Question regarding making a Kilt when the Waist is larger than Hips

[Barb T]

When someone has a waist this big, a kilt looks best if it hangs straight down from the waist while at the same time snugging in a bit in the small of the back (i.e., having tapered pleats), because, even when someone has a belly, the buttocks will stick out in the back farther than the small of the back. TAoK suggests making the waist and hips the same when the waist is bigger than the hips (i.e., for your guy, 53 waist and 53 hips). Unfortunately, this doesn't allow any taper in the pleats and produces a kilt that is likely to look like a tilted cylinder, with the pleats not hanging straight down the side of the kilt (see photo below).





I've found that the solution is to add to the hip measurement in excess of the waist measurement (i.e., not make them equal). Below, you'll see the same guy in a kilt made with a hip measurement big enough to allow the apron to hang straight down from the waist. Not only does the kilt look better, but the guy looks slimmer!!



So, how much to add? The simplest way to figure this out is to roll a towel and put it under the belly to kind of fill the space. Be sure it's not sticking out past the belly, and don't wrap it around to the side. Measure around the hips again but around the towel in front as well. Then split the new hip measurement evenly with half the measurement in the apron and half in the pleats. This works well for any guy with a belly - doesn't have to be just for guys whose waists are bigger than their hips.

For some guys, I've had to add as much as 5-6" to the actual hip measurement to get the apron to hang straight in the front and have the pleats nicely snugged in to the small of the back.