My Tuxedo Kilt Suit

[mugman]

Some time ago I won an expensive 3 piece Tuxedo suit on eBay for just £10. It has maroon trim, the jacket is a good fit but the trousers far too tight. So I decided to have a matching kilt made by Sport Kilt to match as near as I could to the jacket and waistcoat. The photos below show the result.

I sourced and purchased some maroon fabric locally, taking the waistcoat with me to check the hue - I found there are a lot of maroons out there and my memory couldn't be relied upon. I then sent the fabric over to Sport Kilt, after checking with them that they could accommodate my request and make one of their Team Kilts with my maroon material inserted.

They said 'No problem', and sure as not I received my kilt recently. It took about two months from my mailing the material off to them, and including the most basic return shipping option as I wasn't in any hurry. There was no extra charge to that of a standard Team Kilt, which I thought was a very commendable customer friendly attitude.

The black of the kilt was of course a chancy affair, but I feel it's close enough. To have a similar outfit tailored from scratch would have been unaffordable for me.
So should any future dinner date require a swanky Tuxedo, I'm ready!





Pete

[couyalair]

Very smart!
Now just find an occasion to wear it.

Martin

[Caultron]

I agree, this looks very well integrated and attractive. Congratulations on an interesting and successful project!

[Uncle Al]

Marvelous

Uncle Al

[crfriend]

Nicely done, Pete! Very nicely done.

[Kirbstone]

Classic, Pete! Really nice outfit. Bet it cost you a bomb, though. I expect you'll be doing a little organ grinding so attired by the bye....

T.

[mugman]

Thanks for your kind comments.
I have to do everything in a frugal way these days. The greater expense obviously went on the kilt. I forget what 2 metres of the maroon fabric cost - about £6 I think (Sport Kilt sent back everything they didn't use) - but all in, with customs duties, it came out at under £200. I think the 'as new' jacket/waistcoat/trousers were originally around £400...so at £10 on eBay they were a snip big time!
Martin's right though, I just need the right occasion/s. A bit too dandyish maybe for family banquets!

Pete

[Kirbstone]

Pete,
I too found Sportkilt very efficient, communicative and reasonable. I had a 'kilt-on-fire' made by them to my spec., using my own submitted red Cameron Clan tartan and they sent me back all the unused material.

Sportlikt rear Rs.jpg

Snailpost is fine, as any speedy delivery costs an Orthopaedic Surgeon!

The next time you give a recital on the Great Organ at Blackpool Tower you can kit up in that. I'll be on the ferry over to hear you and stand you a jar afterwards....kilted, of course!

T.

P.S. In my first year at College in Dublin in 1959-60 I walked daily past a brass plate in Fitzwilliam Square....Dr. Armand Legg, Orthopardic Surgeon.

[mugman]

That looks very effective Tom. It's a pity I don't have a tartan to call my own, but I suppose any fabric could be incorporated. If Sportkilt were to widen their base colour range a little, so instead of black you could have a few other choices, I would possibly become a more regular customer. I fancy a plain turquoise kilt with orange pleat inserts...or bright yellow with bottle green.

PS I doubt very much if the Blackpool Tower management would allow an amateur like myself to rise smoothly out of the cellar on a huge white Wurlitzer, and play Chopsticks.

Pete

[skirtyscot]

A unique and excellent outift, Pete. I give it 11 out of 10.

[r.m.anderson]

Mugman:

Kudos - nice - No make that a GREAT addition to your wardrobe !

Contact SportKilt with your own tartan ideas.
I am sure that they can make any kind of kilt for a reasonable price. *** see note below
You could do like Kirbstone did and buy/furnish your own material and let them do
the work.
As is SportKilt has almost 60 some tartans to make a selection.
A while ago I bought their womens TeamKilt with base color black and the USA tartan inserts
inside BOX pleats. Standard Velcro closure with belt loops and sewn down pleats; 19
inch hem for just over $100.
Recently bought three of their womens MiniKilts size XL 16 inch hem; Anderson;
Macpherson Red and USA Tartans. Had a problem in that I was between sizes Large
and Extra Large. Returned kilts for alterations - now a perfect fit. Seamus is to be
commended for fixing the between sizes problem !

Nice feature of SportKilts is the velcro waist closing making it very easy to put on and wear
regardless of weight loss or gain. Also a belt becomes an accessory - not needed to keep
the kilt on and in place.

***
If you join the BOTK (Brotherhood of the Kilt) SportKilt is member Merchant and offers
members a discount on purchases. LINK:

http://www.kiltsrock.com

Go over $150 on your order and you may receive Free S&H. This maybe on USA orders only?

"Skirt-OR-KILT-ON-Your-Option"
rma

[Kirbstone]

Pete,

I also have no tartan I could call my own. I have Scots relatives my marriage only....Cameron & McLeod-Howie. I should only be 'allowed' wear Irish tartans.

T.

[mugman]

As an Englishman - (I have a noticeable Souf London accent if I care to slip back to my place of upbringing) - I often have to put up with an irritating side effect to tartan use, being that one is assumed to be celebrating either Scottish birth or Scottish ancestry.

When I explain that I'm not actually Scottish I can often sense an enquirer's immediate drop of interest in me, and this is followed by having to explain as to why I trouble to wear a kilt instead of, like most men, trousers. My brother I'm sure thinks I'm weird but is polite enough not to question my kilt obsession. It's very much like being accused of pretence. I know that of course there are non-clan tartans but the majority have no knowledge of which is which.

As a non-Scot I would much prefer to promote, for my small part in contributing to skirt/kilt wearing, non-tartan kilts, and in particular kilts of less 'utilitarian' design, after all you can hardly wear a Utilikilt to a black tie occasion. I like kilts which act to present non-Scottish interpretation, generally of plain colours, but which can also be brightly coloured if desired, and which simply replace trousers, and are not trying to do anything other than functioning as a form of male skirt. If I could afford tweed kilt suits, which are obviously a more casual approach, but hellishly expensive, then I'd probably be wearing them and giving all my tartans to a charity shop.

I have nothing against tartans other than that they do tend to immediately pigeonhole me as being someone '....quite obviously from bonnie Scotland?'

'...No, souf-west sixteen.' .

Pete

[Milfmog]

I'm with Pete on this. I do not own any tartan kilts and do not expect that to change any time soon for precisely the reason stated.

I am not a Scot and I have no wish to be seen as pretending to be anything I am not. I also do not want to further strengthen the unwritten rule that a Scot in a tartan skirt is OK, but other skirts are not suitable for men.

Have fun,


Ian.

PS Excellent outfit Pete, that really does tick all the boxes.

[straightfairy]

I love that outfit. Excellent!