About two years ago, I got it into my head to try my hand at making a kilt for my oldest. I blame my cousin, really: She’s the one who brought up the whole UtiliKilt thing in the first place. While the kilts are amazing and worth every penny, I thought I could make one and save a few pennies.
I surfed around until I found a tutorial, bought about five yards of olive green twill and … procrastinated. To the point that my teenager wondered if I were ever going to start, much less finish the kilt in his lifetime. Rotten kid. Note: When adding the link to the tutorial, I noticed that an updated version has been posted. This happened after I found and printed the one I used, so be aware that all comments refer to the original manual.
Part of the reason I put it off so long was the length of the tutorial: More than 20 pages, most of them text. And the beginning of the tutorial said it would take about a week to sew, which really didn’t help matters.
Fortunately, it does not take someone who sews regularly anywhere near that long. I think I finish J’s in about a day, maybe 1 1/2 days, and much of that was trying to make sense of a tutorial written by someone who does not sew.
The tutorial did not take into account ease and I failed to add any on my own, so I think the kilt ended up a little slimmer than needed. And maybe a little shorter than intended, too. I’m still not super clear on how the darned thing is supposed to close but I added buttonholes and buttons to the inside of the waistband and am optimistic they’ll hold appropriately.
The final product isn’t as nice as a UtiliKilt but the boy seems to like it. And his girlfriend bought him a nice pair of argyle socks to go with it so his skinny legs won’t get quite so cold while wearing it.
13 January, 8:36 am
That turned out great, Mary! So, for someone not in the know, is this UtiliKilt thing a fad for college boys or what? And, despite the socks, hopefully he’s more concerned about keeping something besides his legs warm! (Oh, should I not have said that to his mom?)
13 January, 10:00 am
That is great! My hubby made himself one, last month. I was super impressed! This is the instructions he used (you know, if you want to make another one sometime)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Cargo-Kilt/
13 January, 11:04 am
My brother in law wears UtiliKilts and loves them. Fortunately he bought his on ebay and all I had to do was shorten the hem for him. I admire you for taking on this project Mary! And I admire your son for wearing a kilt (as long as he is wearing something under it)!
14 January, 1:14 am
i absolutely love your blog, so i nominated it for an award (over on my blog)
15 January, 4:07 pm
Nice! I made one for my hubby this past summer – I love kilts
15 January, 6:17 pm
Wow, thanks for posting this link to the tutorial! I’m getting great ideas for my husband; he has a Utilikilt and loves it. He’d like more but they’re so darn expensive! Maybe now I’ll be able to make one for him and since I have one already I can use his for a reference when it comes to the closure.
7 February, 7:10 pm
Ha…awesome. Both your sewing skills, and your kid for wearing it. :p