The original kilt style?

[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.

[figheadair]

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.

Matt.

There are two aprons as we'd understand them so they would overlap as today. I didn't measure the tape exactly but can easily get that checked. They were 20+ inches each side so I guess could have been passed around the body and simply tied at the front of side; on the closing side seems more likely in which case one tape is/would have probably been longer.

[Cynthia]

I can't comment on the kilt, and I'm no expert on historical garments, but I had wondered about the tape, too. 18th century petticoats were tied on using something similar. I couldn't tell how old it was, but found it interesting to see. Just thought I would mention it.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Matt.

There are two aprons as we'd understand them so they would overlap as today. I didn't measure the tape exactly but can easily get that checked. They were 20+ inches each side so I guess could have been passed around the body and simply tied at the front of side; on the closing side seems more likely in which case one tape is/would have probably been longer.

A wrap-around type scenario seems like it should work. I couldn't imagine it typind directly in the front with the overlapping aprons, but if it passed around at least once and tied on the side that would work well.

[Elf]

.

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

Please excuse me for comming back to this comment, and allow me to ask for clarification. Does this narrowing appear to be an attempt to form the "A-line" shaping to the apron? It also reminds me of a kilt worn by a re-enactor friend who's apron is pleated. Those pleats are very shallow with only the intention of making the apron look narrower "as in an older style", while actually being the full width of a modern kilt. Your kilt is the first "older style" example to possibly substantiate this. So to be plain: how wide is the apron as a whole?

[MacBean]

The first thing that came to mind on looking at this kilt, was why pleat it at all? It was then that I became aware of just how useful pleats are. Imagine trying to run about in a tight skirt!

[figheadair]

Please excuse me for comming back to this comment, and allow me to ask for clarification. Does this narrowing appear to be an attempt to form the "A-line" shaping to the apron? It also reminds me of a kilt worn by a re-enactor friend who's apron is pleated. Those pleats are very shallow with only the intention of making the apron look narrower "as in an older style", while actually being the full width of a modern kilt. Your kilt is the first "older style" example to possibly substantiate this. So to be plain: how wide is the apron as a whole?

Here's the first picture again. It is an overview of the outside followed by one of the interior.





Unfortunately I didn't measure the aprons separately but will do that when I next get an opportunity to see the kilt.

Looking at the two images it's clear that the pleating is not evenly distributed nor balanced as is normal. Here the pleats begin about half way across the outer apron which means that if worn like this then the front apron would not have covered the full width of the torso or the pleats would have gone part-way across the front. Curious indeed! I need to spend some time looking at the sewing and see if it's all contemporary or whether some of the pleating is of a different date. Looking at the hi-res images that I have it appears to be the former.