Kilt-a-Palooza

Last Saturday was Tartan Day! So, I guess it’s a bit appropriate that I talk about kiltmaking this week! I’ve been a bit quiet on here, partly because I’ve been a bit busy elsewhere!! Last month I taught four intrepid sewers how to make a traditional kilt! Over two marathon weekends, we stitched, and stitched, and stitched (including some frantic stitching of pleats in between times). Hosted by the lovely Contemporary Textile Studio, despite some hiccups, we had alot of fun!

Working on setting up the kilts

Working away on the pleats!

Kilt love! Or exhaustion, take your pick!

Moving on to finishing!

Doesn’t it look like fun? Don’t you want to make your own kilt? You can sign up for the next session - which won’t take place until November (because, let’s face it, who wants to stitch wool in the Toronto summer???). Interested, but not sure when you want to take a course? Register your interest with me, and I’ll let you know when courses are on offer!

Kilt and jewellery crossover!

I love being a one-stop-shop for all things kilty related! I had the fun of outfitting a gentleman with a kilt, and fly plaid, as well as an original fly plaid pin and kilt pin before Christmas. I love the zen of stitching, and I get such a kick out of helping someone realize the perfect outfit!

The MacKay Modern tartan, with garter flashes

Sterling silver fly plaid brooch and kilt pin. These were both based on the clan crest, which features an upheld dagger, with the motto “with a strong fist” and the kilt pin was don'e deliberately to match the fly plaid brooch. Both have been subtly oxidised in selected locations to highlight the texture and levels in both pieces.

Since the client hadn’t worn full dress before, we had a bit of a fashion show before he departed (yes, I work at home!). He looks pretty spiffy in all the trimmings!

An outfit to last for ages! I love it when a plan comes together! Want your very own kilt? Or clan jewellery to add to an existing outfit?

Wondering what I'm getting up to?

It’s been awhile since I talked about anything textile on here, so here’s a small snippet! I’m working on a new kilt in the MacKay Modern tartan. If you don’t know, tartan is defined as: (Scottish Gaelic: breacan [ˈpɾʲɛxkən]) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours, forming simple or complex rectangular patterns. Some are a relatively simple pattern, and some are very complex, sometimes because they are derived from blending two older patterns. And the colour combinations can get pretty interesting! I think one of the cool things about tartan is that it is, in some senses, still a living thing. There is a registry for tartan, and any one who wants to design a new one, can, and then register it. Of course, it’s not quite that simple, but what a great concept!

MacKay Modern tartan

Make it stand out

MacKay Clan crest

I’m looking forward to a bit of sewing! Check back in a few weeks to see the final product(s)!

Want your very own heritage kilt?

Want to learn how to make your very own heritage, hand-stitched kilt? Sign up to take a workshop with me in March.

Burns Supper!

Burns Night is January 25th, to mark the birthday of Rabbie Burns (famous Scottish poet, of Auld Lang Syne fame, don’t you know!). Celebrating it has become a bit sporadic since I moved back from Scotland. But here’s a picture of my friends and I at the Ceilidh to celebrate the St. Andrew’s Society Charity Gala to put you in the mood for the day!

Featuring the Hamilton hunting tartan, and the MacPherson Ancient Red tartans.

Must go and find some good haggis to eat now…..

St. Andrew's Society, and discount

Starting a business is always challenging, particularly when you return from away and are trying to get things up and running from a stand still. Four years ago, I returned to Toronto from the UK with the intention of establishing my artist practice in jewellery, and kiltmaking. I had a plan (because I can only split my attention so many ways at once!): I’d concentrate on getting one side set up, and then work on the other. Serendipity ended up dictating that jewellery got the lionshare of my attention first!

Fast forward to 2020, and the new year, which included plans to start trying to develop the kiltmaking aspect of my business more. Well, we all know what happened then…..and, like alot of people, I fell into abit of a covid black hole. Fast forward again, and here we are moving toward the end of 2022. Amongst the activities I’ve done this year, is to joing the St. Andrew’s Society of Toronto. Apart from conncecting with people of Scottish descent, they have a charitable aspect that I admire, and hope to become more involved with in the future.

In the meantime, I’m happy to announce that I am partnering with the St. Andrew’s Society of Toronto to offer it’s members a 10% discount off my products and services. Keep your ears up for exciting news about this in the next few weeks!

And….if you love all things Scottish, I recommend visiting the society’s website, as they have a pretty exciting calendar of social events! Hope to see you at some of them:).

-Robin

I love wedding kilts!

