Quote Originally Posted by Livingston View Post
Never cut the length down on a kilt. I have a Stillwater Heavyweight which was too long for me. I sat down with a needle and thread after turning it up about 2 inches. Looks fine, swings fine and no one can tell. (See Denver Kilt Night Pics thread) If you want to cut it, you'll have to take it completely apart, cut it from the waist and redo all of the work. Not worth it and you probably wouldn't get it back together properly.

Never is a very strong word, I agree that you shouldn't cut the bottom of a kilt, but I also feel that hemming a kilt does change the garmet itself. I have shortened two kilts standard SWK's for members of my pipe band, and cut both of them from the top, then rebuilt the top of them. This included moving straps and buckles and creating a new waist band to hold it all together. I used Matt's Newsome's inside buckle method so I didn't have to cut through the kilt after shortening.

Was it challenging, yes very much so, did they come out as good as new, not in my eyes, but the recipients loved them and they fit. One kilt had 4 inches taken off, I am almost done with that. Words of advice it is easier to shorten the economies, than the standards and I assume heavy weights because of the fell already being sewed down makes cutting and such a challenge.

Best of luck to you in your search, SWK's are great kilts, but don't forget about the other kiltmakers here. Keep in mind if you get a heavy weight it isn't washable, where the standards are, as well as the kilts made by Rocky as USA Kilts and MacHummel at Canadian Casual Kilts. With the two PV kilts, they are custom made which means no shortening, if the 24" works for your man then this isn't an issue, and you can't beat the price.