Drawstring or drawstrings

[Maxime Boileau]

Hello, friends!

The age-old question of the drawstring belted plaid rises from the dead once again. And it's all my fault. I'm so sorry. ;)

I have been gorging myself on research sources for clues on how to fashion myself a drawstring plaid, namely Peter Eslea MacDonald's "A Highland Revival Drawstring Plaid" and "Donning the Plaid" at The Scottish Tartans Authority, along with a slew of forum posts, musings and other discussions on the same topic.

I have absorbed much in a short period of time and am still digesting the logistics of sewing up loops for a drawstring plaid.

So far I've opted for sewing the loops inside the plaid. I'll be using 550-paracord on account of my familiarity with its many uses and my level of comfort at crafting things with it.

THE question that remains now is : do we use one or two drawstrings?

One drawstring passing through the loops makes for a simple setup that allows the wearer to bunch up the fabric in the middle, however, it's more 'string' and less 'draw'. You're letting gravity do the work for you as you gather the tartan, but the result may be untidy (I imagine the pleats going either way as they get smooshed together over the string).

Two drawstrings drawn in opposite directions might help tidy things up a bit by acting as a bit of a stabiliser and make for flatter pleats (thing of the way venetian blinds work). I'm torn on whether or not this is actually feasible.

Halp?

See attached : insultingly-bad drawing of the "strawdrings".

[figheadair]

Both would work and, given the lack of surviving examples I don't think either could be considered more correct. That said, the MacGregor plaid shows no evidence of the tapes/strings (not present) were sewn or some how attached to the materail or final loop which would have been required if the two string set up was used.

[Sir Didymous]

I can't speak as to the accuracy of my method, but what I can say is that the pleats that result from a single drawstring aren't usually that bad. If you ignore the the rest of my images in this thread http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-advice-78638/

you will find one that shows the pleats on a single string plaid. It sort of looks like the plaid has been loosely pleated to the stripe. Granted that the front of mine looks awful in those shots, the back isn't half bad. With the loops, yours shouldn't slide all to the center as bad.