How To Make A Kilt Step By Step
My boyfriend wanted to wear a kilt, as a joke, to a wedding between a Scottish man and an Australian lady early next month. He found that they were way too expensive to buy new or second hand, so I decided to make a makeshift kilt for him. I will explain step by step what I did to make it. We bought the materials needed for $22.40 at Spotlight (2 metres of tartan and 1 metre of velcro). Unfortunately, there was not any red tartan available, but green is still good. You can see the materials below.
Measure the tartan from waist to knees on the model, leaving enough room for a 1.5 inch hem. Cut the tartan to measure.
This part is a bit tricky, as it takes a bit of adjusting at times. What you need to do is to fit the front of the tartan around the front of the model and then pin it together. I found it best to pin it to some of the undergarments of my boyfriend to help hold it in place. The back of the material needs to be baggy to allow room for pleats to be made. Start pleating 1 inch pleats with pins and slowly do them around the back of the evolving kilt. You will need pin near the top and also about 7 inches down. The picture below shows how the pins should be in place for these pleats.
Take the tartan material carefully off the model and then sew along the top of pleats, carefully taking the pins off as you go.
Then sew down the pleats to the next pin.
Use an over-locking machine to sew sides and bottom of the kilt to stop the material fraying. Sew half inch hems on the sides and 1.5 inch hems on the bottom.
Cut a 4 inch thick piece of material from the spare tartan (2 metre length). This will become the waistband.
Sew top of material of the waistband along the outer (part that you will see when wearing it) top side of the kilt as shown in the photo below. Fold the waistband in half, so that you have a 1.5 inch waistband. Sew it along the inner side (part of kilt that will not be seen while wearing it) of the kilt material to seal the waistband. Tuck in ends of waistband neatly and then neatly sew them down.
Cut the velcro into 2 lots of 3 inch strips. Put kilt on model and put pins or chalk marks where the velcro will go on each side. Pin velcro pieces in place and then carefully sew them on.
Pleat bottom of kilt in place with pins, similar to what you did at the top. Pleat middle of the kilt too. This will hold the pleat in place while you press down on it quite firmly with an iron and a damp handkerchief. Take handkerchief off and press pleat again, taking out pins. This will keep you permanent pleat.
There you go. It is now all finished. You can now get the kilt owner to try it on. You will deserve that glass of wine too. Well done.
Note that you may wish to add a buckle to the front of the kilt and a large pin near the bottom to make it look more authentic.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Wow! This is a very comprehensive and step by step approach to making a kilt. Now all we need to know is “What is REALLY worn under a kilt?”
November 19th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Thanks for your nice comments John. Although this is a make-shift kilt, I shall have to keep your imagination open with respect to what is really under the kilt.
As it turned out, I told my girlfriend that I made a kilt for Bryan and she then told me that I could have lent her husband’s kilt to him. Bryan told me that he was quite happy with this kilt though. He told me that it was a Scottish kilt made in Australia. He added that it would be perfect to wear at a Scottish/Australian wedding, particularly with thongs. My brother and nephew will be in for a big shock.
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:20 pm
[...] On the Friday morning, we awoken and prepared for the wedding. I had pre-planned a joke where I would wear a kilt that Maureen had made for me, along with a pair of thongs and a vest with Yosemite Sam on it. The idea was that it was 1/3 Scottish, 1/3 Aussie and 1/3 fun. Click here to see how Maureen made the kilt step by step. [...]
December 4th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Yeah those are some great sewing tips . I have started using these into practice . I will make a best dress for myself & my children & your sewing tips will prove best useful to me, i guess !@!
December 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I thought that How To Make A Kilt Step By Step was very interesting. I found you searching on Sewing Thursday Thanks for the nice post!
January 17th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Thanks so much for this great guide to making a simple kilt. I just successfully made my son a nice little kilt to wear for an international fair that we are participating in. The pictures were a great help!! Thanks!!
January 17th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Thanks for your kind words Patti. I am glad that you found this guide useful so that your son had a kilt to wear for the international fair.
March 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
thanks, I just brought home gram’s 1956 singer. I have a hundred prodgects I always wanted to sew. A kilt was one, so here we go! tx bob.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Thats great Bob. Please let us know how you go with making a kilt.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I wish I had found your instructions before I made my granddaughters kilt!
Our methods were very similar. I hemmed her kilt before making the pleats. Much easier.
I hope everyone enjoyed the kilt at the wedding!
April 16th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Hi Laura
I am glad that you thought that you would have found this post on making a kilt useful.
The best man was actually wearing a real kilt, so this makeshift kilt obviously was not as good as the one he had on. We only did this for a joke and we certainly got a few laughs with it.
January 12th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Quote: John Stephens Says:
November 19th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Wow! This is a very comprehensive and step by step approach to making a kilt. Now all we need to know is “What is REALLY worn under a kilt?”
Nothing at all!
February 12th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Hi.
I’m a little on the plus size and I was wondering how you placed the material? I was always taught the the pattern had to follow the directionality of the material, top to bottom. I’m afraid this is a little confusing to me, even though I do make clothes for myself!
Thanks
February 14th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Hi Lisa, I am a little confused as to what you are having trouble with. I actually wrapped the material around the person who was going to wear the kilt and then pleated it. If the material was too small, then I would have to sew 2 pieces of material together directionally top to bottom in the manner that you have suggested. In this case make the pleat in the part that you have added on to disguise it better.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
the traditional response to “what is worn beneath a kilt?” is “Nothing, everything is in fine working order.”
October 6th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Thanks for the kilt instructions. Yours are the only clear instructions on the web.
February 25th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Just finished mine- only took 2 hours!!! The ironing took about half that time. I used an old blue plaid dress I never wear and it was enough material. Thanks SOOOO much for this pattern. The others on the internet were much more complicated. This is perfect for the costume we need it for.