Belted Plaid pleating tips and tricks?

**Luke MacGillie** · 22nd October 17, 02:39 PM

Black Watch, Ancient, from Lochannon.

Edited to add, that I attached an image, it was less than the maximum file size for a jpg, but it still does not show up. Im no luddite when it comes to computers, but I do not for the life of me understand why the photos will not upload and show.

**Steve Ashton** · 22nd October 17, 03:51 PM

Luke, so I don't highjack this thread I will start another thread on uploading photos. Please look for it.

**Terry Searl** · 22nd October 17, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Luke MacGillie

Black Watch, Ancient, from Lochannon.

Edited to add, that I attached an image, it was less than the maximum file size for a jpg, but it still does not show up. Im no luddite when it comes to computers, but I do not for the life of me understand why the photos will not upload and show.

I too have had some trouble attaching photos. To the point of almost giving up. Not that my photos are supremely interesting but I have been told by some members the ones I have been able to post are good. Last week I was in Victoria so I stopped in to Freedom Kilts and got to talking to Steve about the problem. He explained what was going on with a site wanting payment to store pictures but I don't use that site. He then suggested it was likely my Firewall that was preventing the photos from being posted on XMTS, He was adamant that the problem was not with the XMTS site . He suggested using postimage.org to hold the photos I would like to post. I tried it and with a bit of stumbling, (I am hugely a "computer illiterate" so far things are working .....Steve was absolutely right the XMTS site isn't at fault, it appears it is the Firewall setting on my computer. I'll try again now with a photo of the pleating of my Canadian Maple Leaf tartan on my newest kilt to see if I'm still successful 7_Maple_Leaf_in_16_oz._wool_pleat_centred_on_the_thin_green_stri.jpg

**Luke MacGillie** · 23rd October 17, 04:41 AM

I think I have the photo issue taken care of, here is an OK shot, shows how Ive pleated to hide the black vertical bars of the Govt Sett tartan. But most of the time, the drape of tartan above the belt droops to cover the majority of the pleating in the back, so its not that big of a deal. I hope Bess's being in the photo does not offend.

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**Derekc5555** · 23rd October 17, 10:27 AM

Very nice Luke! I like the look of the top of the plaid pinned to the shoulder. I'm hesitant to do it cuz I don't want to put holes in my clothes. I usually pin opposite ends of the top of the plaid together and drape it over my left shoulder, or just tuck the front in the back and let it hang behind me.

**Luke MacGillie** · 23rd October 17, 05:59 PM

That is not pinned, I have a strip of cloth that follows the back shoulder seam of the coat, and the tartan has a bit of ribbon sewed to it, the tartan goes under the loop and then the ribbon is tied around the plaid in a nice bow knot

**Jack Daw** · 14th November 17, 11:45 AM

When I wear my belted plaid, I pleat one sett deep. There was no reason to it other than creating a standard to have consistent pleats. I have thought of creating loops to pleat more efficiently, but I rarely wear the great kilt anymore to prompt me to it.

**tweedhead** · 28th January 18, 07:17 AM

I tried wearing the great kilt for the first time as an experiment on Friday night, using a 4 yard length of Spirit of Scotland modern that I use as a plaid over my tweed topcoat when the temperatures dip to -20 or below. Having never attempted to wear it before and not having the space in an apartment for laying the whole thing out like so many videos on youtube suggest, I hung it over the empty towel bar in the bathroom. This let me scrunch up a length of fabric equal to my elbow to fingertip measurement for the aprons on either end, then push the loose material in the middle to one side and smooth it out as I pleated it across. Then to put it on I went through this process:

Stood up against the pleats with my back to the wall
Belted over it loosely to hold the pleats in place as I pulled the aprons in front and adjusted them
Adjusted the length by pulling the fabric down as needed (easy because of the loose belt)
Cinched the belt tight when everything was to my satisfaction
Put on the sporran
Lifted the remaining tartan off the towel rack and stepped away from the wall
Let the skirts fall down around in front, then tucked as desired

For never having tried it before, this seemed really easy and worked surprisingly well. Only took a few minutes but I didn't get very precise with the pleating, it was very rough and I was only interested in using up the material.

Here's the only picture I took, as I said it was an experiment and I wanted to try the great kilt as streetwear thinking it might be warmer in winter than a tailored kilt, so I just threw a pullover and my Barbour jacket overtop with a baseball cap, so the precise opposite of what I've gotten used to wearing with my tailored kilts (always tie and jacket and never ever baseball caps lol)
IMG_2018-01-26_18-54-22.jpeg

It ended up being eight or nine fairly deep pleats. It held in place great all night, even through several rounds of ping pong! However ultimately I found it far too cold, which I thought was ironic. Tailored kilts with a high rise really insulate the body, a fact I appreciate a lot more now. No wonder people stopped wearing their kilts like this as soon as it was economically feasible. I don't think I'll be doing it again, but ultimately I'm glad I tried it.

I haven't seen the towel bar trick anywhere before which seems unusual to me. It worked extremely well and made adjustment and wear a snap.

**Luke MacGillie** · 29th January 18, 04:35 PM

I have, at times, like when its raining and I happen to be sleeping inside a tent at a reenactment, s folded the plaid, laid it across my back and put my belt on. Then pulled the ends around to make aprons. It works, is better than laying in a mud puddle......But does leave most of the pleats right in the center back, not spread across the back of the garment.

**tweedhead** · 29th January 18, 06:19 PM

Today I tried holding the whole thing up in the air in front of me, holding the pleats in one hand as I gathered it together with some loose fabric on either end for the aprons. Then I swung it all behind my back and pinched the top of the pleats between my chin and shoulder, arranged it around myself and belted it while standing. Awkward but effective, and extremely fast. Once again, no clean pleats, but a strong argument for ease of use.