FYI - the little pieces that you mentioned in your original post were left over from when the kiltmaker cut out the excess fabric in the pleats behind the fell. The reason that you don't have as many as you have pleats in your kilt is probably because the kiltmaker used some of them for the buckle tabs (and might have used more than 3 if he/she botched one, which happens to me all the time). The kiltmaker might also have used some for flashes and may have kept one for his/her swatch collection.