Pleating options in lower yardage kilts

[Mikilt]

I have long been under the impression that lower yardage kilts (~5 yards) could not be pleated to the stripe because of the amount of material needed/available.

I am pretty sure I have seen examples that demonstrate this is incorrect. Kiltmakers, does it depend on the sett size?

[The Wizard of BC]

The way most makers create a lower yardage kilt is to make each pleat wider. There are therefore fewer pleats for any given hip circumference. As each pleat uses about one Sett, fewer pleats mean fewer Setts would be required.

If the Tartan pattern allows it does not matter if you pleat to the Sett or Stripe.

However, not all Tartans lend themselves to one type of pleating or another. You must look at and treat each case individually. Just as each narrow pleat must be carefully planned around the Tartan pattern.

You could think of it sort of like a 4 yard box pleated kilt. Box pleats can be made to Sett or to Stripe. It really all depends on the elements of the Tartan.

[Taskr]

Mikilt. I am not a kilt maker, but I have been experimenting with an almost 5yd-ish small sett tartan. I found I can pleat to almost any option I want with the caveat being what the Wizard has said - the size of the pleat. As the outer distance of the pleat shifts to accept the pleat option to the hip measurement, the depth of the inner pleat can vary considerably. I was surprised by the variation - there seems to be no "common" pleat depth throughout the options. So, it is what it is... have to plan around the sett and pleating option to determine if you can accomplish what you want with ~5yds

I did manage - purely on measurement - a mock-up to make a knife pleat with a decent depth that would have fit ...but the pleating looked horrid. I must say the exercise in multiple pleating was highly valuable education. While paused, I've not given up on the project yet

[Barb T]

Box pleated kilts are typically 4 yards. Most are pleated to the stripe, for example:





The two kilts above are for the same person. The number of pleats, and the size of the pleats, are a function of the size of the sett.

Here's another box pleated kilt pleated to the stripe:



Reverse Kingussies are typically 5-6 yards. Again, pleating to the stripe is common:



and another reverse Kingussie



Kingussies are typically 5-6 yards as well. Commonly pleated to the stripe:

[Pleater]

Having been making and remaking my own kilts for a while, there often seems to be several options, possible variations or choices, but one in particular will fall better than the others, so you can be roughly folding in the pleats and find something pleasing, then you calculate the exact size of the splits and find that it is going to be easy to fit it.
I usually stop experimenting at that point, as it seems foolish to try to improve on what will be an easy option which is pleasing to the eye.

I think that making kilts is both an art and a craft, it must fit and it must look right, so the construction must be done properly, but not mechanically - it might be necessary to create pleats of unequal depths, to make the pleats into not quite setts or to pleat to alternating stripes - or even to three different lines. Whatever option is chosen it really only needs to be the one to make the best possible kilt in a particular size from a particular length of cloth.

Anne the Pleater

[fluter]

Thanks Barb. Those are pretty!

I'm with Anne: in lower yardage, the tartan will probably tell us what to do. Planning a 4-yard box pleat in MacGregor, I tried pinning it up to white stripes & the red blocks. I thought it would have been pretty fiddly to make either one work. An extra yard of fabric could give a lot more flexibility...





For this one, still in progress, I ended by alternating:
TestPleatAlt by Ken, on Flickr

[Mike S]

My next planned kilt is going to be a box pleated one from Barb as a matter of fact.

[The Wizard of BC]

Just for clarification. Was the OP asking about box-pleated kilts or the so called low-yardage knife pleated kilts offered by some makers?

[Barb T]

If you pleat a knife-pleated kilt to the stripe, you get more pleats out of a given length of fabric than if you pleat it to the sett. In an 8-yard knife pleated kilt, I figure on getting 3-4 more pleats into the kilt if I pleat to the stripe than I do if I pleat the same tartan to the sett. That's because you have to go over one full sett plus a little more for each pleat when you pleat to the sett. If you're talking about a 5-yard "casual kilt", the same thing holds true if you are talking about truly pleating to the sett. Of course, you can pleat to the pseudo-sett and get any number of pleats in.

[Mike S]

Just for clarification. Was the OP asking about box-pleated kilts or the so called low-yardage knife pleated kilts offered by some makers?

Neither was specified. It was about pleating to the strip vs. the sett. However many beautiful box pleated kilts were given and discussed as examples of both options within the resulting conversation.