Double buckles

[unixken]

An overly tight kilt would be of concern regardless of single or double buckles. But as I understand it, shouldn't a properly constructed kilt have stabilizer and interfacing components to actually take the stress, and not the wool itself?

[The Wizard of BC]

I have seen kilts, and had some come into the shop with these double buckle arrangements. My question has always been WHY? No one really changes shape so much, and so quickly, that they would actually need both buckles at the same time.

If you operate a rental fleet, or make regimental kilts like I do, a much better method is to close the left strap hole and put the strap on the inside of the kilt and the buckle on the left apron.
This way it is just a matter of a few moments to re-size a kilt. I can usually remove the left strap, and the right buckle, and have them sewn back on in the time it takes for the customer to finish the coffee I poured them.

If you are concerned about gaining weight I suggest you buy your kilt a bit big. Move the right buckle till the kilt fits. Then, if you gain the weight. you can let the buckle out as needed.

The thing you should watch out for when re-sizing a kilt is - Does the outer apron fully overlap the under apron on the right side?

In a perfectly fitting kilt the outer apron edge should meet the under apron edge exactly or overlap up to 1". If the under apron shows out from underneath the outer apron 1" it is usually not too much of a problem. (It just looks like another pleat) but any more than that and it becomes readily apparent that the kilt is too small.

The biggest mistake is that when moving a buckle most people (and many kiltmakers for that matter) sew the buckle tab to the outer wool fabric only. The buckle tab MUST be sewn all the way through and catching the interfacing and stabilizer inside the kilt.