Boxed knife pleats!?

**RockyR** · 14th March 06, 07:32 AM

The pleats pictured are VERY SIMILAR to Rolled Pleats. As far as I know, they are called "Stacked Pleats". That's the kind of pleats that Kelly and I did for the "Madonna Kilts" for her re-invention tour. They swing well on BOTH directions which is what she needed on stage in a dancing routine.

The difference between "Stacked and Rolled" is how many times you roll over the fabric.

Here's a link that describes the different types of pleats :

http://costume.dm.net/pleats/

This link has a GREAT explanation of a way to make a box pleats with DEEP PLEATS for improved swing! Matt... may be worth a shot trying to make an 8 yard box pleated kitl!

**way2fractious** · 14th March 06, 09:31 AM

Here are the rest of my pics of the kilt being reviewed.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shanna...HVKjEBUQYQowfZ

The reason I posted this in the kiltmakers section was to get comments from those who make kilts, or wish to make them (I fall somewhere between.) Thanks to all who have contributed their experience. Pleater seems to be following my thinking: even though the old kilts are made from very heavy, coarse wool, the pleat design could very easily be applied to lighter weight material with very satisfactory results.

**UmAnOnion** · 14th March 06, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by RockyR

The pleats pictured are VERY SIMILAR to Rolled Pleats. As far as I know, they are called "Stacked Pleats". That's the kind of pleats that Kelly and I did for the "Madonna Kilts" for her re-invention tour. They swing well on BOTH directions which is what she needed on stage in a dancing routine.

The difference between "Stacked and Rolled" is how many times you roll over the fabric.

Here's a link that describes the different types of pleats :

http://costume.dm.net/pleats/

This link has a GREAT explanation of a way to make a box pleats with DEEP PLEATS for improved swing! Matt... may be worth a shot trying to make an 8 yard box pleated kitl!

Rocky,
thanks for TOTALLY blowing my mind with that link. having a basic understanding of the knife & box pleats to start to consider the DOUBLE BOX & ROLLED pleats is a bit staggering.
Have you ever done a kilt with DOUBLE BOX pleats & would this work better with lighter wieght fabrics? I have seen a few tartans & suiting fabrics that i woudl like to use but as they arent proper kilting wieght have hesitatted in purchasing them. With the double box (although i must admit that i am not really a fan of the box pleat) it would give me enough fabric to cover my posterior and keep warm at the same time.
Also in the ROLLED pleat, I am at a loss as to how you would get much swing with that. if the fabric is rolled into a fairly tight tube, how does it open out to give you the much sought after swish factor???
AND can the STACKED pleat be overlapped a bit to make it look a bit more like the KNIFE pleat. I know it woudl add considerably to the bulk of the pleat but to me woudl be a bit more appealing (see note about box pleats above)

Thanks

**Nick** · 14th March 06, 12:10 PM

I like it. Living in the cold climes I do, I'd certainly buy one with pleats such as those.

**Pleater** · 14th March 06, 06:11 PM

I have made a stacked pleated kilt - it works well as you can get an ordinary box pleat at the hem which gradually becomes a stacked pleat of five layers at the waist.

I used a cotton fabric and normal box pleats looked too stingy. The supression required for the waist worked out to be just the right slant to convert between the types of pleat. The kilt is not sharply pleated so the hem does not flare, but it is quite three dimensional. It might not pack well, though being cotton it could just be rolled up and ironed before wearing.

**GlassMan** · 14th March 06, 11:04 PM

For some reason that "rolled pleat" really catches my fancy. Any idea of where I can see pics of that in an actual kilt?

**RockyR** · 15th March 06, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by GlassMan

For some reason that "rolled pleat" really catches my fancy. Any idea of where I can see pics of that in an actual kilt?

Phil... while I have no idea of where you can see it in a kilt, I REALLY don't think it would make a good kilt. Notice that the layers are ROLLED back over on themselves (hence the name). The pleats would fight themselves to open and I believe (IMHO) that they wouldn't close correctly. The "swish" wouldn't be there.

**longshadows** · 26th March 06, 04:40 AM

Originally Posted by UmAnOnion

Rocky,
thanks for TOTALLY blowing my mind with that link. having a basic understanding of the knife & box pleats to start to consider the DOUBLE BOX & ROLLED pleats is a bit staggering.

Sorry for being the doufus this morning, and ask the question... no, not "that question!" Can someone give a "quick and dirty" definition of the most common pleats to be had.

We've learned here about the military box/rolled pleats, but what's the difference between a knife and a box pleat? Why is it called a "knife" pleat?

Thanks and I hope everyone will have a great Sunday!

**millar** · 26th March 06, 04:48 AM

Check out Matt Newsomes website for the difference between the two pleatings http://kilts.albanach.org/details.html

**Pleater** · 25th March 06, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by RockyR

The pleats pictured are VERY SIMILAR to Rolled Pleats. As far as I know, they are called "Stacked Pleats". That's the kind of pleats that Kelly and I did for the "Madonna Kilts" for her re-invention tour. They swing well on BOTH directions which is what she needed on stage in a dancing routine.

I think I saw the routine - the kilts were rather long and had an unfortunate tendency to look like the mantle of a jellyfish as the hem hit the floor and folded under the expanding pleats. Very skirt-y, I'm afraid.

The kilts did look to be good quality, and they did swish, but I did think they would have been a lot better shorter - though that would have been more revealing - no that would have been a lot better too.