How much "Room to Grow"

**Celtic Mom** · 18th May 15, 05:45 AM

Hello,

My 11 year old son's band kilt has now turned into a "mini-kilt" and since the kilt maker is backlogged I took it as divine intervention that it was time to start kilt #2. I am anxiously waiting for the Ancient Murray tartan to get here.

The first kilt I made was my daughter's dancing kilt. It had a 4 inch hem (down to 2 now) , and I've had to move the buckles, but she's gotten two years out of it. I ordered medium weight tartan which has a kilted selvage, and am trying to decide how much room I should give him to grow.

His measurements are 28"waist, 31" hips and 20" from his naval to his knees. Has anyone ever hemmed medium weight? Would it be better to just pull it way up (under his armpits as my son's bagpipe teacher likes to say)? Has anyone ever put in a hidden pleat? Any other "room to grow" suggestions would be welcomed. I'm hoping to at least get this, and next summer out of it.

Thank you!

**The Wizard of BC** · 18th May 15, 08:50 PM

What you are making is in essence what I make as a "Youth" kilt. I usually make youth kilts with 12oz synthetic or 13oz wool but have made them from 16oz wool when asked to.

Depending on the age of the child I will usually include as much as a 4 inch hem and two growth pleats. As this is a band and not a dance kilt a hem should not be too noticeable.

I also take into consideration how the kilt is pleated to determine where to place the growth pleat. If pleated to the stripe a growth pleat could be placed almost anywhere. Letting out the growth pleat will not make too much difference except if the fabric has faded.
If you have a kilt pleated to the Stripe you can have two or three growth pleats and let them out one at a time as needed.

But if the Kilt is pleated to the Sett you should add the growth pleats one on each side so that when you let them out you keep the pleating pattern symmetrical and centered.
If you have a kilt pleated to Sett you always have pairs of growth pleats and will let them out in pairs to keep the pattern centered.

**Celtic Mom** · 20th May 15, 05:36 AM

Thank you! I didn't realize when I told my son he could learn pipes that it would mean I would be sewing kilts to avoid going broke.

**Barb T** · 20th May 15, 06:48 AM

There are three simple things you can do:

1) Make the kilt 2" too big in the hips and the waist but put the buckles on at his current measurements. That way, it will buckle tightly but have quite a bit of growing room that can be accommodated simply by moving the buckles and straps. No rebuilding the kilt to let out hidden pleats. And truly, no one will notice that the apron comes a bit farther around him now than it ought to. As he grows, just move the apron edge buckles and the underapron strap.
2) Put a hem in the kilt. I've put hems in 16 oz tartan, and, aside from the fact that the bottom stripe is different that in an un-hemmed kilt, it's really not noticeable. And it particularly won't be noticeable in 13 oz tartan.
3) Do not pull it up with suspenders. The bottom of the fell won't be in the right place, the circumference at the waist will be too big and the belt will cause wrinkles in the kilt, and, most importantly, you can easily spot someone wearing a kilt with suspenders because the apron inevitably pulls up and causes waves in the front of the kilt - gives it a farmer john look even if a person is wearing a jacket or vest.

**Celtic Mom** · 22nd May 15, 05:06 AM

Thank you Barb! I don't think I would have ever tried making kilts if I hadn't found this forum.

**Celtic Mom** · 25th May 15, 07:31 PM

I am hoping someone with more experience can give me some pleating advice. I received the tartan for the kilt today and have been running through possible pleat scenarios in my head. It is 7 yards of Murray of Atholl tartan, which I plan to pleat to the red line on the green background. I can pleat to every line (they are 4.75 inches from middle to middle). In doing so I would put in 29 pleats 0.5 inches at the waist, and 0.63 inches at the hip, and the pleat would be 2 inches deep (I would also end up with left over tartan). Alternatively I could pleat to every-other red line, (9.5 inches middle to middle), giving me 21 pleats with 0.69 inches at the waist, 0.86 inches at the hips and a 4.25 pleat depth and use all the tartan. I have gone through the forum and read all I can about pleat depth, but I am having a hard time figuring out which would be the better choice. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you.

**Kristof** · 26th May 15, 02:05 AM

I would go for the 21 pleats and use all the material because I like deeper pleats.

**Barb T** · 26th May 15, 03:31 AM

Definitely the 21 pleats. It's not so much the pleat depth - it's the weight of the tartan in the back that drives the swing. The kilt will look better with pleats that are wider at the hips, and you'll get better swing because you'll have more tartan in the back of the kilt.

And 21 pleats is fine. I just finished a kilt for someone with 42" hips, and I only put 20 pleats in the kilt. The tartan has a very large sett, and there were no opportunities to either pleat to a stripe that occurred more than once per sett or pick up more than one pleat per sett in pleating to the sett. The kilt looks perfectly normal.