Designing a tartan and how to pleat it

[Semiomniscient]

You've gone for pleating to the stripe in a sort of non stripe sort of way, I've got no problem with that , although some here don't always like it calling it "the dreaded lawnchair effect".
As long as the colour blocks are about 1" wide you will be able to have the block pleated to about 3/4", it's helpful to have a little spare so the next colour lines on the block don't show at all.Using your example I'd still only use one stripe per sett even though both green are doubled up,as the pleat depth would be just a little "too little"
So using 36" as a hips measurement.... and 18" as the back , with 3/4" pleat width you would then get 24 pleats, so if the repeat is 8"( for ease of calculation) you would need 192" then add fabric for the aprons and reverse pleats , (I normally allow at least 3 aprons worth ) so that would be about 54 ". That makes a total of 246" , that is a minimum really but it comes out at about 7 yards. So on a basic calculation of allowing 8 yds person that would be fine.

I now feel a bit more lost. What do you mean by "stripe in a non stripe sort of way?" And I've never heard of the "dreaded lawnchair effect" either. :-/ I think I understand the math and measurements though. So you're not wasting your time with me I promise!

[Paul Henry]

Often the stripe in tartan is considered to be a dominant element, rather than what might be thought of as a background colour, in your examples the 2 greens and brown might be thought of a base colour.
The lawnchair effect is that of a broad horizontal stripe across someone's rear! sometimes it works , and sometimes it exagerates the size!!
One thing you do want to avoid is an element in the tartan disappearing as it tapers towards the waist, using the broader areas that you have choosen removes this possibility, so it this instance a good choice!

[EagleJCS]

What I think of as 'pleating to the stripe' is selecting one of the accent stripes in the tartan (usually a white or yellow, depending on the tartan), and pleating so that stripe is vertically dominant in the back - i.e., you see a lot of white or yellow stripes running up & down. This allows the sett to "peek out" from the pleats and can provide a stunning contrast to the aprons.

Pleating so the stripe is horizontal is, as paulhenry describes, the "lawn chair effect". Depending on the tartan and the color chosen, it can look nice and is different from the "standard" pleating to the stripe I described above.

No idea on how it's done, but good luck in your selection.

Isn't there a Louisiana tartan? How about using that one?

[Semiomniscient]

What I think of as 'pleating to the stripe' is selecting one of the accent stripes in the tartan (usually a white or yellow, depending on the tartan), and pleating so that stripe is vertically dominant in the back - i.e., you see a lot of white or yellow stripes running up & down. This allows the sett to "peek out" from the pleats and can provide a stunning contrast to the aprons.

Pleating so the stripe is horizontal is, as paulhenry describes, the "lawn chair effect". Depending on the tartan and the color chosen, it can look nice and is different from the "standard" pleating to the stripe I described above.

No idea on how it's done, but good luck in your selection.

Isn't there a Louisiana tartan? How about using that one?

Hmm... I've got a lot to learn apparently.
I'm going to try a few more things and look at some examples.

There is a Louisiana tartan, it was actually sponsored by our society and designed by one of our members (who's also serving on our committee). But one of the other bands in town features it predominately among their members although it's not a uniform, we want to avoid any confusion between the bands. An identity issue I guess. :-)

[Semiomniscient]

Often the stripe in tartan is considered to be a dominant element, rather than what might be thought of as a background colour, in your examples the 2 greens and brown might be thought of a base colour.
The lawnchair effect is that of a broad horizontal stripe across someone's rear! sometimes it works , and sometimes it exagerates the size!!
One thing you do want to avoid is an element in the tartan disappearing as it tapers towards the waist, using the broader areas that you have choosen removes this possibility, so it this instance a good choice!

I think I'm starting to understand. But maybe not... it'll need some work for sure. Is this more like something we would look for?

[Hothir Ethelnor]

That variation of pleating looks quite nice.

[Paul Henry]

This is an example of a tartan I've done and how I'm working out the pleats after Paulhenry's explanation. This isn't one of the tartans that's really on the table for the band, it's just one I've designed. Let me know what you think of the pleating size.

The most obvious stripe in this tartan is probably the light blue bordered by red and green, BUT I think it might be a little complicated for the kiltmaker to use that because it contained so many fine lines, which would most likely disappear partially with the tapering to the waist.
Your latest example of the black line with blue on one side and green on the other might be ok, depends on the width of that portion. I know Barb likes the pleats to be absolutely mirror images, but I actually like the effect you can get from using the two colours in your example.
I recently did a kilt in Rankin and we pleated it to a similar idea to yours, although in mine I had the red line as the centre markIt's not a great photo , but you get the idea I hope.when the kilt was worn it actually looked as if it had double the number of pleats.
I'm not sure there is actually something that is "right" , but something that is pleasing, every tartan offers different choices.

[Semiomniscient]

This is not the tartan likely to be chosen by our band. And it differs quite a bit from what I want to use. But I'm going to keep at it and post some more ideas (perhaps with different tartans) as I get a chance.

[Semiomniscient]

I think I'm getting it a little more, and I appreciate your help very much. By "getting it right" I mean giving it the most pleasing look.

[Semiomniscient]

This is a new shot with a different tartan I've designed. I'm very proud of the design and I just hope that it works better than the last one for pleating to stripe. I realize that after my makeshift measurements on MS Paint, that some of the stripes (or rather digi-pleats) may be slightly too large, but they should generally work if I've understood the help I've been given here.