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• Materials
• Measurements
• Marking the fabric
• Making the pleats

Measuring for size

In making a kilt, while you only need three basic measurements, each measurement must be taken carefully to make a kilt that feels and looks great.

Constructing a table such as the one below is an important step in careful measurements.

Waist: Measure the circumference at the natural waistline. You can measure over lightweight clothing, but not over heavy clothing or a belt. It is important to know that the natural waistline is often larger than a man's normal pant size, which is normally worn lower than the waistline.

Hips: Measure the hip circumference at the widest part of the buttocks. You can measure over the pants, but make sure the measuring tape slightly loose.

Length: A proper kilt comes to just the top of the kneecap. Locate the waistline and measure the length from the person's waist to the top of the knee cap. To locate the top of the kneecap, place your thumb and forefinger on either side of the kneecap midway down the knee and slide your thumb and forefinger together until they meet at the top. Measure down the thigh making sure that the person being measured is looking straight ahead and standing tall.

You can also measure the length of an existing kilt that fits well. Measure from the center of the upper kilt buckle to the bottom of the kilt. Add a 2″ rise to the length measurement before you lay out the kilt.

Size for the apron

Once you have the measurements, you need to size for the apron. The apron rests across the front of the body. The apron has a subtle A-line shape, wider at the hips than at the waist. The amount of shaping in the apron is the difference between the width of the apron at the hips and the width of the apron at the waist. The total difference is split evenly between the left and the right sides of the apron. For example, if the difference is 4″, split evenly 2″ on each side of the apron.

Size the pleats

When viewed from the back, the kilt also has a A-line shape in that it is wider at the hips than at the waist. To shape the pleats, differences between waist and hip measurements must be calculated. If the difference is 5″, split evenly over 15 pleats, each pleat is 1/3″ smaller at the waist than at the hips.

Calculate the split

There are several formulas for calculating the split in these measurements. In general, at the waist, assign more than half of the waist measurement to the apron section and less than half of the waist measurement to the pleat section. At the hips, assign less than half the hip measurement to the apron section and more than half of the hip measurement to the pleat section.

© Sherri Byrne Design