waist versus hips question

[Nanook]

If your kilt is measured to exactly 40 inches, sitting will place a lot of strain on the seams, and could cause some real problems.

This is fine if the kilt is intended to fit best when seated. A properly fitting kilt should be quite snug. If its measured to hang around one's rear it will hang and not be snug. Kilts are not muumuus or burlap sacks. A kilt is a fitted garment. For best freedom of movement its best to have the kilt, as tradition puts them, sit high. This cut is generally ill-suited to women. It won't work. Forget it! Don't want to sound like a sound-bite from Al Bundy in "Married with Children" but..

[Barb T]

ALWAYS SIT DOWN WHEN MEASURING YOUR HIPS.

Standing, your hips might be 40 inches. Sitting, you can expect to add several inches to this figure.

If your kilt is measured to exactly 40 inches, sitting will place a lot of strain on the seams, and could cause some real problems.

Well, a kiltmaker takes this into consideration somewhat by measuring somewhat loosely at the hips over a pair of pants. The waist is measured somewhat more snugly over a light shirt.

As I said before, DO NOT fudge or adjust the measurements if a kiltmaker gives you specific measuring instructions. If you do, your kilt will not fit properly.

And there's really no strain on the fell when you sit down. How could there be? The only place that the kilt is held together is at the waist and hip buckle. The hip buckle is placed several inches about the bottom of the fell, so sitting really isn't a problem.

Barb

[Robinhood]

For my own kilts, I measure the back of my waist
from where I want the pleats to start to where they
stop. I do the same for the hips. The difference
between these measurements is how much I
make the pleats taper in the fell.

For the front I measure around the entire waist.
What isn't covered by the pleats like I described
above is made up with the apron.

I could measure the front using the same method
as I described for the back, but it is too easy to
not get the tape measure on the same exact
spots, and have a wrong size kilt.

By the way, the reason I do it this way is because
my waist sticks out in the front as much as by
butt sticks out in the back, giving both the
waist and hips the same measurement even
though I am not cylindrical shaped.