Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
The issues involved with reducing a kilt's size, as you probably know, vary tremendously according to how much a reduction is needed, and how determined a person is about preserving every detail of the kilt's original appearance.

And it's more complicated if the kilt is pleated to the sett and/or has belt loops.

If you're only talking a few inches, and if the kilt is pleated to the stripe and lacks belt loops, you can simply move the buckles. Yes the front apron will now go past the inverted pleat and perhaps overlap a pleat or two. But you can put on the kilt with the front apron centred and the back of the kilt will appear centred too, for the simple fact that it has no centre.

But kilts pleated to the sett and/or having belt loops DO have a centre, which will now be thrown off a bit.

Beyond a few inches, especially if pleated to the sett, you have to alter the structure of the kilt itself (as far as I know).

To keep the front apron and rear of the kilt both centred, and the juncture between front and back symmetrical on both hips, I believe would mean reducing the kilt the same amount on both hips.

Kiltmakers who have done this have told me it's more work than making a kilt from scratch, and a kiltmaker I used to know priced the job accordingly.
All bad news (but, still, overwhelmed by the GOOD news of having both my Diabetes and my sleep apnea almost disappear, even though I've spent probably as much on Ozempic as in total on kilts).

USA Kilts sews a little "measurements" tag to the inside of their kilts. My current "kilt waist" is about 7.5 inches smaller than the original. AND, the kilt DOES have loops, and it IS pleated to the sett. My most recent kilt purchase (Lunar, made by Barb Tewksbury) came at the time of steepest downslope in weight and waist measurements. Barb had to wait MANY MONTHS to get the fabric from DC Dalgliesh, so even before I started wearing it Barb sent me instructions to have a VERY skilled local seamstress move BOTH the straps and loops. Fortunately, that kilt is pleated to the stripe, and the outcome was VERY positive.

Ian Anderson, at USA Kilts, tells me there's a highlandswear marketplace on facebook where he's had good success selling used kilts of his own, so I'll look in to that, but my Robertson Ancient Hunting kilt has a special place in my heart, because it was an unsolicited gift from my son, who had a troubled childhood but now joins me (sometimes from other continents) to attend highland games. I should have have introduced you to him at the LV games!