Belly considerations!!

[Cool Bob]

Waist at navel is 44", measure at seat 45" (With a regular pants waist of 40 in between somewhere). I'm wondering how a good kiltmaker would deal with these measurement. With the technique in barbara book. The kilt would look pretty simple to (one inch difference from hips to waist in the pleat). But since I got a belly altough the measurement are about the same, most of this measure is on the front at the waist and at the back for the seat. So even if the kilt would look like a simple tube, in reality my body is pulling the seat at the back and the belly at the front making more like an S form from the side, and pulling on the apron. The only place I've seen dealing with this issue is freedom kilt. In his video for the seat measurement he suggest to draw an imaginary line from the fartest point of the belly down and measure the seat arount this. It look like a good idea to me, but I'm a newbee, so I would like to know what experienced kilt maker think about it?
http://www.freedomkilts.com/fit.php?val=video

Thanks
Robert

[Bugbear]

I recall a thread on this, and it all came down to which material is being used.

If it's wool, it's a un-tapered tube because the wool stretches and can form compound curves.
Anything else, it's what the Wizard says.

Looking at it again, you do have a one inch difference... Have no idea if that small of a difference matters in whether it is tapered or not.
Disclaimer: I'm not a kiltmaker, but I have the same hip and waist measurements aprox so I paid attention to that thread. Eh, I have snake hips...


* Sorry, Cool Bob, thought you were saying you are going to make your own kilt using Barb's book. Doesn't look that way from the other posts, so this post probably doesn't apply. *

[Pleater]

Its the difference between measurement and shape - even if you have hips and waist the same circumference, a rigid outline of the hips would not be the same shape as a rigid outline of the waist.

The area of shaped pleats should start at just over half the waist measurement and each pleat should lie vertically, expanding in width to accomodate the body shape to the widest point, where it should then fall vertically.

The apron should fall vertically - or rather appear to, as although it has shaped sides, they should appear to be vertical. A straight sided apron often appears to be narrower at the hem, so the shaping should perhaps be likened to the form of a column, which needs to be wider in the middle in order to look straight.

The fall of a skirt - that is all garments suspended from a band about the waist, is subject to the rules which were obviously understood by the French designer Vionnet who created garments on the bias and who caused the skirt to fall in different ways according to how the top edge was twisted. Her clothes are amazing.

Anne the Pleater

[Bugbear]

For what it's worth, here is the thread I was talking about.

ardchoille's thread "How do I taper for identical hip and waist measurements?"


And I was thinking of the answers given by Barb and The Wizard.

* I was assuming that you are making your own kilt using Barb's book, Cool Bob. Not sure of that now, so that thread might not apply. *

[The Wizard of BC]

Please remember that in my measuring video I am describing the method of measuring for my style of Kilt made from Poly/Cotton fabrics.

Please, Please, measure exactly the way described by your Kiltmaker. Never use the measuring system of one Kiltmaker with another.

My fabrics do not take shaping and molding as Wool does. I had to come up with a completely different system than that used by Traditional Kiltmakers.

To address your other problem of wearing your Kilt at your natural waist....
If your Kilt is custom made, the kiltmaker will insure it fits correctly. You should not need to cinch up the Kilt to a painful level. In fact a custom made Kilt takes your shape into account.
Only if you are trying to wear an off-the-peg Kilt will this become a problem.

And as a side note----Do not use your naval as a guide to where to wear your Kilt. It is much better to find your natural waist at your side.
Put your fingers along your side, just below your short ribs. Then bend from side to side. Where your feel yourself move and the ribs go in,,,that is your natural waist.
On most "gentlemen of substance" the top straps of a Traditional Kilt will cinch into the natural waist and be just on top, or above, your "Love Handles". The Kilt will be supported very well when worn at this level and should not require over cinching to the point of pain.

When a properly fitted and custom made Kilt is worn correctly the aprons should fall straight down from the stomach hiding and camouflaging it to the point that most men find the effect to be very slimming.

[Cool Bob]

Here's a quick drawing explaining my concern because I'm not sure it was well explained in my text above...any comments?

[ChattanCat]

The most important thing with a prominant belly is to have the apron width at the hips equal to the pleated width at the hips.

[Moosedog]

As Steve said, always use the measurements your particular kiltmaker wants. Bring any questions to them, and they will help you find a way to communicate your shape to them.

That being said, the third model (with corrected seat measure) looks pretty good to me for a traditional kilt.

Moosedog

[george7]

Your sporran will probably pull the apron in a bit, as well. Have you worn or been sized for a kilt before? I'm sure somebody somewhere can size you in person... depending on where you live and how far you'd like to travel.

[kiltedmapleleaf]

pete from CCK made my kilt with a 39 waist and 39 seat, and it looks and fits very well.