waistband tartan for a very tall man's kilt

[Barb T]

A quick question, related but unrelated...
...if you don't mind my asking, how tall is this person? I am, what I consider to be tall (6 foot 3 inches) and a 24" length works fine for me (kilt to the top of the knee).

I guess this means I'm not so tall after all.

It's always hard to generalize, because different people have different waist-hip distances even if they are the same height overall. I've made kilts for some tall people, but the only person who was tall enough for the waist band issue to raise its head was about 6'4" tall. He was a bit high waisted, which accentuated the length, and I think his kilt overall was 26 1/2", including the 2" rise. I had single width fabric that was about 27 1/2" wide, which didn't leave me enough for a top band. If I had had double width fabric, I would have been all set.

Having said all this, it's a very rare person who really needs a kilt this long. Lots of people measure themselves inaccurately and initially send me lengths that are an inch or even several inches too long. When I chip away at it, and I get them to measure properly, most guys come in at 20-23" plus a 2" rise. And this includes the tall ones. Paradoxically, women typically have longer kilt lengths for a given height than men do.

[bonnie heather]

This kilt was for a man 6' 6" who needed a 27" long kilt (that includes a 2" rise).
Today I was finishing up a 24 1/2" kilt for a man who is 6' tall. The tartan was double width and there was a 6" wide strip left for the waistband. No problem. But..... the tartan pattern in that strip (the other scraps,too) didn't work for the 3rd buckle tab (the lower one). What to do? What to do? I ended up piecing together 2 pieces so the tartan would match and the piecing would be hidden behind.
This causes me to wonder....
Do kiltmakers save all the tartan scraps from all the kilts they make?
If so, do kiltmakers help eachother out by sharing tartan scraps for such cases when we need just that little bit more of tartan and don't quite have enough? Or for when we're doing an alteration or a repair on an older kilt and need just a wee bit for a patch or to make a top band a few inches longer? What do other kiltmakers do?

[Barb T]

Most people use what's left over from cutting out the pleats to make the buckle tabs. This will work if you've pleated the kilt to the sett. It _won't_ work if you've pleated to the stripe, because you have to match the stripe in the buckle tab but what you've cut out doesn't contain the stripe (in most cases, anyway).

Did you try the pleat cut-outs?

Also, depending on how the pleats lay out, I sometimes have a strip that I cut off at the join or at the underapron edge that is a full tartan repeat or close enough to use for buckle tabs.

If I've pleated to the stripe, and I don't have anything left to match the stripe, I match the buckle tab horizontally, and I don't worry about matching the vertical stripe. It looks fine.

And, I used to save all my scraps, but now I pretty much ship them off to the customer with the kilt. I found that they were just accumulating on my shelf and I wasn't using them for anything. I save a few scraps to add to my swatch collection, but that's it.

Also - when I put the top band on, I fold in a tail that's 5-6" long and tack it to the inside of the kilt. It never shows, but, if the kilt needed alteration, there's some matching top band attached right to the kilt.

And what with dye lots, thread weights, multiple mills, etc., the chances of me having a scrap of a particular tartan that would match something that someone else made awhile ago is slim, I think.

[bonnie heather]

Thanks for your thoughts, suggestions and help. Now I'll know what to do in the future in case of a buckle tab or waistband tartan challenge. I do try to think ahead when setting up the kilt, before cutting the tartan, to anticipate the matching tartan I'll need for tabs, waistband and patch for the 3rd strap. But I'm still learning and realizing there are different approaches to things and different possible solutions. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and expertise. I look up to you very much. Your amazing quality and high standards are a great example for all of us.
...bonnie heather

[Tartan Hiker]

I've been thinking about this problem for a while now, and I have another possible solution. I've never tried it personally, and the experts may immediately see a flaw in the plan, but here it is anyway...

The center waste strip is too narrow on it's own. Cutting it in half and sewing it together edgewise would give you at least 75% more width, perhaps a bit more depending on your skill and the actual width of the pieces, but that might not give you enough length to cover the entire top of the kilt.

Since the under apron edge is not really visible, splice a piece of black cloth to the end of your tartan to make it longer. The tartan then covers the over apron edge and the edge of the pleated section, but the other material covers the under-apron edge.

(Quote from Barb T.) "Also - when I put the top band on, I fold in a tail that's 5-6" long and tack it to the inside of the kilt. It never shows, but, if the kilt needed alteration, there's some matching top band attached right to the kilt."

And this is the most amazing idea I've heard lately. This is the kind of thing that separates stitchers and artists.

[bonnie heather]

Leaving a 5-6" tail hidden inside is such a good idea. Barb, do you leave the 5-6" of tartan at each end of the top band?
An alteration came up that the waist needed to be made about 4" larger.(The hips were ok.) I fixed the aprons and pleats. But the top band was a problem, since it wasn't long enough, plus I needed to match the tartan pattern on the apron. That left 7-8" of the underapron that needed a top band. I thought it would be ok to use solid color fabric because the underapron wouldn't show. But my teacher, said that if there's no matching tartan, the next best thing would be to use a scrap of tartan that would blend (similar color). That worked. It makes me think, it would be good to start collecting different tartan scraps. They could come in handy.

[Barb T]

Leaving a 5-6" tail hidden inside is such a good idea. Barb, do you leave the 5-6" of tartan at each end of the top band?

I leave a tail at each end of the top band. That means there's enough to add to both the apron and underapron edges.

If I didn't have enough for an alteration, I'd be tempted to rob a little from the underapron facing, if there were enough there.

B

[ChattanCat]

A quick question, related but unrelated...
...if you don't mind my asking, how tall is this person? I am, what I consider to be tall (6 foot 3 inches) and a 24" length works fine for me (kilt to the top of the knee).

I guess this means I'm not so tall after all.

Yes, you are a runt. :need a smiley that has a hand pushing down on my little brother's head smiley: I am 6' 5" and have to deal with a 27" long kilt. I select material that is at least 56.5" wide. Had to pass up some good deals too.

it's a very rare person who really needs a kilt this long.

Yes, I am quite rare. I'm one of a kind!