Deep pleats

[The Wizard of BC]

From a strictly kiltmaker standpoint -

Many Tartan designs have a Sett size between 6 and 7 inches.

The MacKenzie is similar to Black Watch in that the full repeat of the pattern results in a large Sett size.

With many Tartans like this, the usual way that they are pleated is to display the stripe that occurs twice in each repeat.
This is how the military Black Watch kilts and the Seaforth kilts are pleated.
Black Watch is normally pleated to the black stripe within the green band and the MacKenzie/Seaforth is usually pleated to the white stripe within the green band.





Another option is to pleat to alternating white and red stripes. Much the same as the Canadian Scottish kilts are pleated.



On the inside of an alternate stripe kilt you will see alternating pleats of different depths and there is nothing wrong with this.

Another Tartan that is similar is the one used by the reenacting group, the 78th Fraser Highlanders. Their fabric has a Sett that is even larger than Black Watch.



As they prefer their kilts pleated to Sett we cut away the excess fabric in the massivly deep pleats to keep the total amount of fabric manageable. But this does result in huge amounts of waste.

[BertMcG]

Thanks for all the advice, looks like pleating to the stripe is the best choice. I’ll post some pics as work progresses

[Bad Monkey]

...Another Tartan that is similar is the one used by the reenacting group, the 78th Fraser Highlanders. Their fabric has a Sett that is even larger than Black Watch.



As they prefer their kilts pleated to Sett we cut away the excess fabric in the massivly deep pleats to keep the total amount of fabric manageable. But this does result in huge amounts of waste.

;

OK I'm curious about this one. For some reason I can't shake the image of a kiltmaker stitching up the extra fabric and trimming off a bunch of fabric from the inside of each pleat. Somewhat like when a double width piece is ripped down the warp then brought together center back but on each and every pleat reducing the pleat depth from 6-7 inches to something more common...

[The Wizard of BC]

Actually we calculate the pleat layout beforehand. This shows us where any super deep pleats will occur. We can then cut away the excess and do the same exact type of fabric joins that we would normally do.

All of this is done prior to stitching the pleats.

Instead of one invisible fabric join hidden in the pleats, there may be 5-7 joines. But when the kilt is complete no one can tell.

But this does result in a bin full of scraps. Luckily the 78th have quite a few small uniform accessories like epaulets and cap flashes, that can use up some of the scraps.

This would probably not be practical, in terms of the cost of the wasted fabric, for a one off job

[Bad Monkey]

wow
It makes sense, I just had never thought that there would be times a kiltmaker needed to 'lop off' a number of extra deep pleats.
Thanks for taking the time to walk it through.

[The Wizard of BC]

I wish I had a photo for you.

[Farmer Jones]

From a strictly kiltmaker standpoint -

<snip>

On the inside of an alternate stripe kilt you will see alternating pleats of different depths and there is nothing wrong with this.

<snip>

I was intending to ask a question about this and you have answered it. When this question of large setts came up, I went and checked one of mine and found this was the case. It has two depths of pleating.