Velcro Question

[Robinhood]

If the kilt is to be made of wool, think carefully
about where the hooks will be snagging. It
helps a lot to use canvas on the inside of the
waistband, and on the outside of the waistband
of the under apron. You still have to be
careful, and be sure to store the kilt with
the velcro "closed."

If you are using velcro for both ends (rather
than a buckle for the right "outside" end, you
will need to leave some of the velcro showing
back from the under apron to be able to
pull it tighter when needed (without having
the end of the outer apron sticking out).
If you use hooks on this part of the under
apron, your sweaters will be snagging on it.

The same sort of thing happens to your
snaggable shirt tails at the end of the
under apron, if the hooks are on the
outer apron.

To solve these problems, on the under
apron use hooks to the left of your
belly button, and loops on right of your
belly button. Of course the opposite
for the outer apron. You don't need
to cover the entire length of both
aprons.

With the velcro split like this, the ends
of each apron will have hooks, and need
only have enough velcro to grab securely.
Loops may be more generous, and extend
as far as any possible position the hooks
may reach.

[JimB]

I've made six kilts now and the only closure I have ever made has been velcro. For me, I cannot imagine spending all that time on a buckles that will be hidden by my belt anyway.
I use a 3 inch strip on the left of the apron and a 3 inch strip on the right.
So far it has worked out very well and has given me more than enough room for what fluctuations I may have in my waist. Of course I wear a belt and that helps hold on the kilt too.
I judge 3 inches on each side as a good compromise between usefullness and economy. Velcro can be pricy.

[cacunn]

I only have an X-Kilt with full Velcro; my question is the difference in drape/hand of the aprons with Velcro versus buckles. With buckles the apron is attached at a “single” point at each end. This would allow the body of apron the hang free, with little or no distortion.

With Velcro the points of attachment are wider and have a greater chance of bunching and distorting the drape/hang of the apron.

What are your experiences?

[herminator]

I do about 5 inches on each side.
As cacunn wrote this gives the apron more swing.
I once had a "kilt" with full velcro, it was terribly stiff!

[Tartan Hiker]

Maybe I should just wait until I have pics (and I'm far too lazy to try to draw it) but I have an idea for a different type of velcro closure that I'll be test driving as soon as my fabric arrives from Celtic Croft. I'll defintely be posting pics and a review as soon as I get it stitched up. It should satisfy all of the concerns posted above.