How to explain kilt making to my Brasilian mother in law

**Brasilikilt** · 24th September 06, 10:26 PM

Hey all

As some of you may have read, I purchased 18 yards of wool tartan fabric with hopes of keeping 4.5 yards of each for belted plaids, using the remaining 4.5 yards of each for tailored kilts.

My Brasilian mother in law Nubia is very talented with a sewing machine, and is certainly capable of sewing up kilts, as she made my first "Utilikilt" for me by studying pictures on the Utilikilt website. I've seen the real Utilikilts around town and like my own Brasilikilt much better!

Anyways, I asked her if she would be willing to make a kilt (or 2) for me and she said she would. I'm just wondering how to explain the differences between a man's 8 or 9 yard kilt, and the plaid skirts she used to make for my wife when she was in school.

http://www.scottishdance.net/highland/MakingKilt.html

I found this site with a very good diagram, but the instructions are in English.
How does someone explain the aspects of traditional kilt making such as pleating to the stripe or the sett without making it sound very confusing and overly complicated?

Thanks for any suggestions

Iain

**Sylvain** · 25th September 06, 05:04 AM

Pleating to the stripe means you chose a line in the tartan sett and you put this line in the center of the visible part of each pleat.
Pleating to the sett means the visible parts of the pleats show as if there was no pleating at all, that is the non-visible part of the pleat (in the fold) is exactly one, two or three times the width of the sett (that is the distance between repeating designs). There are certainly pictures somewhere.

I found these about pleating to the stripe:
http://blog.albanach.org/2005/11/wha...ipe-makes.html

**Wompet** · 25th September 06, 03:26 PM

The best explanation I've seen is Barb's book.
But, as a backup, here are some links I found:

The last set of directions skimps a little, though.

As for pleating sett versus stripe, here's a picture:

I know Matt has addressed sett vs. stripe in his blog as well, but I can't bring up that page at the moment.

**Southern Breeze** · 25th September 06, 04:03 PM

I'll second the need for Barbs book. I've made one traditional kilt and the book was indispensable. The second thing necessary is patience.

**Alan H** · 26th September 06, 10:42 AM

The only problem is that Barb's book is in English. How's your mother-in-laws English skills?

**Wompet** · 26th September 06, 02:18 PM

You know, when I mentioned Barb's book, I wasn't even thinking of a potential English/Portuguese language barrier. I was only thinking of the diagrams and photographs. My mother (also a talented sewer) had a look at some of them and grasped their meaning without reading the captions or associated text.