It's Hot Out There! (Couple of Kilt Observations)

[Bugbear]

It's been up around 118+ degrees F over here in the low Arizona desert; I think that's around 48 degrees C. Thankfully, it has not been very humid for the last several days. During this I have been able to test a few things with my kilts.

First, I can report that removing all of the excess, internal fabric from the pleats above the fell area (sometimes called "pillow butt") on my eight yard, wool kilt in the conversion from casual to traditional made a huge, huge difference. There was a lot of materiel stacked up around the waist/hip area, and it did trap a lot of heat especially in the belt area. I now have first hand experience of "before and after" with that excess fabric and understand some of the reasons why it is removed on a traditional, eight yard kilt.
It's a big big plus for the traditional and non-casual kilts without all that excess materiel in the heat, but also any kilt without all the layers up above the fell area. BTW, Lewis hose aren't bad, it's the shoes that get very hot, but that is a different issue.
* MAJOR DISCLAIMER: I'm not suggesting that anyone should do that to a "pillow butt" kilt unless at least first doing a whole bunch of study on how a traditional kilt is constructed and lots of sewing practice; However, it might be something to keep in mind when trying to decide which kind of kilt to buy in relation to hot weather. Otherwise, you might as well just buy Barb's book and make your own traditional kilt. *

Switching Types of Kilt:

With my cotton kilt, I am usually wearing it in place of a pair of shorts. I can say it is more comfortable to walk around in than shorts like the denim shorts. The air flow is noticeably better. The heavy canvas waistband does add a bit of thickness, and I wear my shirt on the inside of the kilt. I didn't notice a huge issue with heat trapping in that area, but a little of that seems to go on.

I also notice something interesting while standing out in the sun. The heat from the direct sunlight does transfer to a noticeable degree through the fabric of the shorts, which is directly against my skin in several places. The fabric on the kilt isn't always touching my skin down at my legs, and the multiple layers of fabric don't seem to transfer the heat from the direct sunlight. I do my best to stay out of the direct sunlight, but it is an interesting effect of the loose layers of fabric. I think this type of kilt does a pretty good job of replacing shorts, and it's also nice for walking around the yard and so on in the evening when it's cooled down a little.