Splits and measurements!?!?

[Barb T]

And here's my take. First, add 1/2" to both measurements, so that you have a little expansion room. You'll eventually put the buckles on at your actual measurements, so it will fit fine.

So, starting with 34 1/2 and 42 1/2, here's what I'd do:

waist: apron 18 1/2; pleats 16

hips: apron 20 3/4; pleats 21 3/4

The apron edge taper is a hair over an inch on each side, which is definitely do-able. The 2 1/2" difference between the apron and the pleats at the waist will snug the kilt into the small of your back.

You have a nice trim waist, and you want a full inch more in the pleats at the hips than in the apron. But you definitely do **not** want more than that. If you put more than an inch extra into the pleats at the hips, you'll have issues with "the wave" across the back.

So one split that might work for you is waist: 18" apron 16" pleats, and hips: 20" apron and 22" pleats.

A little more on this. I have never made a kilt with a 2" differential at the hips. And the only time I would ever go with more than 1" is if the person had a teeny little waist and a chubby little butt. That would be the case below, which is me in my kilt. I used a 1 1/2" differential so that the kilt would go around my more than ample behind:





But I've never met a guy who needs that much differential - guys just aren't shaped like that (and, in truth, kilts aren't meant for people of my shape, and I wouldn't wear one if I weren't a piper). But, back to splts, I commonly make kilts for guys with *no* differential. If someone has a belly, I use the same measurement for the apron and the pleats at the hips.

Hope this helps!


Oh - also - don't do this by trying to measure an existing kilt. Many kiltmakers add some to the actual measurements when they're laying a kilt out - and, in fact, if you follow the directions in The Art of Kiltmaking, you'll see that the center stripe in the apron isn't actually dead center, because you bump the right hand apron edge out an inch to make sure that the fringe covers the underapron. So measuring a kilt doesn't help unless you know exactly what adjustments the kiltmaker has made.

And post pics when you get done!