PLEAT TAPER guidance.

[batglider]

Need clarification on how to pleat taper. Hope to get it right on my next DIY kilt. Thanks.

[Paul Henry]

It would be good to know what sort of kilt you are making, whether contemporary or traditional and also what fabric wool or cotton, and also whether you are machine sewing or hand sewing.
Basically the taper is determined by the difference between the hip and waist measurement at the back of the kilt, a rough guide is that the back of the kilt is about half of the total hip measurement, you then do a calculation based on the number of pleats needed and then that number is divided into half the waist measurement to give the width of the pleat at the top( or nearly at the top).
There are so many variables it is hard to be more helpful, how about some measurements and I'm sure that many of us wil be happy to help.

[batglider]

I'm making a contemporary kilt out of a solid cotton blend...hip is 35 in. and waist is 32 in. with ten 2.1 in. pleats.
Am not up to speed on the mechanics of the taper technique itself. Thanks.

[Paul Henry]

On your measurement of 35" hip, half of that is 18"( always better slightly larger on the hips) so you can choose to have 10 pleats at 1.8" ( waist at 1.6"), 9 pleats at 2" (waist at 1.7"), I can't see how you could have 10 pleats at 2.1", but there are lots of way you can make a kilt and a 50/50 split isn't always used.
If you are new to kiltmaking , why not start with an X kilt, the instructions are here , and there are lots of people on here who have made it and will be able to answer your queries directly.

[Tartan Hiker]

I agree with Paul's suggestion. Making an X-Kilt will teach you the concept. All kilts have the same basic shape, if you will, the only difference being how you taper the upper bits to achieve said shape.

[Pleater]

I used to divide the shaping equally between all the pleats, but - looking in large mirrors, I saw that there was too much expansion in the kilts at the sides, so there the pleats were sliding under each other, whilst those at the back were wanting to open out more.

I had shaped the pleats to make a / \ when what I needed was more l l when viewed from the front - with almost all the shaping close to the centre back.

By tapering the pleats more where they lie 'on the bone' and having the ones which lie on the padding just eased in a little in the top two inches the fit is more exact.

You need to taper to match your own shape, particularly when using a fabric which will not distort like wool.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[batglider]

Thanks very much Pleater, Tartan Hiker and Paul Henry for the helpful advice to the newbie.

[tundramanq]

Anne has this nailed - kilts are an irregular cylinder, an irregular flair and then a cylinder shape to hang best. The trick is knowing where in the flair section to make the taper. Note that most contemporary kilts worn at the hips have very little if any upper cylinder. Stand in front of the full length mirror a ways back and really look at where you dramaticly change dimensions and taper in those areas.
In my case, worn at the low hip. I have no rump and the kilt hangs almost straight down - thus no tapering there. On the sides toward the front (at the femurs) there is a large change so my best fit is tapering at or as close to this area as I can. Depending on apron width this may be under it and the taper would happen in the first few and last few pleats at the apron edges. A bit tricky in trying to keep the aprons flat and the pleats laying nice. And as Anne says the cotton poly has very little give to hide irregularities. The "game" seems to change with any variation in fabric type or even the weight of the same fabric type.