I'm lying awake nights, finishing off the "MacWerner Watch" kilt in my mind (while I slowly stitch pleats during the day). I've gotten to the point where I attach the left-hand buckle to the front apron and the strap to the rear pleat stabilizer/canvas, a la Matt Newsome's style shown here.

My question may arise from differences between box- and knife-pleat construction. I'm making a knife-pleat, and by the time buckles and straps are going on, the stabilizer and canvas will have been thoroughly tacked to the underside of the pleats. Do you just take a lot of care that, while firmly stitching the strap to the canvas, none of your stitches catch on the outermost layer of wool?

The only buckle/strap set I've purchased for kiltmaking had kind of an X-pattern of holes in the leather (for stitching through). I'm thinking it would be better to have holes all around the far (non-buckling) end of the leather strap, and do a lot of whip-stitching around all three sides of that end.

Any insight or tips to be shared here?