This list is intended as a guide to assembling a reasonably accurate kit for a Highland woman circa the year 1745. It is not the last word on the subject – there are probably sources for patterns or ready-made items that are not listed.

First Things First:
Your basic items of clothing are: Shift, Petticoats (2), stays, jacket, neckerchief, kertch or cap.  Next, get your shoes, stockings, apron, pockets, and arisaidh.

Hints and Tips:
-- DO wear more than one petticoat (which, in this context, means a skirt, not an undergarment).  This gives the proper 18th c. silhouette, which makes the waist look narrow by contrasting it with the fullness of the skirts.   (Believe me, it does work!)
-- DO wear stays, unless you're a nursing mother or wetnurse, elderly and poor, an invalid, or a slattern.  Most other women, even working-class women like dairy maids, seem to have worn stays; otherwise they would have given the impression of being "loose" (which is where the term comes from -- there was a strong connection in this period between neat dress and good behavior).
- PLEASE cover your hair, unless you are a single young girl.  There's nothing that ruins a period impression faster than a modern hairdo.  Even if you are tucking all your hair into a cap and putting a straw hat on top, that's much better than ruining your impression with a modern haircut.
-- PLEASE wear period glasses, or contacts.  Yes, I know, glasses are expensive, but that's often another area where reenactors fall short.
-- PLEASE find some kind of period footwear -- hide pampooties are cheap to make, and more accurate than Ren-Faire shoes.
-- Lastly, DO look at pictures that date from Europe in the middle of the 18th century -- look at what women were wearing, and how, to get a feel for what an accurate costume would look like.  Though there are very few such pictures of Scottish women, we do have some of English and French country women, and those can serve as a guide, with a little pinch of salt to account for context and the difference between those countries and Scotland.  Scotland was NOT completely isolated from fashion trends -- they just took a little longer to get there.

To be avoided:
-- "Circle" mob caps (i.e., mob caps made from a gathered circle of fabric with a drawstring) are NOT correct. They are not based on any 18^th c. historical object.
-- The "English Bodice" or "French Bodice" as worn by many reenactors are not based on any historical garment.  There was a vest-like jacket that was worn in the bedroom, or around the house by invalids or nursing mothers.  Unless you are in your bedroom, or your house in one of these states, don't wear one.  Also to be avoided: Ren-Faire bodices in tapestry or cut under the breast; they're not accurate either in materials or cut.
-- Stay away from prints unless you are very confident that they're period.  Most of the calico prints available are inaccurate and are more appropriate for Victorian day-dresses than 18th c. clothing.
-- Penannular brooches (my pet peeve) should not be worn; nor should you be wearing the big, silver Victorian brooches with the stones on them.  There are no existing penannular brooches dating from later than about 1100 AD.  Unfortunately, there are few jewelers making any accurate annular brooches for women (a few people making moderately acceptable annular brooches are listed on my 'patterns and resources' page).   If you don't have an annular brooch, a straight iron, wood or bone pin would be a better choice; you use it to pin on your arisaidh like one would use a straight pin.   Just be careful not to stick yourself with the pointy end; if you tuck the sharp end into a fold of cloth after using it to pin the arisaidh, that helps.

Other sources:
Mill Farm Patterns: Available from Burnley and Trowbridge

18th C. Women's Clothing Guidelines for American Revolutionary War reenactors -- a bit later than 1745, but mostly applicable

A Mid-18th Century Picture Gallery of Women's Clothing
(Caveat: Please be aware of the moral messages the painter is trying to convey in these pictures.  Often, painters would show someone wearing items a certain way -- for instance, stays unlaced or no stays to indicate a 'loose' woman -- to make a point.)

I've removed the hyperlinks to these pictures because the sites have changed the locations of the artwork, and I don't have time to track down the new locations; do a Google search for them by name and artist.

Paris Street Cries by Bouchardon; 1737-1742 (Figs 178-221).
Broken Eggs by Jean Baptiste Greuze (1756)-- look at the kertch-like item worn by the old woman; interesting parallel to the Scottish kertch.
Le Geste Napolitain by Jean Baptiste Greuze (1757)
Greuze: The Spoiled Child (1765)
Chardin: Grace before the meal (1761)
Chardin: Girl Peeling Vegetables
Chardin: The Attentive Nurse (1738)
Chardin: The Laundress (1730s)
Chardin: The Return from Market (1739)
Greuze: The Laundress
Fragonard: The Stolen Kiss
Liotard: The Chocolate-Girl (1743-1745) -- Swiss

Later time period, but informative:
Plucking the Turkey by Henry Walton (1776) -- wearing bedgown, checked apron
A Woman doing Laundry by Henry Robert Morland