Wearing a sporran

[freddie]

I'm a fairly big guy (46inch waist) and have always had a problem with my sporran chain. Not having 'hips' to sling it around it falls below my belly and gathers up the loose material under it and looks a mess. I've tried hooking the chains over the kilt buckles which helps and I recently bought an American designed 'Craigie sporran sling' which snaps onto the belt either side of the buckle and alows the sporran to hang free at the correct hight. The only trouble here is that if the sporran is too heavy it pulls the belt down at the front which again looks a mess (although of course wearing the belt tighter would help). Has anyone else encountered this problem and could they give me some advice ?
Yours Aye - Freddie

[mexpiper]

Hello, i seem to have the same problem. To solve the problem I put the sporran chain the closet fartherst hole (tighter I guess). I than put my kilt belt on ( I use the belt loops) than I put the sporran chain on top of the belt.
It seems to work fine for me. Since I have done this i do not have a lot of problems with bunching up. Since I my waist and hips are only off by 1 , i do need to use the belt loops and keep my belt very tight, So the kilt does not slide off.

[James]

Your kilt should have two sets of loops-broad ones for a belt, and small ones for the sporran.

That keeps everything nicely in place.

James

[Pour1Malt]

it is no uncommon in Scotland tae weir yur sporran through yur belt loops alaing with yur belt....

[Jerry]

it is no uncommon in Scotland tae weir yur sporran through yur belt loops alaing with yur belt....

Gee, I've been doing something correct all this time and I didn't know it.

[Heath]

Gee, I've been doing something correct all this time and I didn't know it.

me too!

[The Wizard of BC]

The two loops on the back of some kilts are sporran loops. Not belt loops. The belt should not hold the kilt up, the straps should do the work. The belt is decorative only. If your kilt is slipping down, cinch in the straps. If you're at the last hole, it may be time to have your kilt re-sized.
Then insure your wearing the kilt in the proper position. The top straps should be at your natural waist. Or about one inch above your naval.

To better hold the sporran in place the first thing to do is to get rid of the chain and switch to a strap. Then remove the sporran loops and relocate them further forward. Approximatly one inch behind the edges of the apron. This will give almost the same downward angle as the belt hangers you mentioned without pulling the belt down.

The last thing is to tighten up on the sporran strap till the sporran is just barely below the belt buckle. Not the book advertised position, but for "Gentlemen of Substance" It will keep the bunching to a minimum as it keeps the sporran on your belly, and not hanging below, which causes the bunching of the aprons.

By wearing the kilt in the proper location and keeping the sporran on your belly, not under it, everything will hang free and straight. This also gives a very slimming effect.

It is only a Contemporary Kilt with pockets instead of sporran and a sloping waisband that can be worn under the belly. And even then not successfully.

Don't believe me,,,,try this trick. Wrap a bath towel around yourself. No belt, no straps. Just a single tuck at the waist. You'll find only when it is worn above the naval will it stay on without you holding it.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Freddie writes:

I recently bought an American designed 'Craigie sporran sling' which snaps onto the belt either side of the buckle and alows the sporran to hang free at the correct hight. The only trouble here is that if the sporran is too heavy it pulls the belt down at the front which again looks a mess (although of course wearing the belt tighter would help).

This problem is, I think, where the sporran slings really show their usefullness. Some men, with waists much larger than their hips, really have a problem with any kind of sporran belt. No matter how tightly you try and arrange things, the sporran naturally wants to find its way south, and you end up with what you describe -- your kilt bunched up and looking horrible.

The sporran slings are a godsend, as they keep the sporran in its place and don't cause the kilt to bunch.

If you are having the problem you describe, with your sporran pulling your belt down and giving you problems, one of two things could be wrong. 1) You could simply be carrying too much in your sporran. If you have one of the larger types and have stuffed it full, I could see this happening. But remember, you are not a kangaroo. You don't really need to take everything and the kitchen sink with you. Wallet. Car keys. Perhaps a cell phone. If you are hauling around more than what would easily fit in your pants pockets, get a knapsack or something. Don't try and keep it all in your sporran.

2) Second problem, and more likely the case, is that you simply don't have your kilt belt on tight enough. I see enough men walking around with their kilt belts slipping down *without* anything hanging from them. You don't want to cut off your circulation, but it should be tight enough to stay in place. If you have a problem with the standard kilt belt (by which I mean the ones that utilize the clip on rectangualr buckles) you might try a belt with an open buckle that you can really cinch up to get a proper fit.

James writes:

Your kilt should have two sets of loops-broad ones for a belt, and small ones for the sporran.

I've never seen a kilt with two sets of loops on it. I've seen kilts with no loops at all. And I've seen kilts with loops in the back, which as Steve has already pointed out are meant for the sporran strap, not the belt. Though people today typically use them for their belt. But I've never seen a kilt with more than one set of loops or keepers. So that's a new one on me.

But I don't think using the loops in the back or not is going to really fix Freddie's problem here. I've seen guys shaped such that just wasn't helping. The sporran slings are definitely the best answer to this problem I have found.

[Big Paul]

l.

To better hold the sporran in place the first thing to do is to get rid of the chain and switch to a strap.

The last thing is to tighten up on the sporran strap till the sporran is just barely below the belt buckle. Not the book advertised position, but for "Gentlemen of Substance" It will keep the bunching to a minimum as it keeps the sporran on your belly, and not hanging below, which causes the bunching of the aprons.

By wearing the kilt in the proper location and keeping the sporran on your belly, not under it, everything will hang free and straight. This also gives a very slimming effect.

Very sound advice!

That is what I do!

[freddie]

Thanks for the advice guys. I do find that my Sporran sling is the best idea. Here's another thing I've thought about and am going to try it. I hang my kilts on my wife's skirt hangers, the ones with clips at either end, and I'm going to remove the clips from the bar and use them to clip the sporran chains to the top of the kilt so that the chains hang from just in front of my hips. This should make the chains appear more authentic. Anyway I'll give it a try and let you know how it turns out.