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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday Kilts: Star Wars Love

Well, I'm thinking I'll start doing a Sunday filler, just to make sure there's something here.

Yeah, I'm just looking for an excuse to post hot guys in kilts. Can you blame me?

Gotta show some love for those Jedi's who can totally rock the kilt.



Anybody else think Rob Roy is one of the most romantic movies ever?

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Making a kilt

This is not a "How-to" post. I may write one of those later, complete with pictures and diagrams. I'm not working on any right now and, with this economy, I don't expect to be doing any for a while. Most of the people who've approached me about it are generally a bit taken aback by how much it costs.

I don't make Utilikilts. They are very cool and quite reasonable in price. They are also their own company (go figure!).

The kilts I make are designed to fit the person I'm making them for. I take measurements and everything. I also use real, 100% wool tartans and I sew them by hand. It's really the only way to get them to lay just right. You can get close with a machine, I'm not saying you can't, but an iron, needle and thread is the best way.  I've been told I do it the "authentic" way but, really, what's "authentic?" A brief look at the history of the kilt will show that, depending on how far back you go, I'm doing it the wrong way.

The question I get asked the second most, usually after "How much does it cost?", is "where do you get the fabric from?"  I buy all my tartan fabric through Scotweb. They have the best quality of tartan fabric I've ever found and every tartan pattern I've ever looked for.

I was honestly surprised by what 9 yards of wool tartan looked like in the box when I first got it.

9 yards of quilting cotton doesn't fold down that small!


It was so soft and easy to work with, I just loved it.
The finished product didn't turn out so bad, either.


That's the Irish National tartan and the young man had just tried to climb a Jacob's ladder at the Renfaire. I'm surprised there's not still hay on it.

I need to make more of these. Not just because I love a man in a good kilt but because the fabric is a joy to use and soft to handle.

It's March?

Holy Carp! Where did the time go? What happened to February? I'm not ready for January to be over yet! Eep!

Ok, so, I've been a little busy. Between designing, writing and proofing the newsletter for my Mom's team (it's very cool but not allowed to be seen outside the company), reading review copies for book reviews (which are coming! I promise!), designing a hoodie for a friend, designing corsets for myself a couple other lovely young ladies, I've also gotten addicted to a new website.

Spoonflower is possibly one of the coolest sites I've come across in a long time. A quick search for "geek" fabrics brings up all sorts of cool stuff.
Such as:

This one's by SamuraiSmurfette

this one's by Chronically Uncool


Here's one of mine:


People occasionally post pictures of things they made with the fabric and it's so much fun. I could spend several thousands dollars on the site and not make a dent in what I want to purchase. I'm considering selling plasma to fund my fabric habit.

So, more posts coming soon! I promise! With pictures of completed projects!