Re: Kilt Question!

["Susan and Frank Downs" <sfdowns@pinn.net>]

Poster: "Susan and Frank Downs" <sfdowns@pinn.net>


>Poster: "Michael Jeffrey Looney" <barderic@mailcity.com>
>
>How do you keep teh pleets from slipping out?
>I've tightened the belt as much as I can, to the 
>verge of almost makeing contact between my back bone 
>and stomach, and it still slips out from the belt.
>Any suggestions?



    I make no claim of expertise, but here's what has _worked_ for me (no
claim of historic authenticity should be inferred!).  I'm sure more
authoritative answers are being posted even as I type.  
    First, make sure your pleats are deep enough.  Mine are usually about
five or six inches deep.  With three or four inches between pleats, this
means that the fabric length is compressed to where it takes about fifteen
or sixteen inches of fabric to cover three or four inches of your waist. 
This makes the ratio of unpleated to pleated fabric about four or five to
one, which is about right, since five yards of fabric would cover thirty-six
to forty-five inches (a little more, really, since you leave a vague length
(say eight to twelve inches) at either end unpleated.  This should be plenty
to cover most men with a goodly overlap (which is important; we're not
talking about a slit skirt here!).  Once you've folded in your pleats and
carefully snaked your belt under, lie down on the fabric and use your belt
to lift first the side on your right then the one on your left, and wrap
them around yourself in that order.  If this is the point at which you're
losing your pleats, for me the friction of the fabric against my belt and my
shirt seems to keep them in place.  My belt doesn't need to be all that
tight.  Of course, I have an excellent belt, made for me by Sir Corby when
he was simply Lord Corby, which is unfinished on the inside and therefore
rough enough that it grips the fabric well.  So, maybe either your fabric or
your belt is too slippery.  I use fairly thick fabric (again I make no
claims of authenticity, but it looks okay) which, when pleated, compresses a
fair amount (I mean in terms of thickness this time).  If you're using very
thin fabric, perhaps it doesn't compress and "squirts" out from under your
belt instead.
    Another thought, if you're using fabric that's been sewn together down
the middle (I don't; having managed to get my Lady to make hakama for me, I
feel it would be perilous to ask her to take a perfectly good piece of
fabric and cut it in half only to sew it back together the other way! 
Again, I'm making no claims of authenticity -- just prudent self
preservation!  And, by the way, she won't let _me_ anywhere near any of her
three(!) sewing machines -- and I _have_ asked, just in case anyone thinks
I'm promulgating dastardly gender stereotypes.  'Though, with such skill and
talent already present in my Lady, and her gerbil-like workaholic
tendencies, I have to admit I don't ask very hard.), I say if your fabric
has been so prepared, then it's probably important that your belt goes
below, as in closer to your feet than, this seam.  In other words, the skirt
part of the kilt which hangs below the belt should be shorter than the part
which stays above it.  This is pretty obvious for short guys like me, but if
you're tall, and modest or thin-blooded, it might not be apparent to you. 
This means you'll have a pretty substantial roll of cloth around your
middle, but them's the breaks.  Besides, it makes for a handy armrest.  But
this giant wad of cloth probably keeps everything in place.  (It does make
wearing a sword pretty problematic, as well, and you can just forget about a
katana, I don't care what you've seen on _Highlander_, unless maybe it's
hung in the old-fashioned tachi style, or perhaps slung nodachi-like over
the back; I still think Scottish iaido would be right out.)  
    The only other potential problem I can figure is if you're extremely
V-shaped but lacking in gluteus maximi, and if that's the case, then what do
you think you're wearin' a shirt for?

Regards, 

Callum, a.k.a. Naro, a.k.a. Frank Downs
Who is strictly an amateur Scot despite being a Dunbar (by squiring) and a
McRae (by birth)    
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