Pleating to Horizontal ?!

[mookien]

Someone please enlighten me. In Dr. Nicholas J. Fiddes' excellent e-book (for beginners like me) available on the Scotweb home page, he writes,

"A third even rarer method of pleating, ‘to horizontal’, involves choosing a point in the sett for the folds that creates the illusion of a series of strong horizontal bands across the rear. Only a true master of kiltmaking is likely to accomplish this successfully, so do not ask it of a novice. But anyway, it is arguably rare for a reason, as many find it less flattering or aesthetically pleasing."

I know about pleating to sett and stripe, but what exactly is being described here, and why do many find it less pleasing?

My kilt is pleated to a particular stripe and creates a horizontal-band pattern on the pleats. Why wouldn't it be described as pleated "to horizontal"? I see lots of kilts like it and they look good to me!

- Puzzled in Bamburgh

[xman]

Around here this is usually called pleating to the block or solid colour. Without a noticeable vertical stripe as you have on your kilt, the horizontal stripes are all that can be seen in the pleats. it is less desirable for the same reason that horizontal stripes are generally undesirable in clothing. A strong vertical stripe in the centre of each pleat can reduce the ... uhm .. 'fat ***' impression that block pleating can leave.

[KiltedSergeant]

A strong vertical stripe in the centre of each pleat can reduce the ... uhm .. 'fat ***' impression that block pleating can leave.

A very important point for my brother who is the above OP, and explains his preference for "Numquam ubi, sub ubi"!

[The Wizard of BC]

One of the problems we have in kilt making is that everyone seems to use their own words to describe the same thing. There is not an accepted single term for stuff.

Maybe it would be helpful if I describe what this "to the Horizontal" is.

If you look at any Tartan you can easily see the horizontal and vertical stripes. Now look at the spaces between the stripes.

If you were to pleat your Tartan to any prominent vertical stripe the effect when pleated has a strong vertical look. This is what we normally call "To the Stripe"

But now, look at your Tartan again and find an area where there is no strong or prominent vertical element. If you were to use this area for your pleats you would do the pleating in the same way that you would for "To the Stripe" but the end result would look totally different to your eye.
Another kilt maker I know calls this "Pleating to No Stripe"

The best example I can give you is by using the Isle of Skye Tartan.



This Tartan has only one really good vertical element for "Pleating to the Stripe" This is the Green band with the white stripe.




This Tartan can be pleated to the area of the blue and brown stripes but the effect is less pleasing to most eyes. The overall effect is still vertical though.



But what if you look at the brown band and treat it like a stripe even if there is "No Stripe".


I think you can now see that the overall effect is no longer vertical. This is "Pleating to the Horizontal".
Rocky of USA Kilts once called this "The Dread Lawnchair Effect".



Here is a Kilt in Isle of Skye "Pleated to No Stripe" or "Pleated to the Horizontal".


I think you can see that the overall effect is primarily horizontal. The Isle of Skye Tartan is one of the few that can be pleated like this and not look, how shall I say this, off.
Ask any lady. They will tell you that Vertical stripes are slimming, Horizontal stripes,,,well, not.
So when ever I put on my Isle of Skye kilt I stand in front of the mirror and say "Hey, honey, do these pleats make my butt look fat?"

[davidlpope]

Here's another thread where this was discussed:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...stewart-53882/

[OC Richard]

What a great photo!

It's what I had to decide when I ordered my Isle of Skye kilt.

I went with the option on the far right, that is, pleated to the pairs of brown lines. I prefer it because it allows pure undiluted purple to appear on the back of the kilt. I'm delighted with my IOS kilt.

But yes it seems that pleating so that the pleats show no vertical elements is usually called "pleating to the block".

This term doesn't appear in The Art Of Kiltmaking however. The authors use the term "unfortunate lawnchair effect" to describe a kilt pleated to the stripe where the vertical element is too weak.

About pipe bands yes, I just watched the DVDs of the 2010 World Pipe Band Championships Grade One Final and all the bands save two were pleated to the line/stripe.

[Barb T]

The reason that the teem "pleating to the block" doesn't appear in TAoK is that it's simply a variant of pleating the stripe.

WRT the pic in the previous post, the problem with pleating to the double brown stripe is that the two brown stripes are not quite the same width. This means that a pleat isn't bilaterally symmetrical. I think that pleating to the stripe looks best when pleats are bilaterally symmetrical.

[mookien]

OC Richard: Aesthetically, I'm with you on this one. I would forgo bilateral symmetry to gain LOTS of purple - a favorite color. Just call me Chester Royde. But, then again, I'm one of those guys who look down at my feet and see a tan sock and a brown sock, .... and don't care. :-)

[MacBean]

The reason that the teem "pleating to the block" doesn't appear in TAoK is that it's simply a variant of pleating the stripe.

WRT the pic in the previous post, the problem with pleating to the double brown stripe is that the two brown stripes are not quite the same width. This means that a pleat isn't bilaterally symmetrical. I think that pleating to the stripe looks best when pleats are bilaterally symmetrical.

Looking at the photo, I must be missing something Barb. I see from left to right: wide brown, narrow brown, then wide brown, which is symmetrical. True, the first wide brown is a section of a much wider brown, but the way he's got this pinned it looks symmetrical to me. Can you train my eyes?

[OC Richard]

Yes that's quite true Barbara, that the two brown lines are of slightly different widths.

Since that's only apparent if you're very close (closer than anyone would normally be to my tochis when I'm out piping) I accept the slight loss of symmetry for the larger gain of colour. If, while looking at that three-pleating-option photo, you put up your hand so that, one at a time, you can see the kilt front and only one of the three options, you'll note that the option on the right captures the colours of the tartan better than either of the other two.

The lefthand option makes the entire kilt rear brownish and dull, the centre option makes the entire kilt rear pale green. Only the righthand option allows pure undiluted purple to glow out at you... and it's the lovely colours which attracted me to Isle Of Skye in the first place.