Having a Kilt Taken in

[Kamilavalamp]

Is it feasible to try to have a kilt taken in? I've lost a lot of weight and wear the straps as tight as they go. I've heard that if you take it in it will mess up the pleats and the swagger when you move. If it can be taken in without ruining it where would this be done? Can any gentleman's tailor do it or is it a specialty that only trained kiltmakers can do?

[Thekiltedmohawk]

Be on lookout for Wizard of BC/Steve to chime in, and give his honest opinion. Be prepared to answer his questions about your kilt before he can give you his famous solid advice. Best luck!

[bonnie heather]

I'm sure Steve will give you excellent advice!

If you end up deciding to have your kilt altered, I can offer my services, if you'd like. I'm not far from Danbury CT.

For more than 9 years I've been making kilts professionally, and have done more than 220 alterations.

By the way, I'm an advertiser on the XMarks forum.

[jhockin]

You could just move the straps/buckles, as Barb outlines here:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-larger-78931/

I have done this on ( most of) my kilts, due to 3" weight loss.

[Grunthos]

You could just move the straps/buckles, as Barb outlines here:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-larger-78931/

I recommend this approach and found it was quite easy, if you only need to reduce up to 2 or 3 inches.

If you need to remove more than that, it is a little trickier. I tried it to remove about 6 inches, and it worked and looked fine while I was standing around. But whenever I sat down and stood back up, the extra pleats bunched up behind the front apron, and I had to straighten them out with a shake. Not the biggest problem in the world, but I'd rather do without it. I re-did the under apron and reverse pleat to take up the excess.

So use the easy buckle moving technique if you only need to remove up to 2 or 3 inches, or if you are mostly standing while wearing it, or only wear it once a year or so. If not, then look into adjusting the under-apron and reverse pleat to make it fit better (or sell it and swap for a smaller kilt )

If you can put thread in a needle, you can do the strap adjustment. Just follow Barb's posting above and it's pretty straightforward.

[ctbuchanan]

I'm sure Steve will give you excellent advice!

If you end up deciding to have your kilt altered, I can offer my services, if you'd like. I'm not far from Danbury CT.

For more than 9 years I've been making kilts professionally, and have done more than 220 alterations.

By the way, I'm an advertiser on the XMarks forum.

I can recommend Bonnie - she's made me a kilt and altered another one. Very satisfied with the work and she's just over the NY border from Ridgefield.

[marypenny]

May I just chime in as an unpaid advert for Bonnie Green? She made my husband's Red Robertson, pleated to the sett. Turned out beautifully. I highly recommend her!

[Kamilavalamp]

Thanks Bonnie you did a great Job on it!!
I love it and it fits like new!!!

Thanks to everybody for recommending Bonnie!!

[GrainReaper]

Thanks Bonnie you did a great Job on it!!
I love it and it fits like new!!!

Thanks to everybody for recommending Bonnie!!

Fits like new? Ugg I like my kilts broken in a bit....

I kid! Congrats on that new kilt feeling!

[Barb T]

Moving the buckles and straps on a kilt is a simple job and can certainly be done by anyone who is handy with a needle. And, quite frankly, because it doesn't involve any cutting of the tartan, _anyone_ can give it a go without disaster, and even have a couple goes without disaster. So, my advice to anyone who's interested (and I realize it's water over the dam in this case) would be to try it yourself, or ask someone who sews to do it, and you can have a kilt that fits well without having to send it off to anyone!

Instructions are here: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-larger-78931/ Me, I think it's important to enable people to do their own work!