Difficult Tartan to work with...

[Sander]

Hi everybody,

first and foremost, let me introduce myself:

My name is Sander Tel, I am 42 years of age and I live in Helmond (the Netherlands) I have found this forum as part of my research on kiltmaking.
I have been interested in Kilts for many years but recently I have found the time to really go ahead and make a kilt for myself.

The other day I have been shopping for cloths. Fortunately I live in a town which has 3 major/large shops which sell many types of cloths and sewing materials.

Unfortunately I have only found 1 material which is suited (in my humble opinion) to make a kilt out of. Of all the many yards of cloth in these shops, only one had a selfedge to it.

So I am more or less stuck with the one I have found. It is a lightweight, rather losely woven acrylic cloth with (I must say) a difficult type of tartan design. The colors have a hunting quality to it and in this regard it lacks a clear and obvious stripe in it's sett. I have come to turms with the fact that I need to measure the pleats to the millimeter and need to mark every pleat individually to get a good result.

I have desided to go with a knife pleat to the sett, and throught experimentation I found that an under pleat width of 10 cm (about 4 inches) (same as the set width) is best, also in regard to the weight of the cloth. I like my pleat width to be 2,5 cm (about 1 inch)

Well, so far so good, now for my question:
How can I do my pleating in regard to the difficult tartan design ?

Regards, Sander Tel.

[RockyR]

If you show us some pics of the tartan, we may be better suited to help.

[Sander]

Hi Rocky,

In my Album I have put several pictures which might get an idea of what kind of a tartan I am using...

my album is here: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/m...is-first-kilt/

thanks

[Farlander]

Greetings Sander, welcome to X-Marks!

You might want to consider posting kilt making questions to either:
- DIY Kilt and Accessories Help
or
- Professional Kiltmakers Hints and Tips

Now, for your question. A great book is The Art of Kiltmaking. Check out:
http://www.celticdragonpress.com/

Looking at your plaid, you certainly could pleat to strip if you wanted. The center strip of the three black stripes in the red area is the most obvious option, but there are others. If you have decided that you want to pleat to sett, that is fine!

2.5 cm (1") pleats are OK, but a bit on the large side. 10 cm is not very deep. If you have the fabric for it, you might consider doubling this. 20 cm would be quite nice and a very typical size.

The funny thing is, that the # of pleats, and their size is not so much determined by what you want it to be, but by:
- Final Kilt size (waist and hip measurements)
- Length of fabric
- Sett size

You have shared with us the sett size of 10 cm (~4 inches). Next we need to know how much fabric you purchased and your measurements?