Length of Piper's Plaid for tall guys

[Tartan Tess]

I am making a Piper's Plaid for the Drum Major. He is 6'6" 290 lbs. Built like a frickin' bear.
The sites I visited that sell these have 4 yards as the longest length.
I was wondering if there are any guys out there, this size, who wear them and if you thought a longer length would work better.
Thanks
Tess

[OC Richard]

It's impossible, really, to specify a certain height-to-plaid-length ratio, because 1) there are a number of different ways of dealing with that extra bit 2) there's no "correct" or "proper" length for the thing, and 3) two men of the same height might have very different torso thicknesses.

1) When you put on the plaid there's an extra length that you have to find something to do with. In the old days this would often just be left hanging down in front.

One old way is to remove the "shell" or "wing" on the left shoulder, and twist that extra end into sort of a short thick rope, and bend it round to the shape of the missing wing. That's the way I was taught in my first band, back in the 70s. I don't know how widespread that method is.

There are probably several other methods of dealing with that extra bit, possibly each regiment had its own.

I'm 6'4" and with a 3 1/2 yard full plaid that extra bit is fairly short; what I used to do was just tuck it underneath the part that wraps around the body, in front.

2) There's no standard length for the long part that hangs down. It's amusing when Americans create rules where none seem to exist in the actual Scottish regiments, and I had just read some American Drum Major rule-book which specifies some certain place where the bottom of the plaid is to hang to, when I saw The Black Watch and noticed that they were all over the place, some hanging nearly to the floor, some to high as to be more or less in line with the bottom of the kilt, and everywhere in between. Army people being so persnickety about everything (each Black Watch member had his flashes and the dicing of his hose quite precise) that when something varies like that it's because there's no concept that it shouldn't vary. Anyhow, your man probably has some exact notion of where he wants the end to hang to.

Bottom line, to get it exactly right for this guy you would have to get together with him and find out 1) how much extra bit he needs for his particular method 2) how long he wants the long end to hang 3) how thick his torso is.

Here you can plainly see the short end just left hanging down in front



But here, where did it go?



Here it sure looks like they've removed the left-shoulder shell; note the two different lengths of plaid, by the very two members of the regiment most expected to have precision of dress.



Here both shells are being worn

[Tartan Tess]

Thank you so much Richard. Wonderful information.
Because I had to get started on the fringing and purling (which took me quite awhile to finish)....I made an executive decision and made it 4 yards 6" long. I had 4 1/2 yards to work with but because this guy is so big doesn't mean the next drum major for the band will be. I will post a picture when I see him in his "regalia"
Thanks again for the info.

[OC Richard]

Here's a video made by two guys very familiar to me! Didn't know they did this. Peter Harvie is an ex-Scots Guards piper, and should know a thing or two about how to wear a plaid!

Ken Misch is the Drum Major for the Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band (Grade One).

As you can see this method puts the extra bit up over the shell and epaulette, and thus it really doesn't matter how long that extra bit is, I wouldn't think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1XGDB8EtNI

Here's another video of a similar method. He removes the left-shoulder shell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpti3K1RF9Y

Can't find a video of the roll-it-into-a-rope method I learned in the 70s.