I sense some confusion about how much cloth people need to make a kilt, as I read the current X-Marks Tartan thread. I'm going to go through the process that I do, when I figure out how much cloth I'm going to need and how big the pleats are going to be. NOTE: This is for KNIFE-PLEATED kilts!

Step 1: Measure yourself. Better, have a friend measure you. Measure yourself about an inch above the navel, and then at the biggest part of your rump. DO NOT CHEAT.

My measurements are: waist 41...Rump 48 inches.

Step 2: Split those in half. A kiltmaker will in fact change these numbers a little bit, but we want to just ESTIMATE, right? I'll call this "rough splits"

My rough splits: waist 20.5....Rump 24 inches.

Step 3: Focus on the rump....for now, forget the waist measurement. You are going to cover that rump measurement with pleated tartan. For me, I'm going to cover me rump of 24 inches with pleated tartan.

Step 4: Remember, for that traditional look you want pleats that reveal about an inch to about 5/8 of an inch wide. If you're a "big guy" then an inch is pretty good. 3/4 of an inch is a bit better. A REALLY big guy is fine with an inch. Smaller than that....nope, no need. If you're a smallish guy, then 3/4 of an inch is significantly "better" than 1-inch. You could go to 5/8, but I wouldn't recommend going any narrower than that. ....OK so how wide do you want your pleat reveals to be?

For Me, personally I like 1-inch reveals. for one thing, it makes the math easier! 3/4 of an inch would look even classier, I expect. They looked good on Piper Georges kilt, but then those little reveals mean more pleats and that eats up tartan and tartan is money. YOU decide.

Step 5: OK, so this is ROUGH, now....but I have a 24 inch rump "rough split" right? I'm going to cover that with tartan pleated so that there's a 1 inch reveal. That means there's going to be 24 pleats around my backside, yes? If I had wanted 3/4 inch reveals then I'd have 32 pleats. Do you follow that?
For this example I'm going to use 1-inch reveals, but you do your own example with pleat reveals that you want. Remember that for that "traditional look" you want pleat reveals between 1 inch at the largest and 5/8 at the smallest.

Step 6: OK, so I'm going to have roughly 24 pleats around my backside, right? Let's pretend that the tartan sett is 6 inches. (The X-marks tartan sett is a bit bigger than that. I just measured mine and it's 6 3/8 inches.). Well, if I assume one sett per pleat, which is right, then:

24 setts x 6 inches per sett = 144 inches, which equals 12 feet, or four yards.

I will be using four yards of this tartan to cover me rumpside with pleats.

Step 7: For a guy my size, I know that I will use roughly a yard of tartan for the over-apron and the deep pleat, and another yard for the reverse pleat and the under-apron. If you are small....say a butt/hip measurement under 36, then you might use 3/4 of a yard. If you are a seriously big guy with a butt/hip measurement over 54 then you might use 1.25 yards.


Step 8: Add it up.

pleats: 4 yards
under-apron: 1 yard
Over-apron: 1 yard

TOTAL: 6 yards.

And that is why I usually make myself 6 yard kilts.

Now, you do the exact same process with your measurements and your desired pleat reveals and sett sizes to estimate how much tartan you need to buy for your next kilt.

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If I wanted 3/4 inch reveals then....

24 inch rump...3/4 inch reveals, means 32 pleats

32 pleats x 6 inch sett = 192 inches of cloth...or 5 1/3 yards

Add in one yard for the over-apron and one yard for the under apron and I get 7 1/3 yards....Thus I'd buy 4 yards of double-width cloth and have a bit left over since you usually (not always) can't buy cloth in anything less than half-yard fractions. Besides, it's good to have a bit extra anyway, just in case.

I would call that an "eight yard kilt" though in fact it REALLY has 7 1/3 yards of fabric in it.

I hope this is helpful...