My first boxpleated kilt!

[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.