An Outlander tutorial! An Outlander great kilt tutorial or Outlander Arisaid skirt tutorial that I crafted just for you. Click here to go to part 2.
“Well, well, well, Ava Baytree.. This article seems even longer than your other ginormous tutorials!”
Guess what, this one is actually much easier 😉 ! Perhaps you are here because of Outlander, or just because you are as much into Scotland as I am. Anyway, you probably want to know how to achieve that key Scottish look. The modern small kilts these days don’t even reach that traditional look and feel of the amazingly functional great kilt.
Wearing and pleating a great kilt or an Arisaid is easy, it is warm and comfortable! The only thing that holds the tartan together is a belt. So no hardcore sewing required whatsoever! I’ll try to break down every bit that is key to these ancient garments.
Quick explanation
What is a great kilt? “the whole 9 yards” is a typical saying in English. Guess where it comes from? The traditional great kilt was a multifunctional type of clothing that the Scots are known for. If you have ever been to Scotland or know something about it, you probably know Scotland sometimes means four seasons a day. Because of that, the Scots needed something practical for travelling through the harsh Highlands. A great kilt could not only be used as a warm type of garment, but also as an overthrow, a uniform, a sleeping bag or a garment to share and to keep your companions or yer lass warm in.
The 9 yards of fabric are not literally 9 yards in length for the great kilt, because in the Outlander 18th century they could only spin 30 inches wide fabric. They spun 9 yards of tartan in total from the wool of their own sheep in which the process of shearing and spinning enough wool could take up to one year for one great kilt. Then they cut the 9 yards in half to 4 ½ yards. These two pieces were then sewn together to extend the width. That gives 4 ½ yards to pleat and fold into a great kilt.
What is an Arisaid? As I will show you later, once you pleat a great kilt and girdle it, when you stand up it will first fall into a large skirt. This skirt is what shaped the skirt for my Outlander inspired costume. When you fold the front flaps open and tuck them in at the back, you have revealed the kilt below the layers. An Arisaid is kind of like an untucked and unfolded great kilt. A feminine kilt. But there are different ways to put them on as I will show you later.
Necessities
Now, how does this all come together? “Making” an Arisaid or great kilt is not that difficult at all.
Traditional for the Arisaid: You start off with 4 ½ yards (≈ 4 meters) and 30 inches wide fabric if you want to remain traditional. Please note: if you do the 30 inches in width, note that you won’t be able to get and the Arisaid and the great kilt in one. You will only be able to get the long Arisaid skirt.
Traditional for the great kilt: 4 ½ yards long and 60 inches wide tartan is traditional for a Highland great kilt. A great kilt is automatically a great kilt and an (¾ long) Arisaid in one.
What I did: Now, I used 3 ½ meter (= 3,8 yards) long and 150 cm (≈ 60 inches) wide fabric since there was no more left where I got mine from. Now I worried there, a lot. I was afraid it wouldn’t look the same after pleating because it was not the whole 4 ½ yards. It turns out it doesn’t really matter how long the fabric is, you’ll just have less pleats on the back.
If you don’t care about a lot of pleats, 3 to 3 ½ yards would be my absolute minimum. If you want to go full pleat just remember that that is not only pretty, but it does also increase visual bottom mass the most in the traditional 18th century way ;). Of course all of this also depends on your size! For size recommendations, check out this handy site.
So from here on, I can only tutorial (is that a verb?) my way of the great kilt and Arisaid in one.
If you are interested in that, please tag along!
The fabric
I tried getting the pattern of my fabric as close to the Outlander Mackenzie pattern as possible. Besides the colour, it worked out really well! Remember traditional cloth is always modest in colour since they (especially the less wealthier Scottish clans) coloured their fabric threads with natural dull colour products.
For the fabric types, I got a very flexible non-stretch polyester fabric. It is quite thin, but it is not shiny like bed sheet fabric can be. I know this sounds non-kilt fabric-y, and yes: it is not a fabric for a true kilt, but it was the pattern that made me get it.
Traditional fabric is wool, but I thought that that would not only be more expensive, also too hot to wear in hot and steamy conventions (yes yes) and perhaps too heavy as well. I think you can use a lot of woollen and cotton blends, but polyester can work fine as well if it is not shiny and if it pleats nicely.
