a 9 yard

[Barb T]

What's critical is the hip measurement (unless the waist measurement is bigger) and the size of the sett. Someone with 46" hips might need only 8 yards if the tartan has a 7" sett, whereas someone with 42" hips might need 9 yards if the tartan has a 10-11" sett. And there are tartans out there with huge setts. The biggest I've seen is a 16" sett (and that was, in fact, kilting tartan!!!).

And, I agree. There is no way you could use 9 yards in a great kilt! You'd be completely muffled.

[furrycelt]

i'd never heard "the whole 9 yards" refer to kilts ever until i joined this forum. i'd always heard the phrase was from the military. some large belt-fed gun with the rounds kept in 27 foot long belts.

yeah, 27 feet of fabric does some like alot.

[haukehaien]

There's a huge discussion of the phrase origin here:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=15664