Four yard box pleat help.

[Navyguy]

I won 4 yards (2 yards double width) of green wool/wool blend (seller didn't know) on E-Bay. Since it is only 4 yards, I decided to make a box pleat kilt, a la Mat Newsome. I am having math problems, I would like an estimate of how many, how wide and, how deep the pleats are on any of your box pleats are, Matt's of other. It is a solid color so I don't have a "sett" to use as a guide. My calcuations seem to come out as a 3 yarder, I want to use as much of the wool as possible to get the best swing I can. Thanks for your help in advance. I would also be intrested in the apron width.

I will post my progress in the DIY section when I start. This is going to be my St. Patrick's kilt.

[Woodsheal]

If you are of an average build, a box-pleated kilt will only use around 3 yards of fabric, so your arithmetic is probably correct...!

[Barb T.]

Most of Matt's box pleated kilts have 7-9 pleats. I'm making one right now that has 9. The reveal of the pleat is ideally 1/3 of the amount of fabric in the pleat (at the hip). That way, 1/3 shows, 1/3 is folded under on one side, and 1/3 on the other side. If you do it that way, the pleats meet on the wrong side of the kilt without any gap or any overlap.

So......if your hip were 42", and you did the simple thing and split it half and half pleats and apron, you'd need 21" across the back. If you had 7 pleats, each would be 3" across, and each one would require 9" of fabric (3x3). 9x7=63", or 1 3/4 yards for the pleats. The apron and underapron each take up about a yard, because of the facings and the pleat under the apron and underapron edges. So, that's perilously close to 4 yards.

Cheers,

Barb

[MacWage]

Personally, I like my pleats between 3 and 3.5 inches visible per box. The first I made was 2 inches from a 6 inch repeat. I ended up with 11 pleats (making 22 sides to steam, which was a PAIN IN THE $$$$). My current personal projects will have 6 (Carolina), 7 (MacNeil), and 8 (X Marks) pleats per kilt. When I do the other half of the Caledonia (F & K, I think-> 6 inch repeat), I WILL either make it 1.5 repeats or doubled for 3 or 4 inch boxes.

With a solid (2-4 projects down the road for me and some black and some tweed for 2 kilts) I'd play with the numbers to get 7 pleats accross the back, using ONLY the outside/visible portion of the pleat. Then, triple that number for total measurement per pleat.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

What Barb says is right on, and sounds like how I would personally pleat that kilt if it were mine. 3" wide pleats are a nice size for a box pleat and the math works out well. Of course, this is going to vary based on your own measurements.

I'd try working the math with pleat widths anywhere from 2.5" to 3.75" and just see what works out easiest given your hip measurement.

[Navyguy]

thanks everyone, Barb, those were exactly the numbers I was coming up with, I guess the aprons take mor than I thought. But the pleats were figured spot on. I am glad that my #'s agreed with the experts. Matt and Barb I was hoping you would help. Thanks

[Barb T.]

The apron and underapron do take more cloth than you'd think. The deep pleat at the left edge of the apron should have 8-9" in it, and the facing on the right hand side of the apron commonly takes 6" or so (although you can get away with less if you have to or if you don't want a fringe edge). If your hip measurement is 42 (as in the example above), the apron is going to be 21" or so across at the hips, with some flare toward the bottom. So, say and inch and a half of flare on each side, that makes 24" plus the 9" for the deep pleat plus 6" for facing. That's 39" total for the apron. Getting it down to just 36" means serious skimping somewhere.

The underapron takes just about as much, although you can skimp more on both edges if you have to.

Obviously for a smaller hip measurement, you have a little more leeway (although I wouldn't go less than 4 yards). But, the opposite is also true. If you're thinking of doing a box pleated kilt and your hip measurement is much more than 42", it doesn't hurt to have an extra half yard or even an extra yard of material. Matt's rule of thumb is 5 yards is good if the hip is over 45".

Cheers!

B

[Alan H]

The X-Kilt has, by default, three inch wide box pleats. I think they look preety good.

Look around for X-Kilt pics in the DIY forum and you'll see examples.

[Navyguy]

Thanks Allen, I was planning on doing an X-kilt first to practice. Thanks again Barb. BTW hips are 41-42ish so not much different fron your example, probably just playing with apron widths. I will post progress on both projects in DIY.