Designing a tartan and how to pleat it

[Paul Henry]

Something you need to bear in mind is the tapering from the hips to waist, this is different for everyone but a pleat might be 3/4" on the hips and go to 1/2" on the waist..For the stripe pleating to be pleasing I think nothing of the stripe should disappear by the time it gets to the narrowest bit. This means in essence that whatever stripe you choose it should be able to be contained within the narrow bit of the pleat width.
Using your new pictures, the red line seems fine, the light blue fine as well( although as I mentioned earlier some like the colours to be mirrored precisely, but it's not essential), but I think the double yellow lines probably wouldn't work if they are wider than 1/2" (using the current measurements).
When I get a new piece of cloth for a customer, I make up a little pleat shape in card, I use it to measure the distances when I am sewing, but it's also such a useful guideto be able to show the client what works and what doesn't.To be able to see the actual pleat size makes the decision very much faster!

I also put a few notches on it so I can work out the placement very quickly.Making the template is really very fast, and it really is very useful
I know you are working from pictures/print outs, but it might be worth actually cutting a few up and making the actual pleat widths, just to see, to be honest you could take any measurements just to see how it affects the looks, especially as when you get to the real thing, 12 or more band members are going to be 12 different sizes as well!

[Semiomniscient]

Something you need to bear in mind is the tapering from the hips to waist, this is different for everyone but a pleat might be 3/4" on the hips and go to 1/2" on the waist..For the stripe pleating to be pleasing I think nothing of the stripe should disappear by the time it gets to the narrowest bit. This means in essence that whatever stripe you choose it should be able to be contained within the narrow bit of the pleat width.
Using your new pictures, the red line seems fine, the light blue fine as well( although as I mentioned earlier some like the colours to be mirrored precisely, but it's not essential), but I think the double yellow lines probably wouldn't work if they are wider than 1/2" (using the current measurements).
When I get a new piece of cloth for a customer, I make up a little pleat shape in card, I use it to measure the distances when I am sewing, but it's also such a useful guideto be able to show the client what works and what doesn't.To be able to see the actual pleat size makes the decision very much faster!
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I also put a few notches on it so I can work out the placement very quickly.Making the template is really very fast, and it really is very useful
I know you are working from pictures/print outs, but it might be worth actually cutting a few up and making the actual pleat widths, just to see, to be honest you could take any measurements just to see how it affects the looks, especially as when you get to the real thing, 12 or more band members are going to be 12 different sizes as well!

Excellent! And thanks! (I began thinking that the yellow lines wouldn't work after more careful review... which is fine, because they're my least favorite anyway.) I did the light blue based on your example of non mirror images, and that one has turned out to be my favorite.

I really like the card idea and will mention it to our committee. I'm trying to get everyone to begin narrowing down my some 13 different designs, and one of the decision factors is going to be how it looks pleated to stripe. Now one of our members has mentioned preference for pleating to sett... which I don't personally care for.
I am sure to continue posting as we move forward in our endeavor. Your help has been most valuable to me. :-)