How much cloth do I need?...my answer

[The Wizard of BC]

cacunn,

Kilts are never built smaller in the hip than in the waist.

If your waist measurement seems to be smaller than your hip there may, and I stress, may, be a problem with how you are measuring.

When measuring for your hips remember that the aprons should fall vertically from your waist in the front. So if your belly sticks out some, take that into account when measuring. Pass the tape measure around the back side of your hips and then you will need to hold it away from your front to simulate where the apron will hang to.

The only case where you will have no taper is if you can back up to a wall and your spine, at the kidney area, touches before your butt.
If your butt touches first, then there will be taper.

In fact that gives me a neat idea --- If you are a "gentleman of substance", When measuring your hip, stand with your belly touching a wall and measure around your hips and hold the tape measure out till, in the front, it also touches the wall. Voila, instant apron simulation.

It is the larger, hip measurement that is used to determine the amount of fabric. So "measure twice, cut once".

[JimB]

cacunn,

"measure twice, cut once".

DOH!!
I always get that mixed up!!!

[cacunn]

Steve
Thank for the information. When thinking about the design I would envision the drape of the aprons in front. Since I have no hip and a large belly I realized that the drop off from the navel to the hips would have to be taken into account, but did not take this into account when measuring.

I will use your suggestion of hugging a wall when measuring, or as just came to mind (if I have one before a second cup of coffee) I have some poster board. Wrap the poster board around the front and use this to simulate the apron. Make sure that it is hanging straight and measure around the hips. This should give an approximation of the adjusted hip size of a gentleman of dimension.

Now all I have to do is get off my dimensions and start making my first kilt.

[Barb T]

Alan H.'s calcs are pretty good. But here are a few places where I would calculate differently:

If the rough split is 24", you'll need 27" just to accommodate the flare from hips to the bottom of the kilt. The deep pleat needs (in my estimation) at least 9" total to provide adequate easement, and the fringe-edge facing is doubled and needs at least 6". So, I add that up and get 42", which is more than a yard. So, I think for a kilt the size of the one Alan H is describing, you really need 2 3/8 to 2.5 yards total for the apron and underapron.

If you are using double-width material, you will lose more than one sett in the join, and commonly as much as 10-12". So, don't forget that when you're figuring how many pleats you can get out of the fabric.

And last, the # of pleats you can get out of tartan is maximized if you are pleating to the stripe. If you are pleating to the sett, each pleat is separated by _more_ than one sett. Depending on the tartan and how you choose the pleats, you're likely to lose one additional sett for every 6 or 7 pleats. So, if you need 23 pleats, you'll need, say, 27 repeats, not 23. So, that could be another 3/4 of a yard, depending on the sett size.

So, that's why it takes me 8 yards to make a full trad kilt for a guy! If you want to use 6 yards, you need to use less material somewhere - either by using narrow facings, a shallow first pleat, a shallow inverted pleat, or wide pleats so that you don't need as many. Or, of course, by picking a tartan with a small sett.

Cheers,

Barb