RR, first let me thank you for the pictures. I studied them for several minutes and arrived at a tentative conclusion - one that will need to be tried out by needle, thread and fabric.

In regards to your new purchase, there is the option of shortening the kilt - intolerable to any purist and "wrong-headed" to any sensible person - and creating a new selvedge. This could be done by machine or by hand and would have to be done perfectly. This new selvedge - not hemmed - would take the pleating just fine.

Before doing that, however, a fitting should be done to determine if the fell length (sewn down portion of the pleats) will still be correct. These military kilts with 2-inch rises ride really high. Get the horizontal center line of the top buckle up into your natural waist and see if the top part fits correctly by sticking your index fingers into the first pleat on each side (left and right) and slide them up to where the stitched part begins. Your fingertips should rest atop the point of your leg bone where it enters your hip bone (everyone sing along now!), or the pivot points when you lift your legs (one at a time, please. We don't need a new jumping Hamish pose. ) If the top part of your kilt fits O.K...

.. then we can talk about the length.

Quote Originally Posted by Retro Red View Post
Hey, Bruce, I PM'd Barb T about the possiblity of hemming my RRS kilt, here's her reply -

I do know military box pleated kilts, and they would be extremely difficult to hem. It's possible to hem a heavy-weight, knife-pleated kilt, but a military box pleated kilt has too many little folds to hem well. I hate to say it, but I think you're stuck.
I agree with Barb's assessment on hemming an MBP kilt, even in the "lighter" weight 16 oz worsted - and totally impossible in the 18+ oz fabrics of yesteryear.

So, here is where we entered this conversation previously... There is the option of shortening the kilt - intolerable to any purist and "wrong-headed" to any sensible person - and creating a new selvedge. This could be done [by a non-sensible person.] This new selvedge - not hemmed - would take the pleating just fine.

w2f, one of many non-sensible persons on this forum.