I actually found it easier to convert some of my measurements to metric. Take the pleating for example. My kilt was done to the line. For me, I took the back waist measurement in metric and devided it by the number of pleats needed. This gave me the total width of the exposed portion of each pleat. It was really easy then to use the metric tape and pin each pleat before sewing. I only had to make sure that each pleat was so many centimeters wide centered on the stripe. 3 measurements on each pleat, sew it, and move to the next.

I find it a pain to use a calculator to figure measurements. Converting from decimal to fraction is easy with a chart. But, with metric you make your calculations and there is no need for conversion.

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