Great kilt dimensions?

[turpin]

The Wild Highlanders were demonstrating the great kilt at Blairsville. They go to a lot of games in the southeast. I was talking to their Chief about some of the articles Matt has written about the great kilt and length needed. All his clan wear great kilts, and the material is 60 inches wide. He says that width is needed, especially for tall folk, in order to be able to get maximum use of the kilt (wearing it 7 different ways). He also said that in order to get the proper numberof pleats so you don't look like a curtain, 5 yards of double-wide is called for, minimum. He uses 5 yards himself, and has a 32-inch waist. But because of the southeastern climate he uses 10 or 11-oz cloth.

If you think about it it makes some sense. You hand pleat, but still need to make enough pleats, using the full or half-sett of your tartan, to account for 1/2 the waist measurement, with the aprons taking up the rest. If you have a 6-inch sett and a 36-inch waist, and leave a 1-inch reveal in he pleat, that's 18 pleats times 6 inches plus deep first and last pleats, so figure 110 to 120 inches in the pleats. that only leaves 12 inches for each apron from the remaining 2 feet of your 4 yards. so you need to do the math even with a great kilt.

I hope Matt weighs in here and says differently, because I have 4 yards of 11 oz. tartan I was hoping would be sufficient.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I'd say "enough pleats for what?" Who says how many pleats are enough? Historical accounts I have read indicate that there was no standard length for a belted plaid, but that it tended to range from 3 to maybe 6 yards, with 4 being the average.

I've worn a 4 yard belted plaid many times with no trouble at all. I've a 38" waist, 44" hips, and stand 6' 3" tall.

Consider this... the belted plaid (feilidh-mor) became the feilidh-beag, which became our modern tailored kilt. And the earliest tailored kilts we know of all contained around 4 yards of cloth. It wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century that excess yardage was regularly used.

For the belted plaid, ideally you want the fabric wide enough to go from your knees to the top of your head. In today's tems "double width" fabric refers to anything 54" wide or more, which is usually sufficient unless you are extremely tall. Traditionally, it meant seaming two lengths of 25" to 30" wide cloth together. If they cloth you are working with is only 45" wide, I'd cut it into two 30" wide strips and seam those together to make a single 60" wide peice.

I'd go ahead and make it 5 yards long to begin with. You can always cut some off if you feel it is too much. That's a better than having to add more on later!

[mkmound]

The Wild Highlanders were demonstrating the great kilt at Blairsville. . . . He says that width is needed, especially for tall folk, in order to be able to get maximum use of the kilt (wearing it 7 different ways). . . . .

OK . . . I'm curious . . . what are the 7 different ways?