Today is Robbie Burns Day. This 1920s children’s pattern makes a full Scottish outfit, including the hat and sporran:
Nae Cotillion
Fashion history through DIY culture
Fashion history through DIY culture
Today is Robbie Burns Day. This 1920s children’s pattern makes a full Scottish outfit, including the hat and sporran:
PatternVault 
I just wonder how many of these were actually made? And if it’s a real kilt or just a pleated skirt? There is a serious difference. I’ve made a real kilt and it was a near fiasco. Made it for one child but measured it wrong so another one got to wear it. let me just say, hand sewing pleats is a royal pain in the ass! Not to mention the fabric was hideously expensive at a time when we were broke. It was for a performance my daughter was in and we bought the family plaid. Didn’t have the resources thirty years ago that we have today and I had to special order it. I might try one again, but I would have to think long and hard about it. Plus, I’m allergic to wool and that was no fun either!
This is the only copy I’ve seen, and it has been cut. The kilt part is attached to an underbodice, but the pattern piece is a long rectangle– though maybe not as long as the traditional length of tartan. (The skirt, scarf, and bloomers take over 5 yards of narrow fabric for the size 14.) I have seen the hand-pleating underway at a local Scottish shop; it does look laborious!
I wonder whether the design tended to be used for Scottish dance or events, or just costuming?
In ’23, this could be either one. The fuss over accurate costuming has only been a thing for the last 40 years or so, for kilts, I think. I know Irish dance competitions were done in kilts for awhile, or plaid skirts maybe, but the ones you see now only started being used about the 70’s or so. I’d have to do some research to be sure. They are gorgeous, but the Scots kilts are nicer to me. You know, I think I saw an article in an old National Geographic about a Scottish competition one time, caber tossing and dancing, etc. can’t remember when that was. This pattern still has the old fashioned term for the Scots, the “Scotch”. It has always been a confused usage of the word!