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Union Flag kilt featured on the Alan Titchmarsh show

I appeared on the Alan Titchmarsh show today and I was able to wear one of our fabulous Union Jack kilts.

The section of the show was related to the mens’ prostate cancer charity Movember and bizarre (I would have said magnificent) facial hair in general.  I was invited to attend as I recently became British freestyle beard champion.

If you can be bothered to sit though the adverts our section starts at 17 minutes: Alan Titchmarsh show

Please donate to my Movember page

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Olympic Madness – Lee Thompson flys his Skilt at the closing ceremony

What an honour to see Lee Thompson, the saxophonist from Madness, in his St George Cross kilt at the Olympic closing ceremony last night.  Looks like the Englishness may have been an issue though as a couple of small Union Flags had been stitched onto the front.  Wish we’d had the opportunity to provide him with a Union Flag kilt instead.  Hopefully the George Cross one will be returned to its full glory for future gigs.

Check out this video at 9’20”

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Union flag kilt featured in Present’s jubilee punk theme window

If you’ve walked along Shoreditch High Street recently you’ve probably been drawn into the cornucopia of fabulous delights that is Present.  The FT’s ‘How to spend it‘ raves about them and says they stock “Brilliantly edited modern menswear that pushes fashion boundaries without going over the top”.

I was wowed as I browsed through for the first time last winter.  It turns out that Eddie (the co-owner of Present and co-founder of the famous Duffer of St George) was equally wowed by the Union Flag kilt I was wearing.

The upshot of this chance meeting (don’t we always meet more people when we wear a kilt?) is that we have been given the honour of being featured in their jubilee punk themed window.  Thanks guys!

[slideshow]

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Graham the cat helps design the Union Kilt

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:

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