On the subject of lower yardage kilts in general, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. As a general rule of thumb, the more yardage used in the kilt, the more pleats you will have, the deeper the pleats will be, and the more narrow the visible reveal of the pleat will be. There are ways around this -- a creative pleating style, as Rocky exhibits, may allow you to have more pleats with less yardage, but the trade off is that the pleats won't be as deep.

An upside to a lower yardage kilt (besides the obvious one of costing less) is that it is a lighter weight garment, making it more comfortable to wear. The trade off there is that additional weight in an eight yard kilt contributes to the "swish and swing" factor of the kilt, so a lower yardage kilt will have less of that somewhat.

I, personally, really love lower yardage kilts. My favorite kilts use lower yardages and are made from heavy weight worsted wool. Best of both worlds, if you ask me. It's a great way of having a kilt made from good, heavy weight wool, but still having a light weight kilt.

This is a five yard knife pleated kilt I recently made for myself from Harris Tweed.


Here is a six yard knife pleated kilt I made for myself in the Highland Granite tartan from Lochcarron.


I don't know if you are limiting yourself to knife pleats or not, but here's a five yard Kingussie pleated kilt I have made for a fellow forum member here.


And of course the box pleated kilts, which are my specialty, made with four yards.


For anyone interested in lower yardage kilts, I suggest you browse through my web site at:
http://www.newhousehighland.com