5 yard Vs. 8 yard

[Gunnar]

What is the difference of a 5 yard kilt and an 8 yard kilt? Is the 8 yard longer down to your legs or .....?

I'm thinking of buying a 5 yard casual kilt from Scotweb and I was wondering if it is as long as the 8 yard? When I see guys wearing the 8 yard, they have it so high up...like it's pulled over the hip bones. Is the casual shorter?

[McMurdo]

No not longer down the leg, there is more material around you, thus more pleats. I have several 5 yard kilts and several 8 yard kilts they all have rotation, the 8 yarders are better in winter than the 5 yarders.

[Carolina Kiltman]

The yardage for a kilt is the amount of material used in making the kilt. The kilt fabric as originally woven was about 27" (68cm) wide. Modern looms do a "double width" 54 - 60 " (137-153 cm). So the kilt usually is made of two pieces, joined end to end. The actual amount used will depend on a combination of the size around the hips of the person, and the distance of the pattern repeat (called the sett). The heavier the fabric, the larger the sett.

So a slender person (less than 40 " (100cm) around the hips would take about 7 yards, an extremely large person (like my wee brother) took almost 10 yards!

The difference is in the depth of the pleats. The deeper the pleats, the better the drape and "swish". The five yard one would have fewer pleats (wider reveal) and far less of the glorious "swish".

While tartan is expensive, the difference in cost is well worth it. Most of what you are paying for is the highly skilled labour of the kiltmaker. A highly skilled one can turn our about two kilts per week. Factor in the overhead, and the price becomes very understandable.?

[Highlander31]

The 8yd has a better swing to it due to having more pleats. The unbiased opinion of my wife is,...she prefers to see the swing of the 8yd kilt.

[ardchoille]

In a 5 yard kilt, the pleats are more shallow and less in number than those of an 8 yard kilt due to the smaller amount of cloth in the kilt. Matt Newsome has written an excellent article which might help explain things.

[Carolina Kiltman]

What is the difference of a 5 yard kilt and an 8 yard kilt? Is the 8 yard longer down to your legs or .....?

And after all I wrote, I didn't answer this part of the question

No, the length of the kilt is what you specify, based on your personal measurements. Mine, for instance meaures about 25-26 " (64-66cm). both casual and "Tank" alike. My "wee" brother (who is several inches shorter than I am, hence the "wee" even though he outweighs me by a considerable margin, wears about a 23" (58cm) length kilt.

[Alan H]

Note that the depth of the pleats depends on both the amount of material made and the size of the sett. sett = the repeating pattern of the tartan.

So for example, a lot of the polyester-viscose tartans have somewhat smaller setts than their woolen brethren. Certainly the sett on my polyester-viscose Weathered MacNaughton is smaller than the sett on my clansmans wool tartan kilts. Thus, the pleats on my 5-6 yard polyester-viscose kilt aren't as deep as the ones on their wool kilts. is that BAD BAD BAD BAD?

I dunno....ask them how hot they are on a nice sunny day when it's 100 degrees outside the Clan Tent, eh?

It doesn't matter HOW much material you have, there are limits on the size of the pleat reveal that will work. A one-inch reveal is OK, it's a bit large for a traditional "8-yard" (which almost certainly won't have exactly 8 yards of material in it) kilt. You'll get a pleat reveal of about an inch, **generally speaking** in a 5-6 yard kilt. 3/4 of an inch is about right for a more "traditional" kilts' pleat reveal. OK, so if the sett is 5 3/4 inches across, and the pleat reveal is 3/4 of an inch that would mean that 5 inches of cloth is taken up in the "buried" part of the rest of the pleat, huh? So that pleat would be 2.5 inches deep.

What if the sett was 8 inches across (one MIGHTY big sett). If the pleat reveal was still 3/4 of an inch, then that would leave 7 1/4 inch "buried", giving a 3 5/8th inch deep sett.

What if the sett was 4 inches across (probably too small for an adults kilt). If the pleat reveal was still 3/4 of an inch, that would leave 3 1/4 inch "buried", giving a pleat that was 1 5/8 inch deep. I have two kilts with a 4.5 inch wide sett and they're OK, but I have to say that I can't recommend making a kilt from tartan with a sett smaller than that. you can DO it, sure it'll WORK, but to my eye, it doesn't look right. Note that this is just MY HUMBLE OPINION, eh?

so, you see, the depth of the pleat really depends very heavily on the size of the sett. If a Kilt Nazi sniffs as how shallow your pleats are, and you have a kilt made from cloth with at least a 5 inch sett with a pleat reveal of an inch or less, all they are doing is showing that they don't know their rumpus from their selvedge....ignore them....the sett of the cloth pretty much defines how deep the pleats will be. The majority of people at any Highland Games WEAR kilts, but haven't a clue about how they're made.

How's that for a lecture?

5 yard and 8 yard kilts both have their place. Note that an "eight yard kilt"...that really, truly had EIGHT YARDS of fabric in it, is almost impossible to make for a guy with a 26 inch waist. I mean, you'd have to add a mess of wierd extra folds in it for no purpose other than to just use up material. It's a total waste of money. On the other hand, for a guy with a 55 inch waist, and cloth with a 9 inch sett, eight yards may not nearly be enough.

Here's a very, very general rule.....if you want the most "standard, traditional" kilt around, then get the "eight yard kilt". Be prepared for more weight, better "swing and swish" and for it to be a generally warmer garment. If you want a lighter weight kilt, for example if you're primarily going to wear it to the Games in the summer, then a five yard kilt might make sense. It's cooler, nobody at the Games but the Kilt Nazi's will care, and it will cost less.

Depending on your kiltmaker you can also take my route, and request a "six yard kilt". In a six yard kilt, the extra yard goes into the pleats, and you'll usually get between five and eight more pleats out of a 6 yard then you will out of an five yard. You get a bit more "swish" without going whole hog.

[george7]

Size of the individual wearing the kilt matters, too. A 31" waist and a 41" waist in a 5 yard kilt will look very different.