Easy SCA Garb: Greatkilt

The great thing about a feile mor (great kilt), also called breacan an fheilidh (belted plaid), is that it's inherently easy, even to do it right! It's really nothing more than a big fholdhedh, er, folded wool blanket, possibly also pinned with a penannular brooch. (For hot weather wear, unlike the Scottish Highlands, cotton flannel may also be used; just don't call it authentic then.) The drawback is that it pretty much requires a Highland Scottish persona. Lowland Scots wore trews, just like (almost) everyone else.

Other things to note:

• It was usually worn over a leine, which is period for both Irish and Scottish personae. (The word is Irish Gaelic for shirt.) I have not looked at the documentation for it, but am told that my Easy Tunic can be made to be at least very close to an authentic leine, by "cutting the sleeves funny". Don't ask me, just go there and follow the link.

• Don't worry about clan tartans. The entire concept is a 19th-century invention. Yes, plaid was very popular, as in many other cultures, but the particular pattern had, as far as I've ever heard, no meaning at all.

• The smaller kilt that's just a skirt, which most people today think of when they hear the word "kilt", is also a 19th-century invention.

As someone else has already written up a clear set of instructions, I won't redo their work; see:

http://www.lochdhu.com/histhigh/belted.htm.