How high is too high?

[The Wizard of BC]

The definition I used above for the natural waist is paraphrased from "Gray's Anatomy" the difinitave source for medical doctors.

It is applicable to any measuring system as it is the place on a human body that is where you bend.

It does not matter what kiltmaker's measuring system you use. It's just human anatomy.

The point I was trying to make is that the location of the navel may change depending on the body shape. For Gentlemen of Substance the location of the navel is lower than on skinny guys. Bones on the other hand don't cange. The natural waist is always the natural waist.

Your kilt may not fit at your natural waist or you may not like it there. That is the wearers choice. But we should use the same definitions and terms.

For example, my Tewksbury kilt fits at my natural waist. It is the only kilt I own that is designed and made to fit there. When I strap it on it stays perfectly. It never moves or is uncomfortable. The top of the waistband is almost four inches above my navel. It covers my short ribs.

Most of my own design kilts I make to fit at mid-rise. The waistband sits on top of my hip bones and is almost exactly at my navel in the front. But that is just coincidance due to my body shape. I have made kilts for a wide range of body shapes and everytime I use the three places on the spine to measure the customer the kilt fits the way they want it too. I can't remember ever using the navel as a referance point. I just find it too arbitrary for a good fit.

I was just trying to pass on a little tip I have found over the years to better describe where a waistband could fit.

Take it or leave it. Your choice.

[OC Richard]

How high is too high??

Old 27" Army kilts on short guys



Here's a modern Army kilt, showing the typcial traditional (19th century) kilt height:



This is what looks "right" to me, and that's pretty much how my kilts fit.

I never see anyone wearing kilts too high, but I see kilts worn too low all the time, guys shoving them down around their hips as if the kilt was a pair of blue jeans, and the knees hidden.

[Paul Henry]

The definition I used above for the natural waist is paraphrased from "Gray's Anatomy" the difinitave source for medical doctors.

It is applicable to any measuring system as it is the place on a human body that is where you bend.

It does not matter what kiltmaker's measuring system you use. It's just human anatomy.....snip .

Steve, the point I am trying to make it that each kiltmaker may use a different way of measuring, I'm not commenting on where a person's natural waist is, or how to measure where that is. You have worked a system for your kilts but it is not neccessarily the same system used by others.

As we have said so many times and often, it is important to follow the instructions supplied by the actual kiltmaker concerned to get a good fit, so it may well make a difference if you follow the instructions from one kiltmaker when ordering a kilt from a different maker