Tutorial – Pleating and Folding the great kilt and the Arisaid in one
“To make” does not really apply. Now that you have your fabric, you can start the process immediately without any sewing or tailoring. It would be wise to zigzag the edges to prevent fraying, but that is all you need to do with the sewing machine. I can break down the pleating and folding technique in words, but it is much more informative to watch it unfold (see what I did there) yourself. I really suggest you watch this video clip! It is so inspiring.
If you want to see more, I also used this, this and this video for my research. These youtube videos were the ones that brought me the most information in a humorous and playful way.
To sum up the dressing process:
- Step 1: Lay the fabric flat out on the ground
- Step 2: Take one arm length (for me it was a bit less, like minus the hand) on one side and start pleating from there until you have got the same length left on the other side. Once you have pleated your kilt a few times, you’ll know exactly how long you need those parts to be. The pleats were 2 pattern blocks (columns) wide for me. You just grab 2 blocks away from you and pull until it lies half over your last pleat (that is how I do it and there are so many (pleat) variations!)
Check this handy page out for more pleating inspiration.
Note: you only have to gently pleat the bottom half of your fabric since you’ll lie on the bottom half. Don’t mind the fabric pleats of the top laying off.
- Step 3: As you might have seen in the recommended youtube videos, you now lay on the fabric yourself with your buttocks on the pleats. Mind that the fabric you lay on should stop at kilt height just above your knees. That is for when you buckle it and stand up, you’ll have a skirt length under the folds. My experience is that it will always fall a bit longer than you expect so keep that in mind!
- Step 4: When you lie flat, fold the right and left sides over yourself one after the other. This means folding yourself in the fabric. Now take your belt and shove it right under the fabric at the height of your middle (you can also do this before you lay on the fabric). Buckle the belt and make sure it is middle height and quite tight.
- Step 5: The most exciting part: STAND UP! If done right, it will fall into one great skirt. An Arisaid skirt! My skirt doesn’t fall quite Outlandish long, but I think with a 60 inch width you should get it as far as your ankles when you have a kilt below it.
- For the great kilt: you can take the two layers that fall in the front and tuck it in the back. This will reveal the kilt. More variations I shall discuss later in a very exciting paragraph!
Now that you know how to pleat and fold your Arisaid and by that your great kilt, you might have gotten an idea of how many different styles you can transform your cloth into. I’ll take you through a few of my favourites which we’ve also seen in Outlander. And yes, this is my 3,8 yard kilt. Let’s see my Outlander Mackenzie inspired kilt in action!
Warning: these are all personal interpretations and they are not based on precisely true and the exact traditional ways to wear the kilt nor are they truly historical. They used to wear it all types of ways. These just seemed logic as well as funny to me. Oh and before I forget: I used my Semi-Corset just to wear something “traditional” with my Arisaid and a blue shirt for my male kilt.
A Man’s Great Kilt
–beware of Outlander jokes–
Dress code: formal. This is how you would wear your kilt when you get an invitation from your Leird to come see him at the castle. You are pending on whether to break a vow or not.. It will decide your destiny.
Dress code: casual. Your brother asked you to help him in the stables. He then also persuades you to meet up with some càirdean in the village. Let me just get my kilt on!
The Kilt Cape
Dress code: travel ready. You’ve been asked to join a mission lead by a rather two sided guy. Anyway, the weather has been a bit off lately so you’ve decided to spend a bit more time on your kilt’s functionality.
Dress code: Low slung and Dusty. This one is reserved for Jamie Fraser. That is all that needs to be said.
Dress code: Dougal. Sharp – ornamental – fierce. No further remarks.
A Woman’s Arisaid
–beware of Outlander jokes–
Dress code: Female formal. This is how you would properly wear your Arisaid around the higher folks and in great hall meetings with the Leird in presence.
Dress code: Formal chique. Drapery is what it is all about. Scottish.. with a French twist. Je suis prest!
Arisaid with pockets!
Dress code: Grocery casual. “Let’s do our groceries at Inverness market. For the fresh air. No need to fuss with yer Arisaid lass, yer wit is all ye need! Ye ken?” Said she.
The back of the casual Arisaid type really reminds me of a little hobbit!
Dress code: Warm and cosy. A days ride to craigh na dun from Cocknammon Rock. A lass should be kept warm for such a long journey. Protection from the weather is key. The cloth should be immediately available to the lass as a blanket for when it starts to rain.
Dress code: Laoghaire. Nothing too outrageous, nothing too special. Just your go-to-outfit for the classical Castle Leoch girl. Isn’t she a duine farranach?
