These folks are dressed to kilt

Tag : Tartan Fabric


But, bring up the subject of his skirts and he's a connoisseur.

The St. Margarets resident has a closet full of skirts - all tartanplaids. His sons and son-in-law wear skirts, too. When the wholeclan is clad in their regalia, they are dressed to kilt.

The Wallaces wear official Scottish Wallace plaids of either MutedWallace, Ancient Wallace or Modern Wallace patterns. They top offtheir custom-made kilts with black, fitted wool jackets, finecotton shirts and several accessories, including a sporran (a hairy purse), kilt pin, and a proper sgian dubh (sheathed dagger) tucked in their stockings.

The 27-member Chesapeake Caledonian Pipes and Drums corps, with 20bagpipers and seven drummers, is led by Mr. Wallace, the PipeMajor. "I've been in the band 20 years," said thePittsburgh native, a court administrator at the Circuit Court."It used to be the Lion Heart Band. I became the pipe major 12or so years ago. They're a good group of people."

The band is kept busy 25 weekends of the year.

The Caledonians are a familiar - and popular - sight at localparades. When they march down Main Street playing "AmazingGrace," the crowd cheers. The Caledonians will perform at theIrish Festival on Maryland Avenue on Sunday and during theRenaissance Festival later this summer.

They performed at every First Night. Mr. Wallace and individualmembers play solo at additional events, such as weddings, reunionsand funerals.

Finding a good kilt had always been a problem. He doesn't skirt theissue.

"A good kilt needs the right size, waist and length so itdoesn't make the wearer look like a parochial school girl,"Mr. Wallace said. The Caledonians wear the McDonald of the Isleplaid kilt when they perform. The group puts more wear and tear ontheir skirts than a woman who constantly wears a beloved Pradadesign.

Before he met Debbie Kommalan of Spit Point, Pasadena, "Ialways had a hard time getting kilts." He met her during aScottish festival three years ago.

He'd purchased a huge bolt of fabric on a trip to Scotland and shequickly made seven kilts for him and family members. They wereperfect.

The 60-year-old kilt couturier has been making kilts, part time,for 33 years. She works full time for Dorfman Museum Figures inBaltimore, creating lifelike mannequins for museums.

"I married my husband, William Hay Kommalan, in '71," shesaid. "He's of Scottish decent, and my family, the Harrises,were here before the Revolution."

She learned to sew as a pre-schooler on her family's farm in GlenArm. In her teens, she worked in the alterations department of theTowson Hutzler Brothers store.

"The women in there taught me to tailor," she said."It's a highly skilled job but it paid a pittance. They warnedme to never make a living pushing a needle. That's why I only makekilts and kilt-related items."

In Scotland, she explained, only men wear kilts, while women wearkilted skirts. They're made differently and cut differently fromthe fabric.

Her husband joined the 202-year-old St. Andrew's Society inBaltimore in 1975 and asked his wife to make him a kilt.

"I said I'd make it and sent for the fabric. I asked for apattern and directions," she laughed. "There is nopattern.

"It was awful, but he still wears it because he's a goodguy."

A few years later, another kilt-maker showed her how to make aproper kilt. Every clan tartan is different, she said. There's4,000 listed tartans and there are so many differences.

A "proper" kilt is lined and interlined with hair canvas,all held in place with tiny stitches. She can produce knife pleatsto the stripe or to the set in a plaid. There is no hem as theselvedge in the Scottish tartan plaid, a fine, worsted-wool twillfabric, is nearly invisible.

Early on, she charged $125 for a hand-stitched kilt - every pleatis pinned and painstakingly sewn in place by hand. As recently astwo years ago, her prices hovered around $425. Now, as gas priceshave skyrocketed, costs of imported Scottish fabric, accessoriesand shipping charges have risen, too.

Her prices are now $600 to $800 for most kilts. She doesn'tadvertise; word of mouth has spread her name far beyond the region.It's not unusual to receive a request from the Pacific Northwest orFlorida.

"I've made 43, so far, this year," she said. "Itamazes me in this economy that I have this kind of business.Customers keep coming back. Some have seven or eight kilts."

Mrs. Kommalan has made more than 700 kilts, averaging 30 to 40 ayear, plus many kilts come back when their owners pop the stitchingon a pleat, tear the fabric, have success with a diet, or, morelikely, put on weight.

"Kilts are getting bigger and a little more difficult to fitperfectly," she said. "Kilts are worn across the belly,not under it, or they don't hang properly."

"The average kilt takes 8 yards of fabric," she said."I have made kilts out of digital camouflage for a piper inIraq. His buddies bought it for him. Pushing a needle through thatsandproof cotton canvas nearly killed me," she sighed."Then his friend asked for one, too."

With her fingers, she can arrange the pleats on a plaid to make akilt look dark on the surface, with flashes of bright color whenthe wearer moves - or the reverse. She can even tame the wildorange and bright green Ancient Bruce plaid.

Ironically, she doesn't wear a kilt or kilted skirt. She laughed."I'm tired of wearing wool."

The Web site for Chesapeake Caledonian Pipes and Drums is www.chesapeakecaledonian.net . Mrs. Kommalan's e-mail is kiltlady@aol.com .