Kilt height guide. Sort of.

[Steve Ashton]

My stand on the bottom edge of a kilt debate. -

I was taught that the correct height of the bottom of a kilt was just at the top of the knee cap.
This was arrived at, using an old kiltmaker trick.

When making a "Traditional Style" kilt the kiltmaker would have the customer kneel on the floor. The kiltmaker would then feel for the bottom of the customers ribcage at the side. They would then measure the length from the bottom of the ribs down to the floor.

This would then be made into a kilt with this length from the bottom of the ribs to the floor as the total length of the kilt.
But when making the kilt in the Traditional manner, the top straps are installed 2" below the top band of the kilt. From the center of the top straps to the top of the kilt the pleat shaping would taper outward to go over the bottom of the ribs. This area of the kilt is known as "The Rise".



The size of a kilt made in the traditional manner would be listed being as long as the "Drop". But the total length of the kilt from top band to selvedge would be "Drop + Rise".



When the customer put the kilt on they would chinch the top straps into the smallest part of the human body. This is the anatomical waist which happens to be just under the ribs at the side.
This would raise the bottom, or selvedge edge, up by the same 2 inches.

A human adult male patella or knee cap is just about 2". So the bottom, selvedge edge, of the kilt would end up right at the top of the knee cap.

Not understanding the old kiltmaker trick (OKT) many guys mistook where the bottom of the kilt should be when worn, thinking that if the kiltmaker measured down to the floor, then the kilt should just brush the floor when worn. This is a very often heard myth.