Dress code: Voyager. The cold Highland weather has set in and your group is preparing for a late night mission. Or, you are running away in the middle of the night with yer Scottish lad!
Dress code: The wrapper. Reserved for Claire. See how she rocks the 9 yards of tartan in this photo.
Please leave a like if you were inspired! Subscribe if you want to follow my Outlander project. Comment down below if you have made an Outlander costume or are going to make one, I would love to know! ❤
Ava Baytree 
really enjoyed this post! working on our kilts for haloween, and any other time i can get my hubby to wear his kilt around the house! hoping it comes out as good as these photos! thanks for sharing..
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Hi Lisa! Thank you so much for your kind words. That is so awesome you’re making kilts for halloween – they are not that hard to make yet that Scottish feel is amazing!
Not to forget they look very sexy;). You could imagine yourself walking through the highlands just like that!~ Ava
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This is a really, really awesome read. You did a great job with this. Thanks for sharing, it’s inspiring me! 🙂
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Wow thank you so much!! That is so awesome to hear. You have absolutely made my day 🙂
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Wow! thank you so much for this tutorial! I was wondering… where did you get your fabric?
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Hi Eva! Thank you for reading it :). I bought my fabrics at a Dutch webshop called destoffenkraam. Sadly, the kiltfabric I used was the last piece they had. I have no idea where else you could buy it :(. The woolen fabric from my Outlander jacket is from that webshop too. Here they sell official Outlander tartan: http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/outlander-products/outlander-tartans/. But it’s sooo expensive. I hope this helped you a bit.
~Ava
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Hey girl! Just wanted to thank you for making this post. I’ve been working on an Outlander-inspired costume for the Renaissance Faire and I followed this blog to a tee, and I’m so happy with how my Arisaid turned out! I’ve been trying to figure out how you wrapped the kilt Claire-style in that last photo. I’ve been playing with my own trying to mimic that look and I just can’t seem to get it right!
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Hey Alicia!!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, it makes me so happy reading that you find this post so helpful. Ahaa the wrapper! Now that I look at it I am not really sure how I managed to wrap those yards like that.. It is an insane wrap after all! I quickly grabbed my tartan and tried the look out once more. And gosh re-creating it was a bit harder than expected. But I think I got it! Start by folding the great kilt / Arisaid as you normally would, then take the back section that falls over the pleats and drape this over your shoulders. Part the front sections by pushing them to the back, so that the front is now open. Now you kind of have the “warm and cosy” https://baytreecostumes.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/how_to-wear-the-arisaid.jpg photo look. Start slowly pulling the rest of the dress up from under the belt on the back so that the drapery over your shoulder gets longer and longer until you have reached the wrapper length on the back and front. Tuck the two points that now fall in the front under the belt, folding them one over the other. If you are lucky, the fabric below the belt will fall into this lovely sideways falling fabric waterfall (holey crap those words). I remember that even though the look looks amazing, my version was really uncomfortable since your hands can’t really go anywhere under the pressure of all this tucked fabric (notice the tactic posture 😉 ). Haha I hope it works for you and that this helped!
Have a lovely lovely day,
~Ava
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This is so wonderful, and a HUGE help! I’m making Bonnie Prince Charlie’s tartan outfit from season 2 episodes 9 & 10 and this is INCREDIBLY helpful. His kilt looks VERY similar to your “casual” mens great kilt style; the front isn’t bulky with fabric under his waistcoat, but is much more smooth and flat.
However, the back (the very last image in the link below*) has the pleats visible. If the extra fabric isn’t visible in the back, and it’s obviously not bulky in the front with it… where’d it go?!
There’s no photo of your “casual” great kilt, so I don’t know if you arranged it for the pleats to be visible or not. If they WERE visible, I’d love to know how you arranged it to make the rest of the fabric disappear! I can’t see any hanging down like you can see in some other styles.
Please let me know if you have any thoughts! Thanks again for making such an awesome and thorough post!
* http://www.frockflicks.com/outlander-costume-recap-season-2-episode-10/
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Hi Sean!
Thank you sooo much for your awesome comment. Sorry for my late reply tho!
Ohh Bonnie Prince Charlie’s tartan outfit is so cool as well. From the link you send I can indeed see that his version looks like my ‘casual’ version but then more flat.
https://usathea.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/andrewgowerasprincecharlesstuartsamheughanasjamiefraser-episode2102.jpg?w=1000&h=667
In this picture you can see that he has these flat side-flaps. This is the front of the kilt tucked in in the back. But now I get your point… Where did all that fabric go lol!
