I’ve had a design for a kilt with the Union Flag on the front for a while now. It looks pretty good but I’ve never been 100% satisfied with it. It didn’t adjust as neatly as my Classic Skilt design and, despite trying a number of innovative solutions, there was always the propensity for the wide apron to ‘tent’ across the knees when sitting (to the delight or chagrin of the person sitting opposite).
Having a Union Flag that wraps across the pleats of a Classic design Skilt has been in the back of my mind for years but I’ve always written it off as too complicated. This year I’ve finally decided to give it a go.
I’m a stickler for accuracy so the Union Flag needs to be drawn to just the right scale so that the height of the flag matches the length of the kilt. The rectangular flag then gets translated onto the conical form of the kilt, as I do this I realise that it’s even more complex than I first thought as it requires extra adjustments to stop the diagonal lines from having a ‘saw tooth’ effect. Each pleat needs at least 3 unique pattern pieces for Red, White, and Blue. All in all it is an epic project.
Thankfully I’ve got an expert to help me. I’d like to introduce Graham my pattern cutting assistant:
[slideshow]