When I started my first kilt, I remember wanting to start my journey being well prepared, well organised, and to do my very best with the right tools and materials. I quizzed my trainer about what is “the kilt makers kit” and she wrote down a wee list.
When I started to feel competent and confident enough to share my learning with others, I wanted to address all the challenges I had endured and one was knowing the right materials and equipment from the start and having access to them easily.
I started off by presenting my first students with the kit box and realised the experienced sewers would then have duplicate equipment. I then let them decide from the list and purchase what they felt they needed.
This was good, but I soon learned for some, for their sakes, and for mine because I felt responsible for the success of their creation, I should have been more assertive about what they chose to use. An upholsterer, whom I thought would know his threads, used a thread he said was appropriate. By the end of the kilt, his pleating needed repaired. I wished that I had checked his threads and had been more directive. Another student used her own canvasses. They didn’t have the quality and strength to look after the aprons and the support of the pleating area. Once again, I regretted that I hadn’t intervened.
Your kilt has a high monetary investment in the cloth and tuition fees, and also investment of your time and commitment. Therefore, the following items I want to say are mandatory from The Kilt College unless you have your own supply of the same or equivalent products.
The Kilt Course Essential Materials
I have accounts with suppliers and therefore, students can benefit from my access to trade prices and ability to order larger quantities thus paying a reduced price for quantity which I can then pass on.