You can see however that the back looks bulkier than if there was no extra fabric. And you can see it is longer in the back I think (https://i0.wp.com/www.frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/outlander204011.jpg?resize=768%2C436). What I think, is that in that picture the back of the fabric is hanging down but the pleats are ironed in the fabric. His kilt is a little less longer than Jamies though. Here you can clearly see that the pleats are probably ironed or the fabric is stiffer and that he wears the bulk of fabric on the back: https://i1.wp.com/www.frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/outlander1636011.jpg?resize=768%2C436. Kind of like my pleats visible in the back here: https://i2.wp.com/baytreecostumes.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/traditional_arisaid.jpg?w=287&h=420&crop&ssl=1&zoom=2 but then differently.
But in this shot (https://i2.wp.com/www.frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/outlander-exclusive-ss02.jpg?resize=768%2C512) you can see that the extra kilt fabric is over his shoulder under his coat. Which makes the kilt not long in the back. Which would have been more convenient for battle I think.
I hope this sorta helped! Hope to hear from you if you have more questions 😉
Greetings,
Ava
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This is wonderful and informative.
Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to comment!
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Finally got up the courage to work on my Claire interpretation, and your blog series on your adventures in both researching and making your costume have inspired me greatly! I also want to thank you for all your research and efforts and documentation because you have saved me a lot of time! I can’t wait to get started shopping for fabric!
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Awh thank you so much! You absolutely made my day, because in the end that is exactly what I do this all for 🙂 To help you. Have a great time making the costume. ❤
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Fabulous, Many thanks. I will get sewing. I need to make costumes for my walking tours of Edinburgh. I did not know where to start, this is exactly what I need. Any ideas for kids Scottish outfits by any chance?
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Thank you so much! That sounds great.. I wish I could be there. I think for kids Scottish outfits, a tiny great kilt would be so cute. It is easy and you would just have to give him/her some boots and a white shirt or something like that. Get some Scottish-like fabric and follow the instructions. I think you will get really far! With the listed styles I think Low slung and Dusty would be great to try as well for boys. With a white shirt you would be on instant Jamie Fraser level. For girls female formal would be really cute. You can make a quick tie-together corset from a piece of faux leather in no time and add a little skirt. Just feel free to combine all the ideas :). So much is possible with a great kilt!
Love, Ava
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This is perfect! For Comicon this year, my hubby will be Jamie and I’m nearly done with my wedding dress Claire. Time to get started on him and now I know how to fix his kilt!
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Hiya! Thank you so much for your comment :). It is great to see that I can help people a little with this awesome garment. So awesome btw that you are making those two costumes! Good luck and have lots of fun you both 😉
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How do you wear it to give you the pockets?
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When you let the Arisaid fall into the long skirt position (as in the video when the man wears the long skirt before tucking it in to reveal make the great kilt), you can take the ‘front flaps’ and tuck them in your belt to give you these folds as pockets. In my picture I also created an Arisaid, then created an opening in the front of the skirt by pushing the fabric back along the belt. Then just tuck one of the hanging front flaps into your belt and you have a pocket as well :). The front flaps is the fabric that hangs ‘over’ the belt. The rest of the fabric hangs under the belt. As you can kind of see in this picture. https://baytreecostumes.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/grocery-ready-arisaid.jpg?w=875&h= If you have remaining fabric that’s still hanging loose, tuck this in at the back. That will make the pocket sturdier. It’s a bit of a weird explanation, but tell me if you want to know more :). Thank you for your comment!
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wonderful..will try your design
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Thank you! 🙂
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Hi hi, wouw, that helped so much! The only thing is and the always comming back question, where do I get THE Outlander fabric that doesn’t cost a fortune? Any new places to look for it?
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Yes, that is always the struggle! I basically searched through all the local online fabric sellers that I could find on the internet. I found a quite cheap (3 euros per meter) fabric that is quite thin but does the trick really well. It just looked so much like to original plaid that I had to have it! You don’t have to go for wool, and even layering cotton-like thinner fabrics will do the trick perfectly fine. Especially since you use so much of it :). My fabric isn’t wool either! I think it is a cotton polyester blend. It is smooth and silky when you touch it, but looks like cotton and does not shine. The only other thing to look out for is getting an Outlanderish pattern so that it speaks tartan. Good luck 😉
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You can also get the official licensed Outlander tartan here, http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/outlander-products/outlander-tartans/poly-viscose-outlander-tartan-en.html The link brings you to the more cheaper version of their premium wool tartan. It is in a polyester viscose blend and looks awesome. If you are lucky and live in the US or Canada, you can obtain the actual tartan for 60 dollars.
