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  1. #1
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    9th August 16
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    Quick splits question

    I am doing the numbers for my first ever kilt and am scratching my head at pages 51-52.

    Barb, you say "try" different combinations, but all I seem to be doing is adding and subtracting so that they numbers add up to my waist and hips as measured, but how do I know what works?

    My waist is 35" and seat is a very loose 40" (Karen Manger of St Kilda Retail in Brisbane who made my last proper kilt said to keep the seat measurement a bit loose - it seems to work on the kilt she made me). I am tall and thin with a drop of 25". Most of my height is in my femurs. I sit on a cushion at the dinner table but I am 6'1" tall.

    When I write down the different combinations, I feel like I am just plucking numbers out of thin air. Do I make the difference between split choices 3/4"? 1"? How much should one split option differ from another?

    The two options I came up with are (split 1 being .5/.5)

    Split 2: Waist Apron 18.25, pleats 16.75
    Hips: Apron 19.5, pleats 20.5

    Split 3: waist: Apron 18.75, pleats 16.25
    Hips: Apron 19, pleats 21

    Can anyone make any suggestions on what for a kiltmaker is the work of a minute or two? I would be most grateful.
    Last edited by Michael A; 19th December 16 at 05:22 AM.

  2. #2
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    3rd August 11
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    That depends on your figure, Barb's book has a method that works and there are also some other variants being used in Scotland today and in the folkwear kilt pattern.
    First try and understand your figure/shape, do you have a relatively normal figure or do you have a prominent tummy or are you relatively flat, same with your rear...
    In Scotland today taught by a Master kiltmaker unless you have the need to adjust for the bodies shape the splits are even, half waist, half seat and extra inch is added to the front apron - add this just on the right hand fringe side. (This is what my master kiltmaker tutors teach) Some others kiltmakers add this extra inch to the apron front measurements. For normal regular slim build this works well.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    7th September 14
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    I've not begun my own kilt, but when I was working on the splits I measured the splits of the 8yd wool and the casual kilt I already have. The aprons are not the same, yet both kilts appear fine on me. It basically comes down to how much of an "A" of the apron my frame will accept.
    Along with Adrian's advice: From your comments it seems you have a kilt already and we will presume it looks smashing on you- so perhaps you might decide what you think is best from your own measuring process and then measure the kilt you have as a "test" of your decision?

  4. #4
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    That's good advice from Taskr, I own a number of kilts and whilst I've been learning have compared the splits on the kilts I own with what I'm being taught and Barbs book. Several slightly different variants fit well and correctly...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    30th November 04
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    The reason for not splitting evenly is that you want the kilt to snug in to the small of your back, and even someone who is slim with a straight build has buttocks that stick out farther than the small of the back. If you have my book, you can go to the appendices, and I've listed a bunch of sample splits that are good. You can check the ones you think you want to use with ones that are there and find something similar.

    But here are the rules of thumb for uneven splits to make a better-fitting kilt (and these are in the book but I'll repeat them here):

    Start with the hips: never make the pleats more than 1" bigger across than the apron. The only time you'd make the pleats bigger across than this would be for a woman with a small waist and big hips.

    -For a guy with a trim shape (i.e., not much of a belly), split the hips so that the pleats are 1" bigger across than the apron.
    -For a guy with a bit of a belly, make the pleats only 1/2" bigger across than the apron.
    -For a guy with a big belly, use the "towel" method for measuring, and then split the apron and pleats evenly. You can read about the towel technique and the need for it here: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...an-hips-90890/

    Then do the waist: in order to snug the kilt in to the small of the back, you make the apron bigger across at the waist than the pleats (just the opposite of what you did with the hips measurement. But! Never make the apron bigger across at the waist than at the hips, or you'd have a reverse taper of the apron. That's why you do the hip splits first. How you split the waist measurement depends on the waist/hip differential. You want to have some flare in the apron as well as a reasonable taper in the pleats.

    Waist: either of these would work with the hips below. They really aren't that different, as you can see.

    -apron 18.25, pleats 16.75: this would give a flare of 5/8" between waist and hips on each side of the apron and a taper of 3.75" in fell.
    -apron 18.5, pleats 16.5: this is pretty similar, with 1/2" of taper on each side of the apron and 4" of taper it the fell.

    Hips: 19.5 apron and 20.5 pleats
    Kiltmaker, piper, and geologist (one of the few, the proud, with brains for rocks....
    Member, Scottish Tartans Authority
    Geology stuff (mostly) at http://people.hamilton.edu/btewksbu
    The Art of Kiltmaking at http://theartofkiltmaking.com

  6. The Following 2 Users say 'Aye' to Barb T For This Useful Post:


  7. #6
    Join Date
    9th August 16
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    Thank you Barb,

    Yes that is the split I went with. I was just a bit nervous as I had spent £192 on my first bolt of fabric and didn't want to muck it up, and not finding identical samples in the Appendix (which would have been unrealistic in any case), I thought I should check.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    30th November 04
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    Great!! I think shaping is really important for all kilts. Take the one below for example. The person wearing the kilt is nice and trim (roughly the same measurements as you, actually - maybe an inch bigger in both hips and waist but pretty close proportions).



    You'll see that the apron hangs straight down in the front, and the edge of the apron (where it meets the pleats) also hangs straight down (because the apron edge flares, it's not parallel to the tartan line in the apron - the edge of the apron is parallel to the first pleat, which is a bit hard to see on this dark kilt). If the splits were even, the apron edge would be farther back at the hips and farther forward at the waist, making it slant rather than sit straight down the side of the body. Making the pleats bigger at the hips and the pleats smaller at the waist than an even split allows the kilt to accommodate the buttocks and snug in to the small of the back and still keep the edge of the apron straight up and down where it meets the pleats.
    Last edited by Barb T; 21st December 16 at 07:02 PM.
    Kiltmaker, piper, and geologist (one of the few, the proud, with brains for rocks....
    Member, Scottish Tartans Authority
    Geology stuff (mostly) at http://people.hamilton.edu/btewksbu
    The Art of Kiltmaking at http://theartofkiltmaking.com

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