Pleat problem with my new leather Utilikilt

[tundramanq]

I'll second that, Robert is great to work with - I have a British Tan R Kilt. There is a whole lot I like about his kilts. But it is a lot to ask to make a beltless reverse kinguesse pleat kilt with slash side pockets ( jean pockets ). It would be a pretty drastic redesign from the ground up. The pockets, in order to work well, are a lot more difficult to do than you would think. The apron side pockets option on the SportKilts trainwreaks the whole fit and lay of these velcro waist closure kilts. I asked Rocky at USAK about side pockets for the casual and he politely declined. I don't blame him it pretty much requires the narrower apron style. Not having cargo pockets makes for a much cleaner looking kilt, but without the slash pockets we are pretty much stuck with the sporrans again.

[seanachie]

AH...well if you are talking non leather doesn't Freedom Kilts offer the option? I am sure I have seen Steve wearing one. And agreed as to the pleating and design standard you are looking for. That British Tan is a fine looking kilt, enjoy it and your new UK in good health! My SK is best used and a great fit for laying at the couch at the end of the week and watching a movie with my wife and the dogs napping up against me. It does not get worn often beyond the front door.

[tundramanq]

AH...well if you are talking non leather doesn't Freedom Kilts offer the option? I am sure I have seen Steve wearing one. And agreed as to the pleating and design standard you are looking for. That British Tan is a fine looking kilt, enjoy it and your new UK in good health! My SK is best used and a great fit for laying at the couch at the end of the week and watching a movie with my wife and the dogs napping up against me. It does not get worn often beyond the front door.

I do highly recommend the $49 SK flannel comfy kilts for lounging in the winter. I have 4. Won't hold a pleat but who cares ( It also won't hold a wrinkle). I have sewn the outer knife edges and mine look good enough for runs to the store too. I sewed a blackwatch first as I was going blind trying to match the pleats for clothes pinning for the hang dry. Worked so good I did the rest.
I did check out the Freedom kilts but buttons are a real pain to do and undo and don't look as clean as snaps. I do like that they use more pleats ( ='s more waggle )

my dog, wife, avatar, boss ( she wears the virtual pants) and awesome back warmer in bed. Just wasting away --- to a ton add expert begger.

[Canuck]

I'll second that, Robert is great to work with - I have a British Tan R Kilt. There is a whole lot I like about his kilts. But it is a lot to ask to make a beltless reverse kinguesse pleat kilt with slash side pockets ( jean pockets ). It would be a pretty drastic redesign from the ground up. The pockets, in order to work well, are a lot more difficult to do than you would think. ...snip

My Mach V also comes in leather and also has available slash pockets. I have sold a number of this style of kilt.

[tundramanq]

Robert, you are dangling carrots.
You may go nuts if I start specing out a custom leather kilt:

Remember how low I have to wear them - on top of the hip bones ( not above, on top of).

Take the best of the leather R Kilt and the Utilikilt Mocker / Survival:

Narrow strapless apron - guessing snaps versus straps ( don't know if velcro can hold this heavy of a kilt ) , narrow apron ( your 11-12 inch - including the pair of apron pleats), allowing the pockets to be more to the front than back for easy entry.
Diagonal entry, deep front pockets - vertical is hard to use and horizontal looks bad and will gape from the weight of the leather - am guessing about 20 degrees from vertical - deep because we will be deleting the hip widening /pleat wrecking cargo pockets and angled toward the center so that the stuff in the pockets falls between my legs when sitting.

No rear pockets - ain't sitting on my wallet and they mess up the pleats
Am guessing this pocket entry would involve two or more of the 1.25 inch pleats. Did some measuring on my 33 inch waist kilt and the pockets look like they will be in the first and second pleats out from the 12" apron.

- Getting a headache yet? I am

2 3/4 inch belt loops for my 2.5 inch belts.

Robert - I know you can do it - with creativity breaks to recharge your marble bag... Hope your liver holds out

RABBLE - just droping the waist to hipbone level for my current RKilt - quite successfully - posed some interesting challenges and compromises. There are fast dimension changes from upper to lower hip that occur starting under my belt. And now I want to add the pockets to this area and remove the strap adjustability!

I now have my 6th Rocky casual on order and we are still playing with waist and hip sizing to minimize the tweeking I have to do to get these to drape right. Currently ordering these with a 34 waist and 39 inch hip and my actual hip is 36 just to get the dimensional rate of change up so the pleats will lay. Actual vertical distance from waist to hip here is only about 4 inches versus the normal 7 inches. The casuals need the full 7 inch sewdown for structural strength and stability.
The sewdown is the waist band.

[Canuck]

Chuck, all is doable. How deep are your pockets? It's gonna cost you

[tundramanq]

$1k ?
I tried this 32/37/21.5 R Kilt on for fit again am towards the upper chow hound limit - kilt shrank in the closet ( hot here ) - center hole is a tad snug.
Say 33/38/21.5 and $1100 ? Sucker is that comfy, even if I am on the borderline of sweating.
Am thinking brown - is it really as dark as the pictures on site? Almost black in the picture.

Just incase you forgot the changes - this is one notch out from center on all straps:

The lower half of the incision scar is visible here - bellybutton down to the buckle.
The higher lower strap works well on this one - it's right at the widest part of my hips.

****? What ****..

The only tweek I did on this one is shortening the crosslink under the apron 1/4 inch - had a wee out curl on the apron.

The Survival pocket - am guessing the pockets would be in the first two pleats off the apron with your wider aprons and finer pleats - on second thought maybe use just one pleat, I dont really think it can be done crossing between pleats - of course it is in the sewndown area? Am way out of my skill level here :

Not a picture of mine - the narrow belt just looks wrong on a kilt IMHO...

[Canuck]

In my opinion, the wide belt sucks the big one on kilts that are made to hang from just above the hip. I cringe when I see that wide belt on the leather kilt that I made for you.
You will also notice on the utilikilt that the access to the slash pocket will be somewhat hampered by a wider belt basically making the slash pocket useless. If one was to also use the three buckle closure it doesn't work well with wide belts and belt loops, it creates problems in proper fit of the kilt.
Wide belts on traditional kilts are mostly there for decoration, they break up the line of a very long apron.
Upon request, I have done the slash pocket and cargo pocket combination. It takes more time to build which affects the cost of the garment, which not everyone is prepared to pay for.

[tundramanq]

Robert - The wide belt keeps my kilts from spinning on my waist. Especially the lighter fabric kilts - note the lack of spin resisting ****. My truck seat is quite high off the ground - have done a full 90 degree sliding out. When it is sitting on top of the hip bones just cinching down a skinny belt is a painfull option. The belt does cover the top 1/2 inch of the UKs pockets but dosen't seem to interfere with my access. It does require prespotting that 1/2 inch before tossing the kilt into the washing machine - the dye from the belt is still rubbing off. Should come off the leather pretty easy brown on brown. Guess I should order this kilt off this site - I don't see an order form section here on X Marks Email / paypal OK? Will get the details together with a link to here for reference.