Pleating to the sett, am I doing it right?

[BertMcG]

I've made two kilts pleated to the stripe and happy with the results. It seems like it's a lot easier to pleat to the stripe, with this kilt, 19 1/2" at the hips so 26 pleats at 3/4" each no problem, but I'd rather pleat to the sett for this one, I think i have it figured out here are some pictures.

The tartan is MacGregor modern with a 5 3/4" sett, I prefer to see more red therefore the pleating to the sett. My question is, the green stripe in the middle with the white stripe is 1" wide which would mean the other pleats, to make one sett, would be .95 inches, is that okay? Also 5 3/4" doesn't go evenly into 19 1/2" so pleating to the sett means I'm going to be short or long by 1/4" to 1/3", it doesn't seem like much but is that right or is there a better way, thanks for any help.

[The Wizard of BC]

There are many ways to think about how to lay out pleats to pleat to the Sett.

One way that helped me to understand what I was trying to achieve is outlined in this thread.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=82677

Barb T in "The Art of Kiltmaking" also explains it really well.

[Pleater]

I suspect that there are different ways to look at pleating to the set. Some involve cheating.

I start with the amount of fabric and the number of setts available - it is usual to have a prominent part of the sett as either centre front or equally spaced on each side of the centre front, so you might lose some fabric there, and then the same part of the sett is the centre back.

By adding in the wearer's measurements you can then grasp how many repeats of the sett you need to create across the back, and how many setts you have to fold up to create each repeat. You do not need to create an exact number of whole repeats across, it is perfectly OK to have part repeats as long as the centre back is as it should be.

There is the possibility of not matching the size of the sett exactly if it would be easier to have it slightly wider or narrower for a better effect or having more fabric for the larger pleats which make for easy movement.

Once you know how many pleats there should be in the repeat you can look at the set to decide where the folds should fall. You need to place them where the taper will have least effect on the appearance of the finished fell.

The width of a particular band has no bearing, when you are doing the folding you put the edge of the pleat to the same place one set along, or to the place required for the cheat you wish to achieve so as to increase or decrease the measurement. That creates the ideal situation at the lower edge of the fell, and if you have chosen where to make the folds for best effect you should then be able to taper most of the pleats without losing an obvious feature inside it.

If you can't do that with exactly even pleats then you could try making the pleats slightly different sizes or fold the pleat so as to keep the feature visible but slide it across so the same amount of narrowing is achieved.

Another way to do it would be to keep the difficult pleats untapered and put all the tapering into the easy options.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[BertMcG]

I suspect that there are different ways to look at pleating to the set. Some involve cheating.

Thanks, I suppose ultimately that was my question, is a little cheating okay? I will try out Steve's method as well, it looks interesting

[Barb T]

Pleating to the sett is a combination of reproducing the sett as closely as possible while still keeping each pleat well-balanced and not losing stripes in the taper of the pleats from the hips to the waist. Pleat size and balance are the two most critical things. Whether you exactly reproduce the sett isn't as important. If you have the overall pattern, but one color element is wider or narrower than it is in the sett, it frankly is not going to be at all noticeable.

What I typically do is lay out a test apron with pins and then go to the center back of the tartan. I count the number of pleats that I could get into the kilt if I were pleating to the stripe (in the case of the MacGregor, the number of white stripes), and then I subtract 3. That gives me roughly how many pleats I might be able to get by pleating to the sett. Then I figure out what the pleat size will be at the hips and the waist. If you don't do that, you can easily lay out a pleating and a pleat size that you don't have enough tartan for. Knowing how much the pleats have to taper is also critical to avoid "spear points" along the edges of the pleats.

Then I start at a pivot for the center back and choose elements that are the right width at the hips _and_ that will accommodate taper without spear points _and_ are balanced (solid color, stripe up the center, or stripe up the pleat edge). AND pleats on opposite sides of a pivot MUST be mirror images of one another. Takes some fiddling, but it simply can't be done mathematically.

[BertMcG]

Pleating to the sett is a combination of reproducing the sett as closely as possible while still keeping each pleat well-balanced and not losing stripes in the taper of the pleats from the hips to the waist. Pleat size and balance are the two most critical things. Whether you exactly reproduce the sett isn't as important. If you have the overall pattern, but one color element is wider or narrower than it is in the sett, it frankly is not going to be at all noticeable.

Thanks Barb, I tend to be too technical at times. I tried Steve's method but couldn't get it to work, mostly because I didn't have the patience. Once I realized it doesn't have to be technically perfect it just has to look perfect I got it sorted out. I've got the first pleats in completing a full sett and happy with the results. The bottom of the fell is at the very top of the photo and shows almost to the top of the taper at the bottom

[Barb T]

Looks good! And nice mirror images! Great job matching the stripes horizontally, too.

[OC Richard]

it is usual to have a prominent part of the sett as either centre front or equally spaced on each side of the centre front... the same part of the sett is the centre back.

Our pipe band bought all the kilts of a Canadian pipe band which was getting all new kilts, and oddly the front and back differ in this regard. The tartan is PCES and the front aprons have the complex part of the sett centered while the backs have the empty red block centered. When we had to buy a few more matching kilts we took photos front and back for the kiltmaker so that the new kilts would match.