Quote Originally Posted by derosa View Post
What keeps it from pulling apart then? Just the pleats stitched to each other? Seems like there would still be distorting of the aprons without something.
With buckles and straps, it's possible to fasten a kilt really tightly and to put lots of stress on the stitching. I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that kilts didn't have buckles and straps in the era of historical box pleated kilts, so there would really be no stress on the stitching when someone was wearing the kilt - just wrapped around and held in place with a belt (or perhaps with pins, although I'm not sure whether the latter is correct or not). Either way, there wouldn't be much stress on the stitching.