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So much great information here. Thanks! It’s hard to find women’s clothing documented. I’m trying to keep my look pre 1600 but this is about as close as anyone can get!
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Thank you so much!! ❤
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Honestly, if you wanted to wear a Utility Kilt
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You really helped me with the jacket! Yesterday my costume was finished and I am proud as hell!
Regardi g the Arisaid I have the small problem that the corset was considered as underwear, so I have to wear the jacket. How should I wear the Arisaid then? Is there any research or impressions from the series?
And last but not least: how do I do the Wrapper?
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Hi there, thank you so much for your sweet comment – and sorry for my later reply!
Awesome that you made your own costume!!
The Arisaid can well be worn with the jacket. You fold the great kilt as in the tutorial above, but you don’t tuck the great kilt. You let it hang like a full long skirt as in this picture https://baytreecostumes.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/outlander-suaip-culaidh-collage.jpg?w=300&h=269. You can then put the jacket over on top. You can also wear a separate skirt and wear the arisaid on top of it, to drape it over your shoulders or in some of the other styles. In the series, I don’t think anyone really wears the arisaid, they all use skirts.
How to do the wrapper: I am not sure how I did it, but I think you fold the fabric in half, and tuck it in under the belt in front and in the back. Wrap it over both shoulders. It takes some fiddling!
Has this helped a bit? ❤
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Hello Ava,
I have throughly enjoyed reading your blog post. You’ve skilfully managed to create many interesting designs for the great kilt; epic and inspiring.
My question might come a little (or a lot) late but I wanted to ask what was weight of your tartan fabric?
Best Wishes
Brendan.
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Hi there, and thank you so much. It’s been a while since I did this post, but I am still so proud of how many people drew inspiration from it!
My tartan fabric was, scandalously, a polyester fabric! Still, with so many yards of it, I would say it weighs some kilograms. Maybe two? Hmm.. Anyway, be prepared that if you go for actual tartan, it becomes a little heavy!
Love, Ava ❤
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Hello Ava,
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my question. Your blog continues to inspire lovers of Tartan myself included.
Polyester you say, scandalous indeed. looking at your tartan the polyester drapes and folds really well, probably better than wool, plus it’s washable! After reading your blog I tried to source my family tartan in polyester but unfortunatley couldn’t find a supplier.
I settled for wool, doubble width 11oz fabric which I think will be close in weight/thickness to your tartan.
I really like the way you drape the tartan for your Formal Female look and wanted to ask was this created pinning both ends of the “skirt” one in front and one behind the shoulder? and if you recall, how did you secure the tartan?
I was hoping to possibly wear the kilt in a similar fashon, pulling the fabric from behind over the rear shoulder only. I doubt this can be achieved without excess fabric around the waist whilst leaving enough to create a drape effect from behind? we’ll see. If it works out I’m happy to post a pic. If not I’ll have an oversized blanket to wrap myself in.
Warm Regards
Brendan
ps appologies if this posted more than once, I seem to have issues posting.
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Hi Brendan,
What a lovely comment you posted, thank you ❤.
And yes! Even though very unauthentic, I love how versatile the polyester fabric is. It’s absolutely perfect and it even keeps you warm. How amazing that you have a family tartan, and a shame you can’t find a polyester version. You could probably have it made especially for you, but I would think that is quite pricey. Great you found an alternative.
For the Formal Female I definitely used safety pins as I can recall.
If you mean the pictures above Female Formal: I pinned the two ends of the overlapping skirt to the back of my shoulder. You could then wear these parts in front of your shoulder or in the back (depends how you tuck your arms under them). I am not sure if there is enough fabric to do both the front and the back, though you could try.
If you mean the pictures under the text Female Formal: You take the left part of the skirt, wrap it in front of you. You take the other piece and bring it up to your shoulder from the back, then you pin the pieces where they meet.
But definitely play around with the draping! You can create your own beautiful result.
I would love to see a picture!!
Warm regards and good luck ❤, Ava
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