Deciding how to pleat a kilt

[Jock Scot]

To briefly wander off topic, I think the Scottish Wildcat tartan is a super tartan and would be a smashing choice for those who have no Clan connections. Personally, I would go for the far right of the pleating choices that OCR has shown.

[jsrnephdoc]

About that I don't know, but with an online collage maker it's easy to string together a series of narrow images that imitates what the pleats would look like, pleated to the black block, pleated to the pairs of black lines (which probably won't work), pleated to the red line.

I didn't see the images in the précis delivered by email. Lawn-Chair effect painfully obvious, and I'd not be crazy about ANY of those!

The best way is for the kiltmaker to have the cloth so they can send you photos of mockups of the various pleating options.

Here are various pleating concepts proposed by kiltmaker Paul Henry for the Scottish Wildcat tartan.

It's amazing how differently they all look. (Personally I'd go with the one at far left.)

Not a spectrum of colors I've ever really seen in use in kilts before! Second from right least favorite (it makes it appear that there are DOZENS of far-too-narrow pleats

[OC Richard]

Not a spectrum of colors I've ever really seen in use in kilts before!

Unfortunately those photos don't do the tartan justice, it's beautiful.

In design in general (be it an automobile or a tartan) an extremely difficult thing to achieve is a design that simultaneously looks retro and fresh.

It catches the eye because there's something cutting-edge about it, yet at the same time it has the feel of cool classic vintage things.

The Isle of Skye tartan did that for me the first time I saw it. (Yes I know it's old-hat now, and we can't see it with fresh eyes ever again.) And the Scottish Wildcat tartan did it too.

Second from right is my least favorite (it makes it appear that there are DOZENS of far-too-narrow pleats).

Exactly so. There's something in design called "form follows function" which wants the pleats to look like what they are. Trying a trompe l'oeil thing by pleating to the sett, or doing pleating that looks like there's half as many pleats as there are, or twice as many, don't work from a design perspective.

[jsrnephdoc]

Unfortunately those photos don't do the tartan justice, it's beautiful.

In design in general (be it an automobile or a tartan) an extremely difficult thing to achieve is a design that simultaneously looks retro and fresh.

It catches the eye because there's something cutting-edge about it, yet at the same time it has the feel of cool classic vintage things.

I just looked it up on the SRT website, where the expanded image gives one a better idea of what the unpleated aprons would look like. Totally different impression, so much so that if it were for me I think I'd pleat it to the sett.

Of course, as a relatively new "fashion" tartan, restricted by its designer, I have no idea how one would obtain actual cloth.

[Jock Scot]

Several generations of Scottish traditional kilt makers can't be wrong about their general choices and preferences for civilian kilt pleats usually pleated to the sett. Can they?

[OC Richard]

Several generations of Scottish traditional kilt makers can't be wrong about their general choices and preferences for civilian kilt pleats usually pleated to the sett. Can they?

When did pleating to the sett start? Peter would know. I think it had become more or less standard for civilian kilts by the mid-20th century, perhaps well before that.

But now the pendulum is swinging the other way. I just spent Saturday and Sunday at our biggest local Highland Games and at least half the kilts I saw were pleated to the stripe.

For me pleating to the stripe is preferable for these reasons

1) the back of the kilt has no centre-line so the kilt can be re-sized by moving the buckles without throwing the back of the kilt off-centre.

2) you get two looks for the price of one.

3) pleating to the stripe lets the pleats look like what they are. It's honest; it's not trying to look like something it isn't, the flat un-pleated cloth on the front of the kilt.

4) with certain tartans, if the pleating is done a certain way, you get the effect of the pleats looking one way when you're standing still but revealing another colour when the pleats swish as you walk.

[jsrnephdoc]

When did pleating to the sett start? Peter would know. I think it had become more or less standard for civilian kilts by the mid-20th century, perhaps well before that.

But now the pendulum is swinging the other way. I just spent Saturday and Sunday at our biggest local Highland Games and at least half the kilts I saw were pleated to the stripe.

Your enumeration of reasons to pleat to the stripe are all noteworthy, AND they got me thinking, given what generated my query in the first place (how much can a kilt be altered without ruining it, and how does the pleating affect that).

I MAY have a personal solution that also might repay a debt. 60 years ago, I borrowed my sister's kilt to add a bit of contrasting color to my college's pipes and drums corps. OCR has told me recently that violated TOO MANY band kilt conventions. But now, neither my sister nor I have any hopes of playing in a band, so I'm wondering, if she can wear my kilt (she IS my height), whether that's "OK." I don't know why ladies kilts reverse the order of the inner/outer aprons, and therefor, the buckles and straps. Is it consdered gauche for a woman to wear a man's kilt in public (unless she's a piper in a band)? I'm well aware that most retailers who sell kilts will also sell ladies kilt skirts, from mini to midi to maxi in length. I convinced my spouse to obtain one in one of my "family" tartans; it's emerged from her closet only once and possibly will never do so again.

And all this musing about conventions flipped a few of my cerebral switches to pondering the flaunting of sartorial conventions, most notably at America's annual 'Academy Awards Ceremony," leading to a challenge: "Compose a sentence containing the words Bjork, Cheney, Swan, and shot" that's grammatically and historically correct."

[SF Jeff]

Perhaps another advantage to pleating to the stripe is that in lighter kilts (4-5 yards), depending the tartan on how it's done, it could give the impression/illusion of more pleats than there actually are, making a 5 yard kilt look more like an 8. It still won't swish like a full 8, but it could look more deeply pleated.

[cessna152towser]

In Scotland, pleating to the stripe is traditional for a military kilt, compared to pleating to the sett for a civilian kilt.
I wanted a kilt in Royal Air Force tartan for my volunteer duties at an aviation museum but was not eligible as although my father had served in the RAF, I had only ever served as an Air Training Corps cadet and never joined the full time service.
After some persuasion the Royal Air Force agreed to supply their tartan on condition that the kilt was produced by their official kiltmaker and would be pleated to the sett, as the RAF Dress Code kilt for Dining In events is always pleated to the stripe.

[Pleater]

I MAY have a personal solution that also might repay a debt. 60 years ago, I borrowed my sister's kilt to add a bit of contrasting color to my college's pipes and drums corps. OCR has told me recently that violated TOO MANY band kilt conventions. But now, neither my sister nor I have any hopes of playing in a band, so I'm wondering, if she can wear my kilt (she IS my height), whether that's "OK." I don't know why ladies kilts reverse the order of the inner/outer aprons, and therefor, the buckles and straps. Is it considered gauche for a woman to wear a man's kilt in public (unless she's a piper in a band)? I'm well aware that most retailers who sell kilts will also sell ladies kilt skirts, from mini to midi to maxi in length. I convinced my spouse to obtain one in one of my "family" tartans; it's emerged from her closet only once and possibly will never do so again."

Ah - a kilt is a kilt - rather like a kimono - and the aprons are not reversed.
There are various photos and even films where women wearing kilts appear and after checking that the photographic plate was not reversed I concluded that women wear kilts constructed and closed in the same way as men's, except that they tended to be longer - I estimate 27 inches or there abouts being half the 'standard' width of the fabric. Up until the 1960s women simply did not show their legs above the knee - it was not respectable.
If making a pleated skirt then a zip and button or clip on the left is correct, and I have even noticed a couple of men wearing such a garment over the years, but didn't interrogate them as to the reason for it - I have seen stranger things believe me.

Anne the Pleater