When I was making my first x-kilt, I got to adding the waistband and I didn't want to do any hand sewing (I'm much more lazy than I am obsessive.) I was planning to have a visible line of stitching around the waistband as sort of a necessary evil. I was discussing the project with my grandmother and she suggested that I "sew in the ditch." What this means is that you attach the waistband strip to the front of the kilt as in the instructions. Then you fold it over to the back, but don't fold the edge under all the way back to the top. (You want the bottom of the waistband on the inside to be lower than the bottom of the waistband on the outside.) Then you sew from the front right against the crease of the waistband where it's folded up. To my eye, the stitching is as good as invisible. Here's a photo:

You can just see the stitching along the bottom of the waistband, but the picture was taken from pretty close and at a pretty good angle. (Sadly you can also see how crooked my stitching is and that my pleat edges don't quite touch. Oh well, I won't be wearing it to any formal events.) Since I don't think anyone (except my wife) will be that close to the waistband of my kilt, no one will notice the stitching.

I'm sure that folks have done this before, but I've never seen it, so I thought I'd post this in the hopes that it can help someone with their own kilt.

David