She gets these notions, ken?
Strange notions.
That because my great,
great,
great,
great,
great,
grandfather was a Scot
I need a kilt.
.
I won’t wear a kilt,
I said.
I am not connected to
my Scot’s heritage
I said.
That’s all right,
she said,
unloading
eight meters of fabric
and starting to pleat.
.
I won’t wear a kilt
I said.
What kind of belt buckle?
she asked.
So I picked the clan buckle
of my great
great etc
grandfather.
.
I won’t wear a kilt
I said.
Which pleat design?
she asked.
So I picked the pleat to the sett
(or so she tells me)
and she ironed
and ironed
and ironed
late into the night
and then she sewed
and sewed
and sewed
each stitch by hand
for night
after night.
.
I don’t want a kilt
I said.
She sewed
a linen shirt
and knit a lace jabot
and created sock flashes
and sock garters.
I ordered the socks and
the sporran from
Scotland
she said.
.
I really don’t want…
I said
Try this
she said
arranging a leather pocket
dangling from chains
around my waist.
No!
I squawked
It can’t go like that!
That’s like saying
X marks the spot!
She laughed
at my dismay.
.
Just try it all
she said,
arranging
ecoutrements.
I sighed
but did.
Walk up and down so I can see the swing,
she said.
Ooooooh,
she said
and led me back up the hall.
.
For our anniversary
she said
will you wear your kilt?
Yes,
I said
and did.
.
.
True story.
Outlander inspiration is clear.
Diana has a lot to answer for.
But most of it is good.
Verra good.
.
Here’s the proof:
and the more modern interpretation:
We should have taken some pictures from behind to show off…
(cough) the pleat to the sett.
It’s verra lovely.
<g>
Always remember “Happy Wife, Happy Life” or as Diana wrote him in the book plate for his copy of The Scottish Prisoner, “No one looks better than a man in a kilt.”
.
FYI- Here are a few of the posts written back while I was making the kilt with photos of the process:
https://shawnbird.com/2011/11/16/the-latest-obsessive-project/
https://shawnbird.com/2011/11/19/kilt-progress/
https://shawnbird.com/2011/12/06/all-done/
Note the dates- It’s been nearly 18 months since I finished. He’s worn it ONCE before today, back for that final drooling fitting. Plainly I caught him in a moment of weakness today. Or else he’s been reading Outlander again on his own. Good lad.
6 years later, here’s a lovely shot of the swing from behind! 🙂
Shawn L. Bird 
Rock the kilt! I’m a Scot, and I wear the kilt regularly. I have four. One solid black wool for black-tie occasions, one in my Stirling family tartan wool, and two modern denim kilts for daily wear. I love them, gives the -ahem- boys room to breath.
I think breathing room actually terrifies the guy, but it sure looks great on him! I doubt I’ll ever get him to wear it in public, but that way I don’t have to worry about him being assaulted by wayward Outlander fans, rabid for Sam Heughan. Good on you for rocking your heritage! 🙂
I don’t think I look half as good in mine. xx Hugs xxx
I’m sure you do! I’ve noticed there are Welsh kilts now. It isn’t traditional though, is it?
I should like to see the back.—- you are a beautiful couple. Photogenic, the two of you.
Thanks. Here’s a blog post done when I was doing all that ironing, pinning, and basting. 🙂 The back is the bottom photo. Click on it and you’ll be able to see the pleats. Nothing is sewn in that photo, but you get the idea! https://shawnbird.com/2011/11/19/kilt-progress/
Looks gorgeous. Outstanding tailoring.
My mom is a seamstress. She is impeccable in her execution, and highly critical of my efforts, finding all the flaws and telling me how to improve. When she saw the kilt, she studied it minutely, and then said, “I tried a couple of times to make a kilt, but I couldn’t do it. Well done.” I just about fainted. That was earth shattering praise! lol
Huzzah huzzah
Really loved the story which I came on quite by accident. Travelling through standing stones into history, scary and exciting at the same time. Love the kilt. We really do need a rear view! Cheers. Susan
lol It will probably be a long time before I get him in it again, but I’ll try to remember to snap the view!
He looks mighty fine in that kilt!
I concur!
What to do when I run out of superlatives?! I suppose I just say, “How much would you charge for making me a kilt?” I don’t really want one, but my wife has some cockamamie wedding anniversary idea she won’t tell me about! : roll : Wonderful poem!
-R-
Thank you for the compliment. If I had known about http://stores.ebay.ca/Edges-Of-Time?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 I probably wouldn’t have done it. 40 hours and $30 of fabric vs a quick eBay order? A no-brainer! (Though being tall he needs a 27″ length and I really like him in the beige and green of the Saskatchewan tartan!)
What a tale to share, rock’n a bit of heritage in the poetic
precisely
This really warms the cockles of our Scottish hearts – especially Ian’s, for he is the bonafide, born and bred Scotsman. We love your poem. It is hard to imagine a Scotsman not wanting to wear the kilt. However, I’ll bet his five-great grandfather didn’t have to be talked into wearing one. You certainly did a great job of sewing, Shawn. I know I (Gayle) would not have chosen to try my hand at sewing one. Ian’s first kilt was furnished to him when he was an Army cadet in Scotland in the 1940s. Later as an airman and bandsman in the RAF he was in bands that wore “trews” instead of kilts. After emigrating to Canada, though, he was given a kilt by a friend of a Scottish relative. Even though he wasn’t of the Stewart Clan (the kilt bore the Royal Stewart tartan) he reconciled wearing it because he was Scottish and thus under the “protection” of the royals! Hah – such an admission from an ardent Scottish nationalist! In reality, the reason was that he liked the tartan and, of course, it was free!! Nowadays, after undergoing many adjustments by me to accommodate his expanding girth and then his diminishing girth, we visited the Scottish Highland Gift Shoppe in Calgary last year and had him measured for a kilt in his family tartan – the McKinnon.( The Morrans family is a sept of the McKinnon clan.) It cost us a pretty penny, too. We’ve used that tartan to help decorate the cover of Ian’s latest book, a memoir: From Poverty to Poverty: A Scotsman Encounters Canada.” By the way, we also love Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books. Ian does cringe, though, whenever the so-called word “verra” comes up. He says he has NEVER heard “very” pronounced like that in all his years in Scotland or since. I wonder who was Gabaldon’s consultant on the Scottish dialect. Perhaps it was the online Scots dialect dictionary which did bring up a translation of “very” for “verra.” Ian thinks it must be a very obscure usage, though. He is a Highlander, also lived in the Lowlands for some years and has friends from all over Scotland and never heard that pronunciation. Anyone out there know in what part of Scotland the pronunciation “verra” is used?
Well, she theoretically writing in 18th century vernacular, not modern Scots. 😉