Symmetrical Sett - Finding the Repeat

[awoodfellow]

maybe a silly question .....

if a sett is symmetrical, how do you determine where the repeat begins?


referencing Barb's book; page 22, Color Figure 27 MacLachlan Tartan.
Sett = 12"
Barb has the repeat marked. In this illustration, the 1st pair of vertical black stripes are marked as the beginning of the repeat. could the repeat start at the 2nd pair of narrow black vertical stripes? Of course it seems to me that if the repeat was shifted to the 2nd pair of verticals then the kilt would have a totally different look;i.e., a dark (black) rather than bright (red) sett.


ambrose

[KMacT]

referencing Barb's book; page 22, Color Figure 27 MacLachlan Tartan. Sett = 12" Barb has the repeat marked. In this illustration, the 1st pair of vertical black stripes are marked as the beginning of the repeat. could the repeat start at the 2nd pair of narrow black vertical stripes? Of course it seems to me that if the repeat was shifted to the 2nd pair of verticals then the kilt would have a totally different look;i.e., a dark (black) rather than bright (red) sett.

Ok, here is a very novice reply (i.e. I might have this all wrong!).

First, if the "start" of the repeat is shifted, as you say, there wont be any extra black nor any less red. The red stripe taken from the left side of the repeat will necessarily show up on the right. Same balance of colours - all that happens is the placement of those colours shifts to the right.

As for the pleats themselves, if pleated to the sett, then the pattern will reproduce entirely and it will look the same regardless (subject only to how the pattern is centred on the pleats, as mentioned in the apron section, below). All the stripes will be represented. If pleated the the stripe, then the fact that you can centre one stripe or another is the great thing about pleating to the stripe - you can change the look of the pleats according to personal preference.

As for the apron, it seems that the only thing that matters is what part of the sett is centred at the front of the apron. I would expect a symetry will be looked for such that the pattern moves left and right symetrically from the very centre of the apron, but I don't know if that's common practice or not. In this way I don't think it depends on where you determine the repeat starts, but rather how you want it to look at the front. In the MacLaclan tartan you mentioned, a symetrical look would have the vertical double-black that is centred on the wide red stripe centred at the front of the apron.

Kevin