Sweeping the Pleats Video

[Tobus]

I would add to Chas' post the vehicle entrance. Enter the vehicle cheek first (left side drivers, right cheek first) while sweeping the right side pleats as you slide in. Pick up your feet and swing into the vehicle while sweeping under on the left side. If there is a small bit of bunching, raise up and sweep again or reach between and pull the offending pleats to the front.

If I will be driving a long distance,+/-3 hours, and want to be sure that everything is tidy when I arrive, I have been known to wear shorts for the trip and put my kilt on over them in a parking lot and drop them away under the kilt when covered up. Or, wear trousers and change in a restroom close to the event. Lots of situations and lots of solutions.

I do it a little differently when getting into a car. I turn so that my back is to the seat, put both hands under my rear end, and slide them down so that I'm pulling my pleats snugly to the backs of my thighs (just below my buttocks). Then I sit on the edge of the seat whilst still holding my pleats, slide back a little so I'm well into the seat, lift my legs, and swing them into the car. At this point, I'm still sort of sitting on my hands. Next step is to rotate/reposition my rear end and torso until they're square behind the wheel, with my hands all the while acting as a buffer between my pleats and the seat. Then I slide my hands out from under me, in a smooth forward motion so that the pleats are assuredly flat under me. If anything goes awry, I do the same "lift and sweep" motion you describe.

This seems to work well for me, even on 3+ hour trips. Never had any problems with pleats getting out of whack.

There's also the "beach towel" method that some folks use with great success, where you wrap a beach towel around your entire kilt before getting in. It supposedly keeps everything snug and in-place during the sitting/rotating manoeuvres. I think Ron (Riverkilt) prefers this method.