Pleating the X-Kilt

[Jim H.]

Well I finally got some time to make my own X-Kilt but the fabric I found was a tartan, how do I pleat it so that the box pleats don't look hideous? I saw someone else here make a hybrid X-kilt out of 2 yards of PV, but I don't totally understand how. What do I pleat it to? All I know is that I divide the sett by 3 but how do I know when the sett ends?

--Jim

P.S. Here's the tartan I got: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=26738

[davidlpope]

A sett is one complete repeat of the pattern. For example, you could measure the sett in your tartan from one blue overcheck to the next. Alternatively, you could measure from the first white stripe to the next corresponding white stripe where the pattern begins to repeat itself. In that way, measuring sett-width is like measuring wavelength: as long as you measure corresponding points, it doesn't matter where you start.

On your tartan I would suggest centering the blue overcheck in the middle of the outside of the box pleats. The white part of the pattern seems pretty wide and would likely partially "disappear" into the fold as the top of the pleats tapered. You'd have to work up your measurements to see if this would happen, but the blue line would be my definite choice.

Cordially,
David

[turpin]

It looks to me like your sett is about 3-4 inches, so you may want to use two sets per pleat.

[Tartan Hiker]

I'd definitly center the blue vertical stripe. Decide how wide you want the pleats and mark them with the blue stripe in the center. As was said earlier, that will bury the busy white stripes, which you definitely wouldn't want running vertically up your backside.
Since it's cotton, you'll need to stitch along the pleat edges. I'm actually just now taking a break from making my son a poly/cotton kit. I decided to try stitching just the outer edges of the pleats and not the inner edges. We'll see how this works with ironing and holding shape.
As for the "2 yards" question, that's 2 yards double width. You'll have to split your fabric lengthwise and join the ends together to make one piece that is 4 yards long and 20-some-odd inches wide. The fabric may have a definite front and back side based on the weave, so be sure you note this before you join it. Also, instead of starting your marking from one end as per the x-kit instructions, mark the center peat first, just to one side of the join. That way the join will be buried in the underpleat.

Since you're working with a tartan fabric use the strip of waste that you generated when splitting the cloth for binding the waist edge.

Most importanty, you'll make lots of mistakes on your first one. Just accept that and don't worry. After you make a few more you'll begin to get a feel for the "philosophy" of the construction and you'll start discovering tricks that improve quality and efficiency. I'm now working on my eighth, and still changing my techniques and streamlining the process.

[Doc]

Tartan Hiker, I tried that on some 65/35 cotton-poly, I wound up sewing the inner pleats a week later. Sewwing just the outside pleats worked fine untill I had to sit, after I got up I'd sent the next few moments swatting the pleats to make them behave. I told anybody who saw that I was swatting the dreaded kilt bee ,

[Tartan Hiker]

Oooh....thanks for the warning.