What size the rise?

[Kiltman]

A few weeks back a member of this forum mentioned that he had been advised that he needed to have a different size of the rise. I believe he was going to have a rise of 3" rather than the standard 2". What are the considerations that might go in to determining the size of the rise?

[ChattanCat]

I have found rise to be a personal preference. There is a minimum because you need to have some rise to accommodate the belt and the top band. Belts are usually 1 1/4" wide so you need 1/2 of that above the waist or 5/8". To the 5/8" you need to add 1/2" for the top band. The absolute minimum rise possible is 1 1/8". I would not recommend anything less that a 1 1/2" rise. One of our members had a 2 1/2" rise. Maybe he will pipe in.

[turpin]

I'd say the rise is a preference thing. 2 inches is pretty standard unless you ask differently. I have a 2.5 inch rise from Barb T on my Macdonald of Sleat kilt. The trick is that the higher the rise, the more the pleats have to be reverse tapered to allow for the spread of the torso above the waist, or you run the risk of having the waistband cut uncomfortably into your short ribs.

Military kilts traditionally had a rise of 3 to 4 inches.

[Howard Clark]

Everything I have is 2" except for the last kilt that Barb made for me, which is 2-1/2". I really like the extra half inch, but there does have to be a good bit of flare for it to work right. It was an experiment, and one that went well, I think.

This is no way affects my feelings about the other kilts I have with a 2" rise, which is fine. I would not want less, though, I don't think. At least not with a traditional fit wool kilt. I am not sure a rise any higher would work for me unless it had a LOT of flare, and then it might look strange, I don't know.

[James MacMillan]

2 inches should be the standard, with the kiltmaker making the final determination.

[Barb T]

The other reason for the rise is to keep your shirt from showing when you wear a short jacket (like a PC). If you didn't have a full 2" rise, your shirt would show. And sometimes guys get PCs that are too short, and, even with a proper rise, they wind up with a pooch of white shirt between their kilts and jacket bottoms. Ditto for dancers - if a kilt doesn't have enough rise, the white blouse shows beneath the edge of the vest when she raises her arm to dance.

Most kiltmakers use a standard 2" rise unless the customer specifies differently.