Someone Help Me!

**PiperOfThePlains** · 21st March 14, 09:41 PM

It has been a question that has plagued me since the day I bought my kilt, and I'm finally going to ask it.

Why on earth do my pleats look like a shower curtain!?

Brace yourselves -- this contains potentially disturbing content regarding the scariest pleats in the history of ever.

photo 3.jpg
photo 2.jpg

(Sorry these are sideways. I really don't know why they're doing that.)

Anywho, they've been like this since I got it from J. Higgins about three/four years ago. It's a four yard, lightweight, 100% wool if you were wondering. The crossbelt was worn to show the L&M people that it was incorrectly sized, so that's why that's there.

PLEASE HELP ME!

**ratspike** · 21st March 14, 09:59 PM

My guess is that it's too big in the hip. Have you measured the kilt and yourself and compared the two hip numbers?

**PiperOfThePlains** · 21st March 14, 10:02 PM

How would one do such a thing? I/my parents could measure myself, but how do I measure the hips on the kilt itself?

**MacGumerait** · 21st March 14, 10:53 PM

PiperOfThePlains , did you have the kilt custom made to your measurements or did you buy one that was off the rack ?

Nothing wrong with off the rack , however , they tend to focus on only two measurements ... kilt waist and kilt length .

There are typically three important measurements for a kilt to hang properly when worn , waist size , hip size and length .

It would appear that you have the waist and length correct , however , the kilt may be a bit too large in the hips thus the problem with the pleats . In other words , the hip measurements for this kilt may be a bit large for your body thus the over abundance of fabric in the back which results in the pleats not laying properly .

Hope this helps and makes sense .

Cheers , Mike

**The Wizard of BC** · 22nd March 14, 08:41 AM

Well young man, here is what I see from your pics.

First. I looks like this kilt is being worn lower than it was designed to be worn. The best way to tell is to find the bottom of the Fell and insure it is at your hips. The Fell is the area in the back of the kilt that is sewn down and tapered. The bottom of the Fell should be right at the crest, or widest part of your hips and butt.
It appears from this pictures that the bottom of the Fell is about 2" low which means the waist of the kilt needs to come up to your natural waist.
A side effect of raising the waist is that the hem comes up too so it will hit your knees a bit better to show off more leg.

Second I appears that the hip size of this kilt may be a bit big. Again, the way you tell is to find the bottom of the Fell area. Just grab a pleat in the back and see if you can pull it away from your body. The bottom of the Fell should not be saggy. Sort of snug around your hips but not tight either. I would bet that you could grab and bunch up two or three and maybe four pleats on this kilt.

And finally this kilt may, at some time in it's life, been pressed incorrectly.

Here are a couple of pics of a kilt pleated to the stripe because it shows what I am trying to say better than I can explain it.

You can see from this pose that the bottom of the Fell is right at the same place as my hip joint.
And that the Fell area is snug against my butt without pulling and distorting.

In this next pic look at how all the pleats hang parallel and straight.
Then look at the red stripe running down each pleat. Can you see that the red stripe continues down each pleat an equal distance away from the pressed crease of the pleat?

The way to tell if your kilt is pressed incorrectly is to lay the kilt out on a table.
Lift the top of the kilt up so the pleats do not splay out. They should all want to lay flat and parallel all on their own. If they don't you may need to baste and re-press your kilt.

Then look at the Tartan lines that go down the pleats. Your kilt appears to be pleated to The Sett so you will not have the same line down each pleat but I think from this photos you can get the idea of what I'm trying to explain.

Do the vertical lines in your pleats run straight down the pleat staying the same distance from the creased pleat edge?

A dead give-away that a kilt has been incorrectly pressed is the vertical lines of the Tartan will not be the same distance from the creased edge all the way down the pleat.

Re-basting and re-pressing a kilt are not a hard thing to do. It takes a little time and patience but anyone should be able to do it.

If everything, waist height, hip size and pressing are all good the back of your kilt should look like this.

If you would like to check these three things, and get back to us with what you find, maybe we can help some more.
You may find that your kilt has one, some combination of, or all three of this things just a bit off.
Don't despair everything I have mentioned is fixable.

**PiperOfThePlains** · 22nd March 14, 05:43 PM

It was custom made. If I were to wear it any higher, it would look like an old military kilt. Should it help anyone, I'm 5'6" tall and about 98 Lbs.
I can almost guarantee it has been pressed incorrectly. Blasted dry-cleaners... I've recently tried to repress them, but unfortunately, have amounted to little or no great avail.
Mr. Ashton, what do you mean by "...grab and bunch up two or three and maybe four pleats on this kilt."? I might have to do this alongside a former Black Watch piper/kilt maker who lives in the area, and having your input regarding this would be greatly appreciated. I'll put it on later and see if I can grab any fell.

**RockyR** · 22nd March 14, 06:22 PM

POTP: I agree with Steve that it looks like the hip measurement that the kilt was made to was 4 to 6" bigger than your hip measurement. Did you take the measurements for the kilt or did the kilt company?

**PiperOfThePlains** · 22nd March 14, 08:57 PM

Thanks, Mr. Roeger. Me Da' did. I think he might have misunderstood "hip" as I recall him measuring around my bottom/seat/gluteus maximus.

Obviously, this can be altered; but how and by whom? Is this something easily done at home or is it best done by a professional?

**Riverkilt** · 23rd March 14, 09:43 AM

Did I read right that you took it to a dry cleaner? How were the pleats before that? And you can't get any better advice than from Steve and Rocky...do heed it.

**PiperOfThePlains** · 23rd March 14, 10:56 AM

Yes, sir. It has been "professionally" pressed and cleaned several times... I cannot remember exactly how they were before. The pleats have been pressed in a |\ shape as opposed to a || shape, but I can fix that using the helpful instructions provided by several posts made by the ever-helpful people here at Xmarks.. I'm almost certain that the hip measurement is too large, too.