I agree completely with Matt about the second strap. The only kilts that should have them are dancer's kilts, because it helps keep the apron edge from flying up when the dancer is dancing (particularly on a windy day). I try to talk guys out of having that second strap, because almost everyone pulls it tight, and the kilt doesn't look good across the front. Just the fact that the second strap needs to be buckled _loosely_ tells you right there that it's not doing anything structural in terms of holding the kilt on or making the kilt "fit properly".

And I do have to disagree about the hand stitching part. I would put my hand stitched pleats (where the stitching is completely invisible) up against anything that could be done by a machine. I have yet to see a machine that can stitch a pleat from the outside and not have any of the stitching show. Maybe there is a machine out there that I don't know about that can do this, but I'm skeptical that computer control is the answer here. (Note that I'm not talking about machine stitching pleats from the inside as Rocky does so well).

Barb