Military Count

**xman** · 29th April 10, 09:19 AM

I am looking at the many pics of military kilts and beyond the obvious fat that they are pleated to the stripe I notice that they tend to have more pleats than civilian kilts. My first instinct would be to say that they are using a smaller pleat reveal, say half an inch, but with regimental weight and sett sizes around 10 inches, this would make each kilt around 10 yards long!

Can someone tell me how to get 33 pleats around 44" hips and not break the wearer's back?

X

**Bugbear** · 29th April 10, 10:07 AM

Are you talking about the military box pleat kilt, with the rolled back edges of each pleat?

Just thinking back to a thread I had on the subject a long time back... I don't know anything, except that it was confusing.

**xman** · 29th April 10, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by Bugbear

Are you talking about the military box pleat kilt, with the rolled back edges of each pleat?

I am not thinking about the military box pleat specifically, but I did read that thread and saw examples of the many pleated (knife) military kilts which got me to thinking. How do they pull it off? I wore a military Black Watch once with probably 30 pleats around my 38" hips and it didn't seem like too much. I just don't know about it.

**Zardoz** · 29th April 10, 10:34 AM

Well I'm sure our kiltmakers will weigh in with the details and maths involved, but I have these observations;

I see some kiltmakers websites state that they'll do an 8 or 9 yard kilt, some call the 9 yard 'traditional' and the 8 yard 'modern' while others call the 8 traditional and 9 yard 'military'. Most of them imply if you want a "real" kilt, you should get "the whole 9 yards" of course!

I have two 42 inch waist "8 Yard" kilts, One is a solid color with 32 pleats with 3/4 inch reveal and 2 inch depth. The other is tartan pleated to the sett, with 31 pleats at a 3/4 reveal and a 3 3/4 to 4 inch depth. Just for grins, I made a hasty measure of the overall length of the tartan one by pulling the hem, including aprons, along the ruler a foot at a time, and came up with almost 25 feet (25feet = 8.3 yards) So it's really an "8 Yard" kilt.

I didn't measure the solid kilt overall, but if all else is equal, the the 2 inch less of pleat depth x 32 pleats would indicate that it is approximately 5 feet shorter than the other so I guess its more like a 6.7 yard kilt.

Obviously the waist size, sett, pleat reveal and depth play into it, but I'd guess all kilts are not always created equal yardage wise.

**Spc. Scott** · 29th April 10, 10:34 AM

My reproduction MoD kilt from What Price Glory has about 30-32 pleats. I think a lot has to do with the higher rise in military kilts. I would think that spreads the weight out a bit more.

Of course that's just a guess.

**Pleater** · 29th April 10, 03:22 PM

Remember that military men tend to be fairly young and very fit, they have small waists.

As an impoverished student I used to buy military surplus and often the 26 inch waist I required was the largest size available.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**slohairt** · 29th April 10, 04:20 PM

It isn't so much that they has a smaller pleat reveal. Most military kilts are made using only half of the sett per pleat. A more economical method.

**figheadair** · 30th April 10, 04:23 AM

You need to get hold of Bob Martin's book, or better still contact him. He doesn't follow the forum but if you PM me I'll pass on his email address.

**Riverkilt** · 30th April 10, 06:55 AM

After she graduated from Keith Kilt School in Scotland, Kathy Lare went back for a course on how to hand sew the traditional military box pleat. I agree, that's what you're probably looking at. I'm sure you can google up some info on the military box pleat. Maybe even some pics. If you called or emailed Kathy I'm sure she'd be glad to talk to you about it. www.kathyskilts.com Don't expect her to teach it to you though. She paid dearly for her craftsman skills but doubt it could be explained easily anyway.

But point is, I do agree its most likely the military box pleat you're looking at to get so many pleats.

Ain't it a trip to find so many options?

**xman** · 30th April 10, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by Riverkilt

Ain't it a trip to find so many options?

I certainly is and when I consider that each wearer has a different shape and each sett a different size and different colour dynamics it really comes forward as an art to make a kilt.

It is not the box pleat I am thinking of though. As I said, I wore a knife pleated regimental Black Watch once and it had at least 30 pleats around my scrawny butt.