Question regarding a small kilt.

[Barb T]

About how much tartan would suggest for a kilt for a 4 year-old with 23½ inch hips?

If you intend to pleat to the stripe or sett (as opposed to cheating the pleats or just pleating higgledy piggledy), you'll only be able to get one pleat per sett if you pleat to the stripe, and fewer than that if you pleat to the sett. If you have regular tartan with a sett of 6-8", it takes a surprising amount of tartan for a little kilt. If you want regular size pleats (3/4-7/8"), like the ones in the pic in my post, it's going to take 5 yards (i.e., 2.5 yards double width). If you want fewer, larger pleats, you could get away with 4.5 yards or less. But it is surprising how much tartan it takes. The other choice is to pick a tartan with a smaller sett, of course.

Overall, my feeling is that, if you're going to go to all the work of making a real kilt for a child, you might as well make it look like its big cousin!