Hi Mark's Mom,

You have the right book for making a kilt. The book does not cover everything as Barb assumes a certain level of sewing experience.

The splits you have chosen are good and I would go with them. I also use 27" lengths for my own kilts as I am 6'5".

I would recommend the double sett for pleating as 6" is quite adequate. Since you don't have 8 yards, I would recommend a reveal for the pleats that would work with the amount of fabric that you have. You can use any pleat reveal that you want and can choose the reveal and number of pleats depending on how much material you have.

You should follow the instructions in Barb's book for laying out the kilt. If you have 5 yards of fabric, lay out the underapron per the instructions. I would lay out the overapron and mark where the last can be per Barb's book and mark the minimum distance from the center of the aprons to the first and last pleat, leaving the room for the inverted and reverse pleats. Then you can mark the pleats (I use pins at this point) till I figure out where the back center pleat is and all the other pleats.

Final step is to mark each pleat with chalk and remove the pins because they tend to stick into your hands, fingers, and legs as you pleat.

Cheers and good luck,