Front apron left pleat not laying flat

[Barb T]

There is definitely no flare in the rise above the straps. The narrowest part is at the top band of the kilt, not at the straps. The measurements I posted earlier bear this out as well.

I wrote several things on page 2 of this thread about flare, and it's clear from both your measurements and your photos (I posted zoom-ins on page 2) that your kilt has no flare above the buckle line. How much does a kilt need to flare? Here's an example. My waist is 27 1/2". If I measure 2" above that, where the top of my band kilt sits, my circumference (which is around my lower rib cage) is about 28 1/2"". If my kilt didn't flare an inch from the buckle line to the top, I wouldn't be able to buckle it tightly at the waist, because it would dig into my rib cage. And, if I couldn't buckle it tightly, it would just sag down until the top edge was at my waist. That's the issue with your kilt. I once made a kilt in regimental weight tartan for a knife-maker who wanted to wear the kilt in his forge and asked for a 3" rise. I had to flare the kilt several inches above the buckle line so that it would sit properly and feel comfortable.

I am consistently amazed by how many kiltmakers don't understand the need for flare above the buckle line. Maybe it's because they've never worn a kilt themselves and don't understand the function, or maybe they've never really analyzed the anatomical factor behind the need for a rise. I recently rebuilt a kilt for a person who purchased a custom-made kilt from a fairly well-known kiltmaker. The kilt was tapered all the way to the top in both the pleats and along the apron/underapron edges. I took off the lining and top band, unstitched the top parts of the apron and underapron edges and restitched them straight, and I just stretched the top edge of the kilt above the stabilizer. There was enough flex above the stabilizer that I could get the extra length I needed even without changing the pleats. I stitched the top band back on, and the kilt now had enough flare to stay put when buckled at the waist.

It seems to me that the apron is too narrow and this results in it pulling away at the bottom of the fell and then kicking out at bottom.

When I ask people to measure for a kilt, I ask for a snug (but definitely not tight) measurement over a shirt for the waist, and a loose measurement over a pair of jeans for the hips. I would never, ever measure the hips tight over underwear. If someone has a belly, I use the towel method to fill the space under the belly, and I measure the hips around that.

I think that it's not the width of the apron that contributes to the first pleat kicking forward but, rather, the fact that the hip measurement is too small. It's not the only factor, but it contributes to the apron pull at the hips.

I do agree that the proportions at the hips seem really off to me. You have measured the apron at the hips as ~17" and the pleats in the hips at 19.5". Unless someone has a huge waist/hip differential (more than 11 or 12"), I would never put more than an inch more in the pleats than in the apron at the hips - kilts should look like they have roughly half pleats and half apron. Because the buttocks stick out in the back and the small of the back curves in, I put an inch more in the pleats at the hips than I put in the apron and an inch less in the pleats (commonly an inch and a half or even two, depending on waist/hip differential) at the waist than I put in the apron. This makes the apron/pleats boundary hang nice and vertical when viewed from the side and gives the illusion of a half-and-half split. But 2 1/2" difference in the hips? That puts too much in the pleats and not enough in the apron. That can contribute to "the wave" across the pleats at the bottom of the fell.

The kilt maker doesn't seem to have taken into consideration the way in which the traditional kilt measurement instructions are written: "tightly around waist at the navel" and "from the line used for the waist measurement to mid-knee, or top of knee." Since the straps should be at the waist for a traditional kilt, they should have added 2 inches to the total length. If they had intended the top band to be worn at the waist instead, the fell should have been shortened 2 inches instead and the bottom buckle moved up. In addition, the instructions made no mention of measuring loosely around the seat which probably contributes to the apron pulling away.

First, there isn't a traditional way that measurement instructions are written. Different kiltmakers give different instructions. I assume you followed your kiltmaker's instructions, but, just for the record, it's absolutely critical to take measurements exactly as the kiltmaker instructs.

Second, if the kiltmaker had intended the top of the kilt to be worn at the waist, he/she wouldn't have added a rise (unless this kiltmaker actually doesn't know what a rise is...), and the buckles would have been as close to the top band as possible. So, I think it's virtually certain that your kiltmaker deliberately added a rise. The issue is that he/she didn't know how to shape the rise properly, I'm sorry to say.