| The following instructions for belting the plaid were communicated by a Highland gentleman to Charles Grant sometime after the '45 and printed in his "Memoirs de la Maison Grant" in 1796. The words are the original. | |
|
"........ the broad belt within the keepers, the gentleman stands with nothing on but his shirt;
"when the servant gets the plaid and belt round, he must hold both ends of the belt till the gentleman adjusts and puts across in proper manner the two folds or flaps before; "that done, he tightens the belt to the degree wanted; then the purse and purse-belt is put on loosely; afterwards, the coat and waistcoat is put on and the great low part hanging down behind, where a loop is fixed, is to be pinned up to the right shoulder, immediately under the shoulder strap .... "that properly adjusted, the pointed corner or flap that hangs at the left thigh to be taken through the purse belt and to hang, having a cast-back very near as low as the belt to be pinned in such a manner that the corner or low-flyer behind hang as low as the kilt or hough (knee) and no lower; putting at the same time an awkward bulky part of the plaid on the left side, back from the haunch, stuffed under the purse belt. |
|
| "When the shoulder or sword-belt is put on, the flyer that hangs behind is to be taken through, and hang over the shoulder-belt. NB No kilt ought ever to hang lower than the hough - scarcely that far down." | |