Is this kilt too big in the back?

[Dixieman]

I wonder if my recently ordered kilt is too big in the back. In the attached picture, you see that there are curtain like folds.

With sewing tape I measured the widest part of my hips, with feet together and wearing only underwear. Just over 35 inches. I check the invoice. It says 35.5 inches. I measure my hips again. Still 35.5 inches.

So I email the kiltmaker. Here's his reply:

"The hip looks good at the bottom of the fell (the point where the vertical sewing lines on the pleats end). I wonder if the kilt doesn’t just a need a quick ironing after it’s journey across the country to you. It may help some.



I should point out that on the casual kilt, we make the waist exactly to the measurement given. There is some rounding that happens with the hip measurement though. You’ll notice that there are 2 or 3 angled pleats on either side of the kilt. One set near the front apron, and the other closer to the under apron. Because of how we do those on a casual kilt, each angled pleat creates 1” of difference between the waist measurement and the hip measurement. It is more important to the overall effect of the kilt that there be the same number of angled pleats on both sides than to hit a precise hip measurement. For that reason, the difference between the two numbers is always an even number.



I can’t tell from your photo, but if I had made your kilt, I would have done it with 3 angled pleats on both sides. Because you have a 5” difference in your waist and hips, I would round up rather than down so there would be a 6” difference in the waist and the hips. It’s better to have too much room in the hips than too little. IF you only have 2 angled pleats on each side, then there will be a 4” difference between the measurements."

Do you agree? And yes, there were 3 angled pleats on each side of the kilt.

kilt.jpg