12 inch sett!!

[amaclean2000]

I am making a Smith Kilt and bought 8 yards of fabric. Once I got the tartan it has a massive 12 inch sett! If I put 24 pleats in that is 24ft of kilt in the back leaving no material for aprons... The only other options I can think of would be to have alternate yellow and orange stripes or just stick to the 6 inch blue stripes? Any suggestions?

[OC Richard]

That's what they do with Hunting Stewart, they alternate the pleats between the red and yellow lines. Otherwise the pleats would be far too deep, taking up far too much fabric.

Kiltmakers would know far better than I, but I would go with the blue stripe, which gives, in effect, a 6 inch sett, correct?

Is this it? Looks like pleating to the blue would look very nice, and the kilt wouldn't be nearly as heavy in the back.



I just found this vintage photo showing a very large sett

[ShaunMaxwell]

When I had my Smith ancient colors kilt made, I opted to have it pleated to the red stripe. It's a large sett, but perhaps not quite the scale of yours. As you can see in the photos below, the red stripe appears only ONCE on the front of the kilt. Consequently, this kilt has DEEP pleats and some heft to it!

I think pleating to every other stripe might be an option, and would make a striking kilt.

[Hipbilly]

I would pleat to red/Yellow alternating stripes; the blue would just be too blue...

in THIS thread, they offer the following example (smith ancient):

[Pipersson]

When I had my Smith ancient colors kilt made, I opted to have it pleated to the red stripe. It's a large sett, but perhaps not quite the scale of yours. As you can see in the photos below, the red stripe appears only ONCE on the front of the kilt. Consequently, this kilt has DEEP pleats and some heft to it!

I think pleating to every other stripe might be an option, and would make a striking kilt.

What fabric was used for your kilt?
The Lochcarron Smith ancient uses a smaller sett than for example Marton Mills.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Mine is Marton Mills.

[Pipersson]

So is mine... :-)

[OC Richard]

Good point, the back of the kilt would be almost all blue if pleated to the blue.

But... I really like blue!

[Pipersson]

And the blue is quite pale in ancient colours...maybe it won't be recognizable stripe...
Smith is often called Gow hunting but this is not quite correct.
Smith has a azur blue line which is a dark blue in the original Gow hunting. Maybe this would be better to be pleated to the blue stripe.

[sydnie7]

I am far from an expert, but I believe you can pleat to the sett while "cheating the sett" by not putting a full sett into each pleat. It's how companies create 5-yard kilts done to the sett.