So I finished the dirk, except for the end nut (which I will make myself) and the butt plate (which will see some decorative carving):



Not bad at all. Next time I do this, I'll make the grooves deeper, and carve in wooden "studs" at the intersections between knots. The nut isn't quite centered, so when I file down a castle nut from soft steel or iron, I'll try to hide that fact by leaving the tang offset in the nut itself. That might be tricky.



I'll also eventually carve knotwork into the fork and knife handles, seen above.

Here's what the dirk looked like before I started modifying it:



Here's the waistcoat, as it currently is. All in all, a pretty good first attempt. I think it bookended very well, especially for a total novice at tailoring.



The pockets are a problem. They were designed for a longer waistcoat, one that went to the upper (or even mid-) thigh. I moved them up higher, since this waistcoat goes to the top of the hip bone (for wearing with a belted plaid), but I should have shrunk them at the same time. The current pockets bunch up inside the waistcoat, and the flaps could stand to be less swept, and about 1" less wide. So I'm reducing the size of the pockets by a substantial amount on the inside, and will make new, smaller flaps. I might even line up the tartan pattern between the pocket and the front this time. I also moved the pockets too close to the front button line, but there's nothing I can do about that now.

Then, I'll finish up the front button holes and try it on all buttoned up. Once it's on me, I'll decide if I want to trim the bottom in front so it's more level, or leave the V-dip on it.

Once I'm happy, I'll turn in stitch up the arm holes, and put in eyelets on the back seam for the lacing, and around the arm holes for detachable sleeves.