Pleating to the stripe but which stripe

[kiltedsawyer]

but don’t know if it is a practical proposition or how I would describe it to the kiltmaker.

Attachment 37441

I think sending them the picture would work better than any description.
Cheers,

David

[Nemuragh]

Attachment 37441

I suspect this may not be practicable but I like the effect. I think it may make the pleat rather wide so there would be fewer of them. Alternatively, the pleat could be narrower but would probably have spear points of white and yellow where the pleat is most tapered; if they are made that way deliberately, is it such a bad thing?

I think I must get a sample to find out what the dimensions might be. I’m guessing in excess of an inch.

[Karl R]

I suspect this may not be practicable but I like the effect. I think it may make the pleat rather wide so there would be fewer of them.

If you get a 5 yard kilt, the pleats are automatically wider. That could be one possible solution.

[plaid preacher]

I guess it depends on a number of factors including the width/number of pleats and the effect you are looking for. I quite like pleating to the stripe, but I would go to the black stripe with the two blue tracings. If you were going to pleat to the blue block you could end up with what some refer to as the lawnchair effect... or if you went with fewer pleats and made the pleat wide enough to show the yellow and white stripes on either side, they you might have the problem of "arrows" at the top of your pleats; where elements of the tartan disappear as the pleat narrows.

Hope this is helpful.

[OC Richard]

I have heard kiltmakers on this forum say that their favourite situation is to have an isolated element to centre in each pleat.

I don't know the feasibility of cropping a portion of a complex part of the tartan.

[Nemuragh]

I guess it depends on a number of factors including the width/number of pleats and the effect you are looking for. I quite like pleating to the stripe, but I would go to the black stripe with the two blue tracings. If you were going to pleat to the blue block you could end up with what some refer to as the lawnchair effect... or if you went with fewer pleats and made the pleat wide enough to show the yellow and white stripes on either side, they you might have the problem of "arrows" at the top of your pleats; where elements of the tartan disappear as the pleat narrows.

Hope this is helpful.

I think the interesting thing about pleating to the stripe is that, in effect, it creates a new tartan from selected parts of the old. I like the dramatic difference between the front and the back that the wide, blue stripe creates. However, there needs to be a strong vertical element to avoid the deck chair effect that you mention. The additional yellow and white stripes would do this but then there is the problem of spears possibly ending halfway up the kilt. I wonder if that would be a problem if they were made that way, neatly - an unconventional solution, I admit. I would foresee difficulty in persuading a kiltmaker to do that, however.

Perhaps a (slightly) more conventional solution would be to have a fairly wide pleat on a box pleated kilt. This tartan seems to lend itself to that treatment. It would also facilitate the flashes of red from the middle of the sett revealed as the pleats move. Unfortunately, Kiltmakers here don’t seem to offer box pleats as a rule.

Lady Chrystel’s double box pleat is an ingenious solution that would seem likely to work, too.

[Nemuragh]

I have heard kiltmakers on this forum say that their favourite situation is to have an isolated element to centre in each pleat.

I don't know the feasibility of cropping a portion of a complex part of the tartan.

That was the difficulty I envisaged, too. I’m coming round to thinking that Box Pleating is the solution.

[plaid preacher]

I think the interesting thing about pleating to the stripe is that, in effect, it creates a new tartan from selected parts of the old. I like the dramatic difference between the front and the back that the wide, blue stripe creates. However, there needs to be a strong vertical element to avoid the deck chair effect that you mention. The additional yellow and white stripes would do this but then there is the problem of spears possibly ending halfway up the kilt. I wonder if that would be a problem if they were made that way, neatly - an unconventional solution, I admit. I would foresee difficulty in persuading a kiltmaker to do that, however.

Nemuragh, that certainly can be the case.

I the two options that the OP mentioned, the thin stripe would have maintained most of the colours of the original tartan - which tends to be the look I prefer. The other option is more like pleating to the block and as OC Richard's post illustrated with reference to the pipe band, it can dramatically change the colour of the back. Some people really like that as well.

I guess in the end it is:
1) personal preference
2) illustrates to creativity in the pleating process.