Questions & Pics of my New Seaforth Box

[The Wizard of BC]

If I can approach this from a kiltmakers standpoint.....

I am, in addition to a kiltmaker, a Docent at the Royal BC Museum. We have many Seaforth kilts in our collection. All are Military Box Pleated and all are fastened on the right hip.

From the look of the position of the straps and buckles on your kilt, and due to the distortion of the fabric where the straps attach I would assume that this kilt had been altered at some time. This would also account for the Velcro on the right hip.

if you look at the edge of what is now the outer apron you can see that it does not completely cover the now inner apron and the edge is not tapered. This would indicate that the aprons have been reversed at some time.

The position of the straps and buckles appears higher than is normally found on these kilts. The top strap is usually between 2" and 4" from the top of the kilt. if the straps and buckles were in a lower position the kilt would be able to be worn higher on your body and may fit better at the knee.

If you look at your photo that shows the front of the kilt with the straps and buckles you can plainly see that the fabric of the apron is being pulled out of shape. This should not be there. Built into your kilt should be some internal stabilizer and interfacings. These are to prevent distortion of the fabric.

It is possible that if this kilt were altered to buckle on the left that the position of the straps and buckles was changed and the stabilizer missed when the buckles were re-sewn onto the the kilt. I think I can see where the stabilizer is in your kilt due to the distortion of the fabric of the pleats. It looks that the buckles used to be almost two inches lower than they are now.

One way you can check for this is to pull on the buckle on the left hip while holding the kilt were you would expect the right buckle to be. look at the pleated area in the back of the kilt as you pull. You should see no movement or stretching of the kilt. Not any, nada, none. If you see any stretch it is a good bet that whoever altered the kilt sewed the buckles on in the wrong place.

Let us know if you see any stretch in your kilt.