Stripe/Sett

[ForresterModern]

Like David said, a lot depends on the tartan itself as to whether it lends itself to being pleated to stripe or not, as well as to personal preference, and to style of kilt construction. To my understanding standard Knife pleats can be pleated either way, while other styles like Kingussie and military box pleats tend to look much better, regardless of the tartan, pleated to stripe. Some tartan setts may be too big, especially in 16oz or heavier weights (heavier weights make the sett bigger as the thread count remains the same while each respective thread gets larger with increasing weight), to be satisfactorily pleated to stripe. IF you have your tartan and a kiltmaker ask them to lay out your tartan in the various possibilities, as they can be pinned up to demo the differences side by side on your actual tartan, especially if there are different possible stripes to choose from for stripe centering.

A kilt pleated to sett will look the same in both front and back, while a kilt pleated to stripe (thanks Leathern) will look different front from back, and may have a dominant color on the rear pleats, which will when walking reveal another complimentary color in the covered parts of the pleats, an often striking appearence. All depends on the sett and tartan.

All of my kilts are to sett except my new Kingussie in Ancient Caledonia which is to stripe (the orange)---don't worry, pics are forthcoming as soon as I get a few minutes on the computer at home to post them.

jeff

jeff