How much cloth do I need?...my answer

[cacunn]

This is good information, could you give some guidelines for those of us that either have no rump or excess waist. For example 56 waist 51 rump. Do you pleat for the rump and instead of tapering to the waist spread to the waist?

I'm losing weight but I think the new president will be running for a second term before rump is greater than waist.

[Alan H]

This is good information, could you give some guidelines for those of us that either have no rump or excess waist. For example 56 waist 51 rump. Do you pleat for the rump and instead of tapering to the waist spread to the waist?

Having never made a kilt like that, I'm going to default to the REAL pro's, like Barb and Steve and Rocky. PM them, as they might miss this thread.

I think Steve from Freedom Kilts would actually build a Freedom Kilt with "slope" for a body shape like this. That means that the kilt sits lower than navel level, and actually slopes downwards, forward from hips to the median line below the waist. Thus it sits "below" most of the storage unit, up front....but you don't do that with a traditional kilt..

[Robinhood]

Rather than take the greater of either waist or hip measurement
and dividing it by two, I measure around the back of the hips
from where I want my pleats to start and end. This tells me
exactly how much fabric will be in the pleats, which is more than
going by half the total measurement. By the way, my waist is
the same size as my hips, but I still have a taper in the pleats
from the hips to waist. This is because my waist sticks out
the front, not the back.

[The Wizard of BC]

Alan,

Your post on the "Slope" I use is slightly misleading in that I don't slope after the fact.

When ordering a Freedom Kilt the customer decides where the waistband should be Any slope present in his shape is then measured and accounted for during the construction.

If the customer wishes to wear his kilt at full, traditional, height there may be very little slope and therefore the waistband may not dip below the naval.

The slope measurement I ask for is only there to account for the natural shape of humans and not a "standard" or set figure.

I have found that by sloping the waist the kilt will not develop the unsightly pucker in the front apron. This slope is more prominant when the kilt is worn lower, and less prominant the higher it is worn.

To illustrate this, wrap a bath towel around yourself where it naturally wants to ride and where you wish to wear your kilt. Then turn sideways to a mirror. If the towel takes a natural position that is higher in the back and lower in the front, This Is Slope.

[The Wizard of BC]

And please remember that Alan's method of determining the amount of fabric is what you should use if you are using Tartan fabric. Depth of pleat will be determined by the Sett of the Tartan.

If you are using solid fabric, you set the Sett size. So a solid kilt may have a totally differant amount of fabric that one of Tartan.

Knowing the Sett size is not critical when ordering your fabric only when making the kilt.

[The Wizard of BC]

cacunn,

Kilts are never built smaller in the hip than in the waist.

If your waist measurement seems to be smaller than your hip there may, and I stress, may, be a problem with how you are measuring.

When measuring for your hips remember that the aprons should fall vertically from your waist in the front. So if your belly sticks out some, take that into account when measuring. Pass the tape measure around the back side of your hips and then you will need to hold it away from your front to simulate where the apron will hang to.

The only case where you will have no taper is if you can back up to a wall and your spine, at the kidney area, touches before your butt.
If your butt touches first, then there will be taper.

In fact that gives me a neat idea --- If you are a "gentleman of substance", When measuring your hip, stand with your belly touching a wall and measure around your hips and hold the tape measure out till, in the front, it also touches the wall. Voila, instant apron simulation.

It is the larger, hip measurement that is used to determine the amount of fabric. So "measure twice, cut once".

[JimB]

cacunn,

"measure twice, cut once".

DOH!!
I always get that mixed up!!!

[cacunn]

Steve
Thank for the information. When thinking about the design I would envision the drape of the aprons in front. Since I have no hip and a large belly I realized that the drop off from the navel to the hips would have to be taken into account, but did not take this into account when measuring.

I will use your suggestion of hugging a wall when measuring, or as just came to mind (if I have one before a second cup of coffee) I have some poster board. Wrap the poster board around the front and use this to simulate the apron. Make sure that it is hanging straight and measure around the hips. This should give an approximation of the adjusted hip size of a gentleman of dimension.

Now all I have to do is get off my dimensions and start making my first kilt.