My most recent kilt make was for a groom heading off to Scotland for their wedding (I miss Scotland!!). I made them a heavyweight kilt in Ancient Cameron from Locharron. It’s the first kilt I’ve made with the bespoke straps hand-dyed by my colleague Aurora (Handmade Revolution), a lovely medium brown, with an elegant embossed line around the edge.

Front view of the finished kilt

detail view of all the nice customisation, including the hand-dyed straps and the Century Prints lining by Guicy Guice.

Each kilt is painstakingly constructed by hand to specific measurements— in that sense, it’s the original bespoke tailored item!

The happy couple were awesome and shared this photo with me—it looks great in action!

I’m really chuffed that they sent me a photo of the kilt in action! I really love it when people share their photos of their garment or jewellery in the wild. I still get a thrill when I see someone wearing and enjoying my work!

keeping up creativity and motivation

I do alot of different activities, and when you work for yourself, even when you’re doing art, it’s still work! I really try hard to make time to do art/craft that is not for work, but more just for myself. One of the ways I do that is to participate in the Modern Quilt Guild miniswap every year (I’m a member of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild group).

The MQG runs this miniswap every year to coincide with their yearly convention, which occurs somewhere in the States. You can either swap in person during the convention, or you mail it. There are different kinds of miniquilt swaps, but this one is a direct one-to-one swap, so although I finished the quilt a while ago, I haven’t been able to post anything because my partner hadn’t received it yet.

I like to make a 16” square miniquilt, partly because it means that if I want to, I can back it with a fat quarter! I love this project, I love the challenge of coming up with something that I like to make, but that will tailor with my partner’s likes.

This year’s offering is the latest in a series of SciArt quilts that I have been making.

Full view of the final quilt

I used an improv, strip-pieced background in reasonably low volume black and white prints. I love improv piecing, I can do it with a few rules to keep myself in check, but still allow an element of chance and happenstance! Here, I used about 5 fabrics, and restricted the widths I wanted to use. I appliqued some of my improv immune cell shapes in two bright, solid colours.

Close up of some of the quilting-a mixture of hand quilting/embroidery and free motion quilting (I love carooming around the quilt with my thread!).

And some more views of the quilting!

Overall, it’s a bit of tumbling cells in a blood vessel, with echo quilting along the edges (matchstick quilting), and blood cell free-motion quilting. I like the texture of the mix of applique, free motion and embroidery.

You really get large variation in the quilts that are produced, which is pretty exciting and inspiring. See below for the awesome one I received in return. I’ve participated in alot of these miniquilt swaps, and I have to say, I’ve never received a dud yet!!

New Collaboration-- Handmade, hand-dyed kilt straps

I’m very excited about a new thing to do with my kilts! A while ago, I had a new colleague start at Jewel Envy studio, Aurora (also known as Handmade Revolution). In addition to her stunning jewellery, she does alot of textile and leather work. You can see some of her belts here.

She hand dyes and hand cuts and finishes her own leather goods, which are fab! So, I thought, what better collaboration than to team up and offer customized straps for my kilt enthusiasts! So, now I am able to offer you custom colours and some custom embossing, if you’re so inclined. There’s the usual black and brown options, but there are some more “interesting” colours too! And if you’re interested in a different colour altogether, that can be arranged.

Strap samples/colours.

I’m so pleased to be able to offer even more customization to my kilt customers! Interested in an heirloom kilt? Let’s talk!

Recognition is always nice!

I’m happy to share a nice thing that has happened this quarter—I have a profile in Studio Magazine. The magazine is a quarterly publication, that is produced by Craft Ontario , a non-profit organisation (of which, yes, I am a member!) that celebrates and promotes professional craft.

Each issue is themed, and this one' is “Generation”. The profile about me focuses on the kiltmaking aspect of my craft practice, which is pretty cool! The print version is a short and snappy protrait…..

However, you can read more/see some additional photos here., on the Studio Magazine website. There is a bit more information about how I view the craft, and my journey to kiltmaker, so, if you’re interested, head over and check it out! The website also has an archive of the Studio profles that have featured in the magazine, which you can see here.

Fly Plaid in MacPherson tartan

So, as I recently talked a bit about different plaids that can be worn with kilts. I had occasion recently to make one for a client, so here it is….Fly plaid in MacPherson tartan…..

Frequently a fly plaid is a square of fabric with a fringed edge. I like a bit more definition, so I add some pleats in one corner

And here it is in action at a recent wedding!

Looking for a fly plaid of your very own? Get in contact, and let’s talk!