| Apron: The front part of a kilt |
| Assymetrical: A tartan 'sett' which does not 'pivot' and reverse at given intervals |
| Balmoral: Traditional Scottish Bonnet |
| Celtic: Celtic is often used to describe the languages and respective cultures of the 7 Celtic Nations: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Brittany, and Galicia but corresponds more accurately to the Celtic language family - of which six languages are spoken today: Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx (Goidelic languages) and Welsh, Breton and Cornish (Brythonic languages). |
| Flashes: Small strips of tartan or woven material attached to a garter that is worn with the 'hose' |
| Ground: The dominant colour within a tartan design - the colour which would appear to be the background |
| Hand-made: This is a term often used incorrectly when companies imply that their kilt is made by hand. Hand-made can mean setting up the kilt by hand; however, sewn with a machine. It is important for you to determine whether the kilt is Hand-Sewn or Hand-Stitched, versus machine sewn. |
| Hand-stitched: Hand-stitched refers to the ancient art of kilt making where the kilt maker would stitch the entire kilt by hand. |
| Hand-pleated: This is another word misused as some will try to infer that the top of the pleats are hand-stitched. The pleats are often set up my hand yet machine sewn. It is important for you to know that your kilt and pleats are hand-stitched or hand-sewn. It is difficult for a machine sewn kilt to offer the proper shape for fit and comfort. |
| Hose: A type of thick knee high sock either knitted or woven that is worn with a kilt. |
| Pivot: The central colour band within a tartan design where the pattern reverses and repeats. |
| Pleated to sett: Pleating a kilt so that the pattern or sett on the back also matches the front pattern or sett of the tartan cloth. |
| Pleated to stripe: Pleating a kilt so that the narrow stripe of the tartan is visible on each pleat. (common on regimental kilts) |
| Sgian Dubh: Meaning 'black knife', a small dagger traditionally worn in the 'hose' on a kilt outfit. |
| Sporran: A pouch made of leather, sealskin, badger or other animal fur. |
| Waist Plate: Buckle |
| Tartan: A tartan is a specific woven pattern that often signifies a particular Scottish clan, Irish County, or District in the modern era. The pattern is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven two over - two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass, forming diagonal lines. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett. Traditional kilts almost always have tartans. Tartan is also known as plaid in North America, but in Scotland this word means a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder or, it means a blanket. |
| Worsted-wool: Worsted is the name of both a yarn, usually made from wool, and the cloth made from this yarn. The term "worsted" today is applied to any yarn spun from fibers three inches in length or longer that have been carded, combed, and drawn, not just wool. Acrylic and other yarns can be called "worsted," and this is a reference to the weight of the yarn as much as the production process. A worsted yarn generally has a gauge of about 20 stitches per 10 centimeters, though this definition may vary slightly in different countries. |
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