview, Rowling stated that her husband has a couple of kilts, and even answered a press question about what he wore under them!

Despite the wide variety of dress encountered in her books, only one of her characters appeared kilted. According to wikipedia, “Basil – Ministry official at the Quidditch World Cup, wears a kilt and poncho in an attempt to replicate Muggle clothing”

Not quite kilts, but closely kilt related, I recently happened across Sporran-Nation’s “contemporary unisex sporrans and bags” at a store my wife shops online. Handcrafted in Inverness, I dare not question that these are indeed sporrans, though they are certainly non-traditional. With designs including communist stars, skulls, and bombs, perhaps they could appeal to a punk-crowd which has found the kilt?

No pictures yet, since its now dark outside by 5pm, but my much awaited Stillwater Heavyweight in Black Watch tartan has finally arrived. I will try to have photos soon. This was a used kilt from eBay, but is still in excellent condition. I am surprised how well the pleats stood up to shipping.

I also have a new sporran strap from R-kilts. It is fairly nice, but with the current exchange rate I feel it was not a good value.  Still, I can once again wear my sporran after the horrible kilt-ruining accident.

Well, the weather is getting colder, and my USAK casual is now way too light to wear. My Utilikilts are doing well with socks or hose going over-the-knee at night.

The exciting thing, though, is that I have a kilt on the way. I wanted an inexpensive wool kilt. I also did not want to wait for delivery until next year. I had considered a Stillwater Heavyweight, but had never found a BlackWatch in my waist size. I have heard these are a 16oz tartan instead 13oz ‘Shadow Tartan’. Obviously the heavier the better, the winter here can be quite bitter.

I found what I was looking for, used, on eBay. A used SWK is in the post. The price was a bit less than new, but the great thing is that I found what I was looking for after looking for far too long on Stillwater’s website.

The first and only time I wore my Stillwater Economy into town was a disaster. My lovely wife has repaired the poor kilt, and it is wearable again.

On the same day my puppy was vomiting to and from the vet, it happened. Everything seemed fine, but when I stopped at the pet-store for more kibble…

I looked down to put my wallet back into my sporran, a Buzz Kidder Country Sporran which I purchased from USA Kilts when I bought my Casual Kilt from them. I was wearing it with the chain that was included, having disliked the sporran hangers I ordered at the same time. My kilt’s outer apron was half balled up with threads sticking everywhere!

I did not have a camera at the time, nor would I have stopped to take a picture of the horror I saw inflicted upon the poor kilt. I thought it was already far too late. The apron balled up because over a dozen threads of tartan had been snagged and pulled by a little jump ring on the sporran chain. This ring connected the chain to a clip. I have heard of sporran chains slowly wearing a kilt before, but this was quite different.

I opened the jump ring and after ten minutes I had the kilt back to looking like a kilt. Still, three threads could not be massaged back into the weave, they broke somewhere inside the fabric. My wife, crafty as she is, managed to pull the loose strings to the inside of the apron, then tie and cut them off. Now it looks OK from the outside.

That little jump ring…. I still can not believe that anyone would have thought this was a good idea, and a kiltmaker should have known better. Placing a ring with a sharp tooth designed to snag things next to a piece of twill tartan, with some weight pressing it down as it moves back and forth?! At least this didn’t ruin an expensive kilt or an heirloom, though I suppose for someone else it easily could have.

I will order a sporran strap soon. Unfortunately I can’t wear my sporran (with that damned chain) at the moment, which means I can only wear my utilikilts into town until a strap arrives.

So, its been far too long since I last posted. I do have a good excuse. A couple of weeks ago I took my puppy to the vet and he puked 7 times on the way there and back. That same night I caught whatever he had and spent over a week sick with it.

Well, now I am better and so I am catching up. The day I first got sick I had a kilt badly damaged, and that will be my next post.

I like to keep an open mind about what is a kilt. Basically, if its a man’s skirted garment with pleats in the back and an apron in the front opening to the right, I will happily call it a kilt and maybe even buy one! However, tonight I happened upon uni-kilt.com, offering a “lycra mini kilt”. It has no apron at all, rather it is pleated all around. It is made from the same stuff as stretch-pants. And, judging by the pictures on their website, they market it more towards women than men. If that doesn’t send you running to buy one, consider their other offerings: tartan lycra g-strings and bikini panties made for men who aren’t comfortable with being “traditional” under their “kilt”. I, for one, think I will pass.

As some readers may know, my wife and I are building an off-grid cabin in Northern New Mexico. Today was really the first cold day this Fall. Most people imagine New Mexico as being hot, since it is desert. But what we have is high desert, actually I’m in the world’s largest alpine valley. Winter here can be quite extreme. Today was just a tiny taste of that, about 40F and wind gusts up into the upper 20’s (mph). My black denim utilikilt was quite warm with O Marled stockings from Sock Dreams, a turtle neck and a nice wool sweater.

Recently “Modern Manners” from the Times Online in the UK ran an etiquette advice column regarding kilts. An American in California asked what tartan he might wear to a Ball with his fiance, her family having asked that he wear a kilt.

Perhaps, Philip Howard, writing for this English chain of newspapers was not the best person to ask for advice. The column basically said only a Highland Scot should ever wear the kilt! A bit like saying only a Texas Cowboy should ever wear blue jeans, in my opinion. After-all, pretend to be a cowboy in Texas and it is said, “All hat and no cattle.”

I’ve noticed that, by and large, it is non-kilt-wearing non-Scots who will tell others they may not wear the kilt. Perhaps the columnist isn’t man enough to wear it himself, so he tells others they can not, and thereby saves his fragile self-esteem? He does at least give a bit of advice that the Californian could consider Blackwatch, though at the same time berating him as a weirdo for living in California.

To more properly answer Dave Null’s question; most people would not be offended that you choose to wear their tartan because of its beauty, so long as you treat it with respect and learn a bit of its history. It may also bear mentioning here that the tradition of family tartans was started by English weavers and promoted most strongly by Queen Victoria. Still, if one feels he should not wear a tartan honoring another family, he might wear one of his district, an ancestor’s district, his former military branch, a national tartan, or one of a great many fashion tartans. Some popular possibilities could be the California tartan, Pride of Scotland, Isle of Skye, or Braveheart.

It particularly disturbs me that the advice columnist suggested it may not be appropriate even for a Highland Scot to wear the kilt outside of the Highlands. Perhaps the columnist has never heard of the popular Highland Games events held throughout the world, or pipers wearing kilts, or even of the Irish Saffron kilt whose history goes back over 100 years and was associated with Irish Nationalism.

Were this columnist’s unfortunate advice to be widely followed, the trouser tyrants would win, the kilt eventually vanishing into the pages of history.