A kilt is not a skirt?

[rick401r]

I own a woman's kilt. It wraps right over left, has no belt loops, and only has leather straps and buckles on one side. I bought it at a vintage clothing shop. It was more than 30 inches long so I had it shortened to 24. 100% wool, made in Scotland. The tartan looks very similar to the Black Watch. And, yes, it is a skirt.

[Sinned]

I bought a short, red right over left kilt the other day from a charity shop. Size 16 it said which should have been big enough. Was it Nellie. I was in a hurry so didn't have time to check the size in the shop. Wish I had because normally, and I repeat NORMALLY, a 16 would be a 34/36 inch waist. This turned out to be 30 inch waist so it in no way came anyway near to fitting. I'd either need to lose about 3 stone for it to fit or it'll be going back to a charity shop. Well, I only wasted £3 and it was going to charity!!!! The vagaries of women's sizing.

[STEVIE]

Sinned,
It's not just the vagaries of the sizing system, it's also historical.
I'm a modern 12, but ten years ago I'd have been a 14 or 16.it's all to do with vanity sizing.
Charity shops aside, be very aware of this if you are tempted by anything vintage/used/second hand on the net.
Could it be a games skirt and the 16 refers to an age fitting, also completely arbitrary?
Steve.

[dillon]

There is also apparently a different scale for certain garments made for younger girls but uses the same enumeration as standard women's sizing, but is much smaller. Wouldn't it be nice if women would just use waist measurements? It's not like they are deceiving each other, since presumably women would have a pretty good idea of the relative differences in sizes. It could only be intended to keep a man from figuring out she has a waist as big as his!

[Grok]

I returned to the link for the so called Madras Kilt. It appears to have a right over left arrangement. Maybe it should be renamed the Madras Skirt.

[Sinned]

Well, I'll ask the staff to run a tape measure over the garment next time. Not a really expensive mistake. I looked more at the skirt than the size. I should have looked at the waist a little closer to gauge the size and realised that it would be too small. The staff must have made the same mistake as me come to think about it because it was in the 16's section and the hanger had a 16 plastic tag on it. I could always pass it on to one of my granddaughters.