Sett vs. Stripe

[MacWage]

Great job Barb!
That is about the best pictoral I've seen as to the visual difference between stripe and sett pleating.
How about putting THAT in your next edition of your book! It would DEFINATELY be worth many words and explanation. And your right, it makes a HUGE difference in the look of the kilt what finished.
For readers, a box pleat kilt is virtually ALWAYS to stripe, but the bands are about 1/3 of the full repeat for the whole tartan sett. So, a 6 inch center stripe to center stripe converts to a 2 inch facing per pleat. So the center stripe is visually much smaller. For a 22 inch stretch of pleating, that means 22 1" faced knife pleats, or 11 2" faced knife pleats (at the lower part of the fell). Usually an equivalent sized kilt in a box pleat uses 1/2 the tartan material than a knife/side pleat one, largely due to so much less material being eaten up in the pleats. (now, back to topic, as I began to wander off)
Now, I wonder what that would look like in a comparision with the other 2 in the same tartan?!

Out of curiousity, what is the size of that tartan used in the pictured kilts?
Also, please remind us of the correct use of "sett" and "repeat" terminology in measuring a tartan (just for future references that thread WILL get).

Again, those look MARVELOUS! Pieces of beauty, they are.

[Kilted Stuart]

That is a beautiful display of handsewn kiltmaking. It will answer a lot of questions people have on the difference between the two styles of pleating. Some tartans just tell you what it should be pleated too. Some look good either way. I see a lot of people with no idea how different it can look pleated to sett/stripe. It changes the look compleatly.

Kilted Stuart

[Blu (Ontario)]

I can't think of any other garment that has as much class, flair, and eye catching grace. Barb... your craftsmanship is a paradigm of the art.

.

[chasem]

so it *is* okay to pleat to a stripe that has a different colour on either side of it. I started to do that with my last one, but I didn't think it would "work."

Also, Barb, those are exactly the kinds of pictures I had in mind when I mentioned having examples of kilts of the same tartan pleated differently. That would be excellent to include in the book!

[neo71665]

They both are done like no other expert can but I think the top one looks better. Barb PLEASE dont take that the wrong way cause you a a dang artist with a needle, thread, and tartan and a gift to us all no matter the sett or stripe.

[GallowHill]

It takes me a bit more time to sew the pleats when I pleat to the stripe, because I'm really anal about making the pleats perfect.

It shows...because they look absolutely fabulous!

Scott

[Captain]

I've never been a fan of pleating to the stripe... I agree that it looks too busy, but that's just me. I love pleating to the sett... The fact that the garment is pleated, but still displays the full pattern across them looks amazing, I think.

[cloves]

fantastic Barb! Your work, as always, is superb.
Could that tartan be pleated to a different vertical stripe? Or would it always be the white? Perhaps pleated to the vertical blue or black lines?

I remember seeing a post that showed xmarks tartan pleated more than one way. Is the dominant stripe the usual one you pleat to? Or is it simply a matter of personal taste?

[Barb T]

Lots of questions to answer!

Pictures in the new book: yes, I'm going to include these pictures in the new book. In fact, that's why I had Dave take them before I shipped the kilts off yesterday!

Preference for one over the other: pleating to the sett or the stripe is really a personal preference thing. Some people think pleating to the stripe looks too busy, and some people think pleating to the sett is too bland. I don't take offense if people don't like one over the other!

Size of sett: The MacCallum repeat is about 7.5". "Sett" is defined as the proportion and sequence of colors that make up one repeat of the tartan. So, "repeat" and "sett size" are more or less synonymous. "Sett" by itself means the order and proportions of colors in one repeat but NOT size. The sett for the Red Wallace could be described as BK2, R16, BK16, Y2, BK16, R16 (BK = black, R=red, Y=yellow). "2" could be 2 threads, 2", or 2'.

Choosing the stripe to pleat to: I had initially thought that the MacCallum wouldn't pleat well to the stripe because the light blue stripe (it's not actually white) has black on one side and dark green on the other. I did a test pinning, though, and it looked good. I think the only way to really tell is to do a test pinning. I think also that it works in this case because the dark green and black aren't wildly different in color value from one another.

Could you pleat the MacCallum to a different stripe? Sure. If you chose to pleat it like I did the Isle of Skye (i.e., to one of the solid wide dark-colored stripes), the kilt would be dominated in the back by horizontal stripes. I think this works in the Isle of Skye because there aren't any really prominent stripes in the tartan. Everything is kind of muted. If you did this with the MacCallum, though, you'd have very prominent horizontal light blue stripes every couple of inches across the back of the kilt. You may or may not like that, once it's made up into a kilt. Again, I think it's worth pinning something up and seeing if you like it or not. If you don't do a test of quite a few pleats, it's very easy to focus on what each pleat will look like and fail to step back and see the overall effect. Here's a kilt pleated to a very narrow stripe (one that, from a distance, is nearly invisible). I like it for this kilt, but some might not. You can see, though, how prominent the horizontal color stripes are.



Cheers,

Barb

[Captain]

I don't mind that tartan pleated to the stripe... I guess because the stripe is so small it doesn't look like a bunch of white lines down the back of the kilt... Just goes to show you that previously set in stone opinions... aren't.