Quote Originally Posted by slohairt View Post
Concerning the original box-pleated military kilts, I would agree that it was done for uniformity and nothing more. I'm suggesting that the military chose not to adopt the later trend of pleating to the sett for both uniformity and economics.

Sure, if a full repeat is used per pleat than the savings are nominal, maybe only 20 inches or so worth of cloth. However, by only using a half repeat per pleat the saving is considerable.

Suppose two kilts are being made. Both are made to the measurements of 33" Waist and 39" Hips" (My own measurements! ) Both are made from 18 oz. cloth in Black Watch which has an approximate repeat of 13 1/2 inches. Both kilts will also have 27 pleats. Assuming one didn't "cheat the pleats", pleating to the sett using a full repeat per pleat would use roughly 12.5 yards. (A ridiculous number to be sure, and anyone would definitely cheat the pleats.) The second kilt, pleated to the stripe, using only half repeats per pleat would only require about 6.5 yards. So, no, in this the case the savings are quite considerable.
John,

That would be true only if you were bound and determined to include a full sett repeat of the tartan in every pleat when making a Black Watch kilt. I'm sure I don't have to tell you there are ways around this problem which allow for pleating to the sett, but don't require you to use the full repeat if you have a very large sett to deal with. You refer to "cheating the pleats" in your post, and even say "anyone would definitely" do this.

Otherwise, every skinny man in an ancient Campbell kilt (or Gordon, or MacKenzie, or Hunting Robertson, or MacLachlan, or MacNab, or Fraser of Lovat, Murray of Atholl, etc.) who wanted it pleated to sett would have to pay an absurd amount for his kilt and would end up walking around in over 12 yards of tartan, per your math.

We all know this is not the case. And certainly army tailors of the nineteenth century were no less clever than kilt makers today. If there was a desire to have regimental kilts pleated to the sett, they could have easily accomplished this while using the same amount of cloth as before.

So I still maintain that the main reason they stayed true to pleating to the stripe was tradition, not economics. The whole argument that pleating to the stripe "saves cloth" I believe is simply one more Highland dress myth.

BTW, I've made box pleated kilts pleated to the sett from as little as four yards of cloth, and knife pleated kilts to the sett from as little as five.