My first boxpleated kilt!

[OC Richard]

Love the new kilt!

I lucked into a bargain Matt Newsome custom-weave kilt years ago and it remains one of favorites. So light and comfortable to wear.

Does your new kilt have two visible straps, or only one and a hidden strap inside?

Congratulations on a beautiful new kilt!

Cheers,

SM

Thanks!

This one doesn't have that 79th New York style hidden strap, it has the normal strap-through-the-slot thing on the left side.

Like all my kilts it just has one strap on each side. I've found that kilts don't hang right on me if they have that 2nd right-hand strap.

[OC Richard]

Your balmoral has no tails at all, just a bow. Did you trim your ribbons?

When I'm faced with a problem I tend to either paint my way out of it, or sew my way out of it.

This was a sewing job! Here's the process:



On the other hand, acquiring a jacket and waistcoat with mismatching buttons was a painting job.

You said you ordered 6 yards (3 double width?) but how many yards did the kilt actually use?

That's a good question!

From the weight of it I would say he probably used the whole 6 yards, or nearly all.

It has 13 pleats. Each pleat has that wide black stripe showing, and another wide black stripe hidden inside.

[User]

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This was a sewing job! Here's the process:
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Ah! That explains it. I was wondering how the little piece in the middle of the bow was achieved. Now I know :-)

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From the weight of it I would say he probably used the whole 6 yards, or nearly all.
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Wow, a 6 yard box pleated kilt. No wonder it looks so good!

[OC Richard]

Wow, a 6 yard box pleated kilt. No wonder it looks so good!

These are my favourite kilt pleats, the 79th Foot in 1852.

It captures a period of kilt-making somewhere between the early 19th century 3 to 5 yard boxpleated kilt and the late 19th century 7 or 8 yard boxpleated kilt.

I'm guesstimating the kilt on the right has around 16 pleats. Mine has 13, getting close!

[jsrnephdoc]

These are my favourite kilt pleats, the 79th Foot in 1852.

It captures a period of kilt-making somewhere between the early 19th century 3 to 5 yard boxpleated kilt and the late 19th century 7 or 8 yard boxpleated kilt.

I'm guesstimating the kilt on the right has around 16 pleats. Mine has 13, getting close!

Looks great, pleated to the stripe. Is that the norm for box pleating? Does that create a repeating reveal when walking, as you intimated in an earlier post?

I know that Barb Tewksbury makes box pleated kilts. I have none. Would you say that SOME tartans look great, some NOT so great when box pleated? Is it also the case that a good result typically requires less fabric with box pleats? How about a "busy" (lots of narrow stripes, such as the House of Edgar's 13 oz Archer's "genesis" weaving?

Thanks so much!

[Janner52]

I have a MacKenzie military box pleated kilt. It was made in 1947, has just under 7 yards of material which I have estimated to be about 20oz.
It is 26 inches long so has a good rise on my 5’ 101/2 body.

The white vertical lines fill most of the width of the visible pleat and this gives a great effect when marching. I would also say that despite the weight, length and coarse material, it is a very comfortable kilt.

Different pleating to the box pleating described in this thread which looks to have a wider visible pleat.

[OC Richard]

Looks great, pleated to the stripe. Is that the norm for box pleating?

Be aware that low-yardage boxpleated kilts are a revival of a historical (extinct) type of kilt that's recently been revived.

The evolution of things can be thought of as a chain, an unbroken lineage of evolution, with each link representing the form of the thing in a specific time-period in the past. With "traditional" things the chain goes back to an unknown (and usually unknowable) origin and continues to the present form, the current link in the chain.

So with the kilt, the low-yardage boxpleated kilt is the link in the chain that existed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. There's a Gordon Highlanders kilt of that period that's pleated to the stripe. There are civilian kilts of that period, as I recall, that aren't pleated in any systematic manner, but randomly.

So there's no rule per se at least with historical civilian kilts. I chose to have mine pleated so that each pleat shows the wide black area.

Would you say that SOME tartans look great, some NOT so great when box pleated?

I think it comes down to the larger question "do some tartans look better pleated to the sett, other tartans look better pleated to the stripe?"

I prefer pleating to the stripe. I have seen one tartan that looked horrible pleated to the stripe, but because they chose the wrong stripe (in my opinion).

Is it also the case that a good result typically requires less fabric with box pleats?

Military boxpleated kilts ranged from 3 yards around 1800 and rose to 7 or 8 yards in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, so no, having box pleats doesn't correlate to yardage.

However as I had said the "4 yard boxpleated kilt" is a modern revival of a specific period of kiltmaking, so yes to get that specific result you need that many yards.

[Kitfoxdave]

Wonderful kilt! So glad all the stars aligned for you to get a magnificent kilt!

[SF Jeff]

Then out at a local Highland Games recently...

The kilt arrived yesterday and I'm very pleased with the result.

That's a quick turnaround time. And a beautiful kilt.

[OC Richard]

That's a quick turnaround time. And a beautiful kilt.

Thanks!

Will you be at Pleasanton 29-31 August? It's less than two weeks!

I'll be at the solo Open Piping competition on Friday afternoon (held at the San Ramon Marriott).

And at the Games themselves all day Saturday and Sunday (at the Alameda County Fairgrounds).

It would be great to have a chat and a beer. (I'll be wearing that new kilt)