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Kilt Care and Maintenance
 With care, your kilt will last a very long time indeed.
Carefully packed away in my cedar chest lies my grandfather’s kilt from the Boer War. The lining has been replaced at least twice and I couldn’t tell you how many leather straps it's gone through. I would wear it yet were it not for the effect that age has had on me – they don't call it "middle age" for nothing!
Your kilt can last almost indefinitely as long as the tartan cloth itself is not harmed. A kilt will take an incredible amount of abuse. We participate in Highland Games and fight wars in them, remember?
Here’s how to properly take care of it.
Your kilts’ great enemies are; Moths, tearing and burns, chemical damage and rot. Let’s examine each of these threats:
ROT: Your kilt is made from all natural fabrics. Mildew will occur if you don’t allow it to thoroughly dry out before putting it away.
After having worn your kilt for however long, lay it out overnight with the lining facing up. This will allow the sweat and whatever else to evaporate from the lining.
Don’t EVER put it away until it is thoroughly dry.
All I can say about Tearing or burning your kilt with a cigarette butt is “Don’t do it”.
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“The beginning of the end – kilt-pin holes are not easy to repair |
Kilt pins are the number one cause of irreparable damage to kilts. The front apron suffers a little bit of damage every time the pin is pushed through the cloth. Eventually the apron has two ragged holes which no power on earth can repair.
If you feel that you MUST wear a kilt pin, mount it carefully by working the tip of the pin gently through the cloth and leave it there.
You will have to ‘darn’ any holes as best you can. A tailor who advertises ‘invisible mending’ might be able to help you – but I must tell you that ‘invisible’ mending isn’t. Your best bet might be to cook up a good story about how the damage happened.
Chemical Damage: Only dry-clean your kilt as an absolute last resort! Each time a kilt is immersed in the nasty volatile dry-cleaning solvents, a little bit more of the wool’s natural oils are lost.
Moths: I hate ’em! I’ve been known to chase a wool-moth all through the house, knocking over lamps as I swing a newspaper at the little bastard in a berserker fury.
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| 72nd Regiment, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada on maneuvers on the Plains of Abraham, 1912 |
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My parent’s house had a ‘crawl-space’ with an old wool rug laid over the concrete to save our knees as we boys scurried around in the darkness, playing at coal-miners.
I remember one time when I thought the texture of the old rug was oddly different. The next thing I knew, my right hand felt some greasy, writhing thing and then skidded out from under me. When I fetched a light, I found to my disgusted fascination that the entire rug was a huge wool-moth nursery – the entire surface was a mass of larvae.
I haven’t been the same since.
The wool-moth has the usual 4-stage life cycle: Egg, larvae, pupa and adult. The larvae is what does all the damage.
Make a habit of periodically examining your kilt for eggs, larvae and pupa. The adult female can only lay her eggs where she can crawl to and the other three stages don’t move much more than an inch from where the egg was laid.
They are averse to light and so seek the dark spaces in your kilt. Go through each pleat and brush out ANY lint that you find. The egg will be hard to see, but the larvae and pupa will look like little elongated lint-balls, and go ‘squish’ when you squeeze them. They're also 65% protein by volume.
You can kill them by steam-pressing your kilt (more on that later) and I’m told that sunlight can mess them up as well – leaving your kilt out in the summer sun MIGHT do the trick. Mothballs and cedar shavings repel them. Newspaper worked in the old days, but the printers don’t use the same aromatic solvents today.
Storing your kilt
 Many people hang their kilt in the closet, or in one of those patent ‘kilt-carrier’ thingies.
Hanging a kilt up causes the pleats to ‘splay’ and can promote moth attacks.
The absolute best way to store your kilt is to role it up inside-out and lay it flat in a drawer – preferably in a cedar chest.
Several members of my pipe-band keep their kilts, hose and sporrans (and anything else that moths might attack) in a Tupperware container. One of my customers made himself a miniature cedar chest, in which he stores everything from bonnet to boots. It’s a work of art and I want one.
 Lay your kilt out flat with the lining facing down and the top of the kilt closest to you. Start at your left (the end of the inner apron) and roll the kilt up. You can then lay the kilt flat in a drawer.
This method keeps the pleats in alignment and will allow you to transport your kilt in a duffle bag knowing that it won’t be wrinkled when you need it, and inhibits those little sodding moths.
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