Kilt Length - Above Knee or Mid-Knee?

[KyleRoy]

I wear mine just to the top of the knee. I am not tall, and any longer would not look right. Unfortunately ready-made kilts tend to be about an inch and a half too long for me.
Someone once told me that because of the length, mine was a 'hunting kilt'

[48th Highlander]

The way they measured perfect length when I was in the Regiment was to kneel keeping the rest of you perfectly vertical (at attention). The kilt should just barely touch the floor.

[The Wizard of BC]

This old story about being measured for a kilt while kneeling on the floor is actually an old kiltmaker trick.

You can find the anatomical waist fairly easily. Just place your fingers just below your ribs and bend sideways. Your fingers will go into a slight hollow. This is the anatomical waist.

A kilt is made by measuring two things. The drop or length from the center of the top buckles down to the hem. There is then added the rise or amount of kilt above the top straps.



If you have a customer kneel down on the floor and measure from the anatomical waist down to the floor you can make the kilt that total length from the hem up to the top of the waist banding.

But here is the trick. You don't put the top buckles at the top of the kilt. They are placed 2-4 inches below the top of the waist banding. This raises the kilt up when it is strapped on.

For example - If the customer kneeling down measures 25 inches from anatomical waist to the floor - you would make the kilt 25 inches in total height. You then install the straps 2 inches down from the top of the kilt.



When the customer puts his kilt on he straps it with the top straps cinching into the anatomical waist. The top of the kilt actually comes up, over the bottom of the ribs.

And the hem comes up that 2 inches off the floor. When the customer stands up the hem is now at exactly the top of the knee cap.

Here is a picture of the top of my traditional kilt. You can plainly see the flare of the top of the kilt above the top straps where it goes up, over the bottom of my ribs.



This kilt is exactly as long from the top of the waist banding down to the floor if I kneel. When I strap this kilt on the hem raises and ends up right at the top of my kneecap.

All of my kilts are made so that the hem is at the top of the knee cap.

[The Wizard of BC]

A word of caution......

The gray kilt in the above photos is one made in accordance with "The Art of Kiltmaking". It is what is described as a Tradional kilt.

Many kilts are made today without the flare above the top straps. The Fell, or sewn-down and tapered area at the back of the kilt tapers in a straight line from the hips to the top of the kilt.
Even if the top straps are located 2 inches below the top of the kilt the smallest part of the kilt is up at the waist banding.

When you strap on a kilt without flare it will drop down until the smallest part of the kilt settles into the smallest part of your body.

The kilt will drop down and the hem will end up at the middle or bottom of the knee. This is what we see so often in the rental company photos. They are not to be take so much as examples of how the kilt should be worn but a testament to the kilts not having the traditional flare above the straps.

I am seeing more and more kilts, from some very reputable names, coming into my shop without the flare. The most common complaint with these is that the kilt does not feel like it can be cinched tight enough to stay up. So the kilts come to me to be re-sized smaller.

I am convinced that this idea of a kilt fitting at mid or bottom of the knee is the result of two things.

One - The kilt was made without the traditional flare.
Two - The owner does not realize that a traditional kilt should be worn so high. He is attempting to wear a traditional kilt down where he is used to wearing pants.

Here is a photo of my traditional kilt being worn. The bottom pencil is pointing at my naval and the top pencil is pointing to the bottom of my breastbone.