More Great Kilt Dimensions

[MacHenderson]

Finally. I can afford to buy the material needed to do this.
Okay, so me and my daddio are getting ready to purchase tartan so we can make a couple of Great Kilts. The fabric we're purchasing is 60" (152 cm) wide. We're both approximately 22" (56 cm) from knee to waist, and 21" (53 cm) from waist to shoulder.
Now normally, you buy the nine or eight yards, cut it in half width-wise, and then sew it together length-wise, giving you 120" in width, correct? I can't remember exactly.
However, seeing as how this fabric is so wide, it would reach about 8 or 9 inches (20 or 22 cm) beyond our shoulder. Is this enough, or do we need that double width?

[MacWage]

Not quite.

The 60" IS the vertical deminsion. It is FINE as is.

The triple would be of the WAIST or HIP (perpendicular to your height).
For my but, it works out to 4 yards. For a friend of mine, who has a 72" waist. he needs AT LEAST 6 yards.

You CAN get more, but the 3x is MINIMAL.

For me, mine are 60" x 4 yards.
I am 6' 2."

Make sense?

The "normal" kilt waist to knee measurement is only relevant when you either put it on OR make a sewn in drawstring, waist, et cetera.

[Brian F]

From what I've learned (from other XMark-ers) is that the whole "cutting in half" deal was done back in the day, when they only made single width (30") fabric.

60" wide fabric will be fine. Check this thread out for help:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=28188

~Yeti

[MacWage]

Now normally, you buy the nine or eight yards, cut it in half width-wise, and then sew it together length-wise, giving you 120" in width, correct? I can't remember exactly.

With 8 yards, I'd have 2 belted plaids. I'd simply rip/cut it into 2 four-yard pieces.

My first belted plaid was 8 yards of wool. I IMMEDIATELY knew it was WAS to big, so I cut off 2 yards. I later removed 2 more, so it is now 4 yards. One of the 2 yards stretches is a blanket and the other is now a "beater" kilt (my "jedi" kilt).

[MacHenderson]

Only 4 yards eh? Well, that'll make my wallet happy, but why do I always see mentions of 7 to 9 yards of material needed?
Yeah, I saw your thread Yeti. I needed some clarification though, as I wasn't seeing mention of 60" fabric.
Okay, so it doesn't matter if the extra plaid doesn't drape down the entire length of your torso? Just as long as it comes to the shoulder? If so, hey, great! I'll be able to get that new belt buckle I wanted after all.

I forgot to mention the pleats, because we figured that out all ready. On the Henderson tartan, we're going to need 6" of material per pleat, for pleating to the sett, with 12 pleats in total, making a grand total of 72" of material required for our pleats...yeah, 4 yards should be plenty.
Have I calculated that right, then? I'd like to know before I go ordering any fabric.

[escherblacksmith]

it was from a magical number of how many 'ells' of cloth were allowed by the King (Henry VIII, if memory serves).

In the end, the more fabric, the deeper the pleats can be, the heavier the fabric will be on you.

I wear a 5 and 8 on occasion. No real difference except for weight.

[MacWage]

The minimum fabric needed depends on your waist/hip size.

The more fabric one uses, the more they have to "deal with" on the top.
12 feet (4 yards) is signicantly less than 24 feet (8 yards).
THIS is where personal opinion and preferences come into play.
For me and my 45 inch rump (loose), 4 yards works well. It also works well with the historic notations of belted plaids. Additionally, I can recreate many of the contemporary depictions of highlanders (from when belted plaids were typical "highland wear."
See:
http://albanach.org/evolution_pt1.htm

Also of interest in this context:
http://albanach.org/drawstring.htm

[M. A. C. Newsome]

King Hery VIII lived from 1491 to 1547. The earliest documented evidence we have of the feilidh-mor (belted plaid or great kilt) is from 1594, and we don't get any information telling us much about the length of those garments until much later than that.

The origin of the "7 to 9 yard" myth is most likely from extant eighteenth century military records that do denote these lengths being used for belted plaids, but in single width (usually 25" to 30" wide). This cloth would be cut in half and the peices sewn together to create a double width plaid. So a "9 yard" felidh-mohr would end up being 4.5 yards long. From what we know, 4 yards seems to have been about average.

If you are planning out how to pleat your feilidh-mohr to either sett or stripe, you are really over thinking it. These are modern pleating forms used in tailored kilts. (Pleating to the sett, in particular, wasn't used until the very end of the nineteenth century). The belted plaid wasn't even so much pleated as it was gathered.

You may enjoy reading my article on the belted plaid here:
http://albanach.org/kilt.html

[escherblacksmith]

Ah, I didn't say it had to do with the kilt, per se, it did have to do with cloth to the folk of Ireland and Scotland. That is what was drummed into me as the myth behind the 9yd bit. As you noted, there are many stories along that line.

[MacHenderson]

Okay, great. This helps a lot. I'll post some pics when we finish them. Thanks everyone.