The original kilt style?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Peter,

I'd definitely call that box pleated. Only I'd make the distiction that these pleats are sewn in rather than sewn down. I could easily envision this as an early attempt at making a permanant garment from a feilidh-beag.

Does the binding tape at the waist look contemporary to the rest of the garment to you, or do you think perhaps it is a later addition?

Also, if you can clarify something else -- the folding in the aprons. In the first picture, I assumed that was how the apron happened to be folded but in the subsequent photographs it would appear that the apron actually has pleats sewn in to make it more narrow. Can you clarify?

[Ryan Ross]

What a find!

...Matt and Scott already asked the questions I would have, but please do keep the information flowing as you can, and thanks so much for sharing this with us.

[xman]

This is wonderful Peter. What an amazing discovery. Thank-you for sharing this.

[SlackerDrummer]

It appears that there was no attempt to pleat to anything particular, but rather to make all the pleats the same size, just as you would with plain (non-tartan) fabric. I'm guessing the concept of pleating to the sett, stripe, etc., is a much later invention than the garment itself.

[Ryan Ross]

It appears that there was no attempt to pleat to anything particular, but rather to make all the pleats the same size, just as you would with plain (non-tartan) fabric. I'm guessing the concept of pleating to the sett, stripe, etc., is a much later invention than the garment itself.

Actually, I believe that the earliest millitary tailored kilts we have are pleated to stripe... and I think they are likely just a bit older than this piece.

That said, the early custom in civillian kilts was to pleat to no pattern at all, and the idea of pleating to sett is not much more than 100 years old.

Just my two cents.

[Tartan Hiker]

Good Heavens!!!! I thought that you were pulling our legs with a photo of a kitchen apron you picked up at a yard sale, and that Matt was just playing along. I had no idea that this was a genuine artifact. Amazing!

Ignore my previous post. I'm watching this thread with great anticipation, and look forward to the scholarly paper that is sure to follow.

Good show, Peter!

[Downunder Kilt]

Thankyou Peter for another bit of education into kilting history that I am sure would not have seen the light of day, but for your tenacity. I look foward to seeing more information on the kilt as it comes to light. Cheers

[figheadair]

Peter,

I'd definitely call that box pleated. Only I'd make the distiction that these pleats are sewn in rather than sewn down. I could easily envision this as an early attempt at making a permanant garment from a feilidh-beag.

Does the binding tape at the waist look contemporary to the rest of the garment to you, or do you think perhaps it is a later addition?

Also, if you can clarify something else -- the folding in the aprons. In the first picture, I assumed that was how the apron happened to be folded but in the subsequent photographs it would appear that the apron actually has pleats sewn in to make it more narrow. Can you clarify?

I think that the tape is contemporary, it's certainly old but could have been added later I suppose.

The apron is shaded/narrowed by having the pleats sewn at the hip, again just at the top rather than being sewn down.

There is clearly a lot of interest in this and I 'feel' a paper coming on when I get some time.

I surprised that no-one's commented on the fact that there's only 3yds of cloth. granted, the original owner must have been slim but I doubt that even that fact would had meant the kilt worked if it had had the pleats as sewn in boxes. Matt?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I think that the tape is contemporary, it's certainly old but could have been added later I suppose.

The apron is shaded/narrowed by having the pleats sewn at the hip, again just at the top rather than being sewn down.

There is clearly a lot of interest in this and I 'feel' a paper coming on when I get some time.

I surprised that no-one's commented on the fact that there's only 3yds of cloth. granted, the original owner must have been slim but I doubt that even that fact would had meant the kilt worked if it had had the pleats as sewn in boxes. Matt?

Bob Martin has documented early kilts in his All About Your Kilt that had scarcely more than three yards, so that fact really didn't surprise me.

I certainly wouldn't want to make a 3 yard kilt for an average size man today! But when you consider that these early kilts usually didn't have a deep hem or a hemmed fringe on the apron, or deep reverse pleats, both of which eat up a lot of cloth, three yards suddenly sounds more possible. Especially when you factor in that many of them were not pleated to any particular pattern.

This kilt is definitely box pleated - you can see that by the layout of the pleats. As I said, the pleats are simply sewn across the top, not sewn down to the hip.

And I don't know that I would say that the kilt is pleated to no pattern at all. The fact that the first few pleats (looking from the left to right) are all pleated to the same line, and the last few pleated to a different line, does not seem accidental to me. It really looks intentional. I'm not sure what effect the maker was going for there.

And I am still interested in the concept of using the tape at the waist as a fastening system. I'm wondering how such an arrangement would work. Given that the aprons are also pleated to make them more narrow, Peter do you have the feeling that the aprons would have overlapped as in a modern kilt, or not? I can't really tell from the photos how that's supposed to work.

But a kilt like this should be fairly simple to recreate. I have made something similar to this before for reenactors, but without the binding tape closure system. If I could figure out how that was intended to work, it would be a nice thing to offer, especially since the cloth I have to work with cannot be used selvage-to-selvage and I have to come up with some way to finish off the tops of the kilts.

[Sir William]

Peter,

Very fascinating! This is a real find!

Years ago, as an experiment, I made a similar kilt using 3 1/2 yards. I didn't pleate to anything, just keeping the pleats about the same size but with only a single stitch to hold them in place (but a bit lower than this artifact) that would be hidden by my belt. However, since I couldn't document it, I took it apart (which I'm now beginning to regret).

Look forward to any additional information you come up with - and the resulting paper.