Any one use metric in your kilt making ?

[Flyboy]

Salutations,

I received my copy of The Art Of Kilt Making two days ago and have read it twice so far and most likely a third time tonight (blame the Covid). As a Canadian who has a rough idea about imperial measurements but who mostly goes about life in metric I must say the fractions are doing my head in ! Ms. Tewksbury says in one of the hints about calculating the
Pleat size that one could use cm and mm to do the calculation. I suppose you could do the entire kilt in metric, could you not? If any kilt makers out there have any thoughts about kilt making in metric I’d love to have your feed back. In my head I can’t see a problem but then again I haven’t made my first kilt yet now have I.

Thanks,
Dick Jones

[The Wizard of BC]

I was born and raised in the US with inches fractions of feet and inches.

I obviously knew about the metric system but it was not until I moved to Canada after retiring from the military that I was faced with it on a daily basis.

I began to use the metric system with kilt making around 2004.

A little background, - I have a mild case of dyslexia. If I see 4 numbers such as a license plate, I will invariably reverse two of them. So dealing with fractions and their decimal equivalent has always been a problem. Ever since electronic calculators have been around I have always had one no further than arms length. Just to avoid problems and to save time double and triple checking my arithmetic.

I have now been using the metric system as my primary units for kilt making for about 10 years ago even though I still think in inches.

I can do this because metric is just so dead simple. You totally drop the idea of fractions. And the lines on a metric tape measure are closer together than on an inch tape that it is more accurate.

Today it amazes me that only 3 countries in the entire world still cling to inches. Liberia, Myanmar, and the US. The rest of the world has realized that metric is more accurate and far, far easier to work with.

Now, this does cause a bit of a problem as when I teach kilt making most of my students are Americans. So I end up using inches and fractions again.

But as soon as I am back in my shop I go back to metric.

[Mike in Dayton]

I use metric primarily when calculating/measuring pleats. I use inches for the overall waist and hip measurements. Mostly because all my tape measures are in inches.

Other than kilts, I also use metric measurements when working with CAD designs and 3D printing. I find metric measurements easier to use on smaller objects rather than dealing with fractions. Decimal inches would be fined but decimal scales are harder to come by. Metric is a little harder doing printed circuit board layouts as many electronic parts are are on 0.1" centers.

While I am in the USA I find doing metric measurements becoming more the norm for me even with kilts.

Mike

[Flyboy]

Steve,
Thanks so much for the Advice I think using metric in my case will be a little less daunting than using fractions. I can’t wait for my tartan to arrive so I can get started!

Cheers,
Dick

[Pleater]

I work in inches for the first dividing and sizing and putting in pins and the tacking of the large pleats (I make reverse Kingussie style kilts) which takes the fabric down to about my hip size. I check and press in the outer folds lightly using a cloth wrapped board to do each pleat separately.

Once there is definitely a kilt in front of me I tack the lower edge of the pleats, check the measurements in inches, check the lower edge of the fell and tack just below that and then I change to metric and a micrometer to start the narrowing into the waist. The first bits of sewing using the permanent thread are done.

Up to that point the kilt will lay flat and it is still fairly two dimensional, once the shaping starts it becomes a three dimensional construction.

Anne the Pleater

[Flyboy]

Mike and Pleater,
Thank you so much for your input. Pleater I take that by micrometer you are talking about a calliper device to measure instead of using a tape measure or ruler and if so that is a brilliant idea! I just looked on Amazon and they had ones with a digital readout and all. I might have to get me one of those, I think.

Cheers

[Lady Grey]

As an Aussie I was bought up and taught metric and that’s what I use.
Except for sewing....
1) taught by my grandmother and mother who were both raised on imperial
2) most commercial sewing patterns are USA based and imperial.
3) it’s mainly inches & half inches I use when sewing.
It’s just something I’m used to.

At Kilt Kamp Barb said to use one or the other and don’t swap them around.
Another Aussie at Kamp used metric.

I did have to search a fair bit for a tape measure with the correct increments and then at Kilt Kamp I used a pen to mark the tape with Barbs help so I had the correct marks for my pleats.
I still use that tape and it’s only for kilt making.

So pick whatever is comfortable for you.

I was born a year after currency changed and I started school a year after metric became compulsory to teach.
Therefore I’m ‘kind of’ used to both as both were used throughout my childhood.

So pick one method and stick to it and you should be fine.

[Lady Grey]

Oh
And Waist & Hip measurements look so much smaller in inches!
Vanity

[Father Bill]

I smile at this. I'm not a kilt-maker, but as a Canadian senior, I watch the transition with interest.

I measure distance in kilometres or hours of travel time.
I measure speed in km/h.
I use a ruler with inches, except when I need to use centimetres because somebody else demands it.
I was one of the teachers who in my earliest years, taught the metric system as an interesting anomaly that would come here one day.
I weigh myself in pounds.
I buy my milk in litres.
I cook in imperial but check the outdoors in Celsius.
I measure fuel efficiency in litres per 100 km... and then convert to mpg for online comparisons.

When we were first introducing metric measurement to the school system, they put a bathroom scale in kg in every staff room in our Board of Education so that teachers would become more familiar with it. My vice-principal, a man with a very dry sense of humour who hated metric with an un-reasoned passion saw me step onto the scale one day, and affecting a very straight and interested voice, asked me "How many kilometres do you way, Bill?"

My son is an engineer. All of his measurements are metric... at work. At home, it's a mix like most of the rest of Canada.

Interesting thread, folks. Thanks!

[Flyboy]

It’s funny how a lot of the commonwealth countries use a hybrid system of a bit of both,I myself:

Drive in kilometres
Body Weight in pounds or stones if I’m feeling fat
Oven temp in imperial
Measure in metric
Make recipes in imperial