Adjustments for scaling with very small kilts

[Michael A]

I have just finished a little kilt for my 5 year-old daughter, who has an 18 inch waist. I used 3/4 inch buckles and straps from Highland Xpress. I made it according to Barb's book but I don't know how I did it, but when I finished it and tried it on, the waist was almost 2 inches too small and she had to suck her tummy in to do up the underapron strap. 3.5 hours later, I have now let out the underapron edge by 2 inches, also moved the apron buckle forward one pleat (that was also tight), and attached another section of top band and canvas. The cause was not the pleats, as I was within 1mm tolerance across all 13 pleats, so it must have been in my measurements of the aprons, but I cannot figure out where as yet. You will note from the after shot that I couldn't be bothered with any flaring on the adjusted underapron edge as it is invisible anyway. And yes, I bone-headedly attached the underapron strap to the wrong side when I did the adjustment but as it is invisible I couldn't be bothered taking it off and reattaching.

Is there any special adjustment people make for very small kilts? I had also wondered if part of it was the smaller buckles as well as my underapron measurement.

Before (don't worry about the position of the yellow centre stripe - it is just on a bit skewed):





After: