Wedding kilt -- is pleating to the sett more appropriate?

[Mainelydad]

I am new to this forum and about to undertake making a kilt for my son's marriage. Our tartan is the "loud MacLeod". I've been playing around with various pleating arrangements. The sett of my tartan is not very large, 5.5". Pleating to the stripe, while interesting, results in pleats that are quite shallow. Plus, I'm wondering if it says more "band costume" than "wedding attire". Thoughts?

[Taskr]

Not a pro, but ....... Not sure why they would be shallow. Able to post any pics of your pleating ponderings?

[The Wizard of BC]

While pleating to the stripe is nicknamed "military pleating' that is only because many military kilts are pleated that way. Yes, many pipe bands also pleat their kilts to stripe. Probably due to the military influence.

Pleating to the Sett is nicknamed "civilian pleating" and we think was a later development.

But both are just a valid as the other. You really should not read anymore into it than a way of folding fabric.

Some people like one look over the other. It is just personal preference.

And yes, 5.5" may appear to be small but is not out of the normal range. Do you know the weight of your fabric. In general the lighter weight fabrics will have a smaller sett for a given Tartan. The MacLeod of Lewis fabrics I have in my shop for kilts have a Sett size of around 6" for 16oz wool. The average Sett size for most fabrics is between 5.5 inches and 6.5 inches

[figheadair]

Pleating to the Sett is nicknamed "civilian pleating" and we think was a later development.

Steven, no 'think' about it. I don't know of a single kilt that is pleated to sett before the latter part of the 19th century whereas all the surviving late 18th and early 19th century examples, military or civilian, are pleated to stripe or to nothing at all.

The OP says that their tartan is the Loud MacLeod by which I assume they mean that that's the one they've chosen? There is no reason, other than that the material may have already purchased, why they could not choose one of the other MacLeod tartans. All the alternatives are visually more pleasing IMO.

[Mainelydad]

Not a pro, but ....... Not sure why they would be shallow. Able to post any pics of your pleating ponderings?

Here as a pic that shows the difference. Pleated to the stripe results in pleat depth that is about 3/4" less than pleating to the sett. I think pleating to the set is going to win.

[Taskr]

Thanks, I see what you mean.
From what I read the pleat to the stripe is a reasonable casual pleat depth. How much material do you have - enough to skip one over? You, technically, have two yellow stripes in a black field to manipulate. Be a hugely deep pleat, I suspect. Just curious as I have spent some mindless time with a few tartans attacking the pleating in as many ways as seemed feasible, and not feasible.

For what its worth, I have one kilt to the sett and another to the stripe in mat and pat family tartans. Was as simple as which looked most pleasing to the eye.

[The Wizard of BC]

A standard pleat reveal (The part you see) is between 3/4 inch and 7/8 inch. A 1 inch reveal is still not too bad.
Much over 1 inch and you start to look like a low yardage or cargo kilt pleat.

So let's do the math.

Just for ease let's assume a 1 inch pleat reveal.
With a 5.5 inch Sett pleated to the Stripe you would have - 5.5" - 1" = 4.5" / 2 = 2.25" depth of pleat.
If pleated to Sett you would have - 5.5" + 1" = 6.5" / 2 = 3.25" depth of pleat.

Both of these are a bit shallow but within the acceptable range.

If you narrow your pleat reveal to 3/4" you would have - 5.5" - .75" = 4.75" / 2 = 2.375" depth of pleat if pleated to Stripe.
And - 5.5" + .75" = 6.25" / 2 = 3.125" depth of pleat if pleated to Sett.

You are now well within the acceptable or normal range of pleat depth.

[Mainelydad]

A standard pleat reveal (The part you see) is between 3/4 inch and 7/8 inch. A 1 inch reveal is still not too bad.
Much over 1 inch and you start to look like a low yardage or cargo kilt pleat.

So let's do the math.

Just for ease let's assume a 1 inch pleat reveal.
With a 5.5 inch Sett pleated to the Stripe you would have - 5.5" - 1" = 4.5" / 2 = 2.25" depth of pleat.
If pleated to Sett you would have - 5.5" + 1" = 6.5" / 2 = 3.25" depth of pleat.

Both of these are a bit shallow but within the acceptable range.

If you narrow your pleat reveal to 3/4" you would have - 5.5" - .75" = 4.75" / 2 = 2.375" depth of pleat if pleated to Stripe.
And - 5.5" + .75" = 6.25" / 2 = 3.125" depth of pleat if pleated to Sett.

You are now well within the acceptable or normal range of pleat depth.

Thank you for this. I think I will pleat to the sett, which will give more depth to the pleats, as well as being more visually appealing.

[Barb T]

From what I read the pleat to the stripe is a reasonable casual pleat depth. .

Pleat depth really doesn't matter per se - the swing comes not from the pleat depth but from the amount of tartan in the back of the kilt and the length of the fell (the stitched part of the pleat). A smaller sett means more pleats, but you could theoretically use up as much tartan in the back of the kilt. At some point, though, the pleats get TOO small, and the kilt looks odd, and whether you can get all 8 yards into the kilt will depend on the size of the person.

But, bottom line, it has nothing to do with casual kilt vs trad full-yardage kilt.

If a sett is REALLY small (under 5"), I would just make skip a sett and put two setts into every pleat instead of one. And I've also made kilts where I can't get all the tartan into a kilt with one pleat every sett but, if I go over two setts, I won't have enough pleats. So, I might make every third pleat double depth. Or every third pleat single depth. Again - it doesn't matter that pleats are different depths - the kilt will swing better if I put the full yardage into the kilt. Here's one that doesn't exactly illustrate this but does show one with alternating pleats of different depths: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...insides-76521/

[Dale-of-Cedars]

I was sent this picture of a Crawford wedding when I was pondering 'sett vs. stripe':



Either way can look great. (The picture was 'artistically' blurred.)