New Kilt (new to me)

[OC Richard]

Trog is bang-on.

Moving the left-hand strap, and moving the right-hand buckle (or buckles, if you kilt has two) is easy and quick to do.

I've played in Pipe Bands for over 45 years and I'm generally the person who adjusts the band's kilts. In a band the same kilts are re-sized over and over as players come and go, due to the same kilts being worn for decades (sometimes a half-century or more).

About the left-hand strap, the one that goes through the slot in the kilt, I'll punch small holes in a strap (they're generally machine-sewn on) to make it easier to hand-sewn it in place. As Trog says you can put a longer strap on to give you a wider range of adjustments, if you're making the kilt bigger.

If you're making the kilt smaller you have to move that inner strap further from the edge. If you have to move it too far you could end up with enough fabric past the strap that it might have a tendency to droop down when the kilt is worn.

The right-hand buckle is easy, you just (carefully!) remove the cloth tab that holds the buckle and stitch it onto its new correct location. As Trog says you need to have the stitching go all the way through. Traditional kilts have an internal canvas stabiliser which takes the stress so the wool doesn't have to. It's the stabiliser that the buckle's tab needs to be anchored to, which you do by stitching all the way through. Yes the new stitching is visible inside the kilt, a small price to pay for a good-fitting kilt.

One thing, I very much prefer kilts only having a single right-hand strap & buckle. This has various advantages

1) the kilt hangs better (the lower right-hand buckle, if the kilt has two, really pulls and distorts the kilt when sitting down especially when driving a car)

2) the kilt is quicker to put on and take off (we pipers are often getting dressed in a hurry)

3) it's faster to made adjustments to the kilt's size