Saving a Family Kilt

Hello everyone.

I hope you have had a good week. 

The rain here has been wonderful, but it has kept me inside for a while, and I decided to go in search of a crafting project. I have a lot of these activities awaiting my attention; some are partially started, while others are still just ideas. The one I have been working on this week is a family project. 

My husband and his family on his father's side have some Scottish ancestry, and this project was intended to showcase some special items.

When hubby and his siblings were youngsters, they often went along to Scottish dance evenings with their parents. They learnt many of the dances, and hubby's brother and sister also took part in competitions. Hubby's kilt was made using the tartan with our family name. This particular tartan is Ancient Wilson, with orange and green colours woven into the fabric.

Hubby kept his kilt from those early years but has not worn it since then. It has been in the loft, and unfortunately it now has some moth damage as well as wear and tear. I was reluctant to get rid of it and instead wanted to transform it into something we could display on our living room wall.

It was quite scary cutting into the kilt fabric, but it needed to be done for the greater good. I had a suitable frame and some backing fabric and set to work. It was at this point that I realised the intricacies of how a kilt is made and the huge amount of fabric involved. Eventually I managed to fit everything together, including a section of the pleats. 

Once this was firmly attached, it was time to add the other items.

The largest item was the leather sporran, which was wired through the fabric to keep in place. A sporran is worn at the centre of the kilt, around the waist. It acts like a money purse for personal items because traditional kilts don't have pockets. This one is really for daytime wear, as it is made of leather, but there are many beautiful and far more intricate versions for more formal occasions. Sporran means purse in Gaelic.

The ornamental knife is called a Sgian Dubhs (pronounced skee-an-doo) and is tucked into the right or left sock depending on the dominant-hand side, with only the upper part of the hilt showing.

Finally, the buckle is from hubby's leather belt that he also wore. He gave it a good clean with some metal polish before adding it to the display board.

And here is the final photo showing all the pieces together. Now it can be properly displayed, and our family can still enjoy those memories of Scottish country dancing together.

Have a fantastic week, everyone, and who knows, I may start another project this week. 😊