pleating new kilt

[Hamish]

My favourite tartan name is one Hamish came up with. He needed a reply to people asking the the tartan of his black kilt.
He calls it his MacAbre tartan.

Fancy you remembering that, Bear! Actually, I use it quite often, usually when wearing a black kilt whilst on duty with The National Trust at Petworth House. Being so much on public display whilst stewarding the rooms, I probably get more questions there about my kilts than anywhere else. Also, it's not unknown for me to be mistaken for Lord Egremont by visitors who may be aware that the Egremont family still lives in part of the house - though, I have never seen His Lordship wearing the kilt!!

[bubba]

Hamish, back to my original question, what's your opinion? Pleat to the stripe or the sett? The fabric is in my gallery. I'd really appreciate suggestions and opinions from y'all. I am kinda split on it.

[bear]

My favourite tartan name is one Hamish came up with. He needed a reply to people asking the the tartan of his black kilt.
He calls it his MacAbre tartan.

Fancy you remembering that, Bear! Actually, I use it quite often, usually when wearing a black kilt whilst on duty with The National Trust at Petworth House. Being so much on public display whilst stewarding the rooms, I probably get more questions there about my kilts than anywhere else. Also, it's not unknown for me to be mistaken for Lord Egremont by visitors who may be aware that the Egremont family still lives in part of the house - though, I have never seen His Lordship wearing the kilt!!

Ham,
I love a clever play on words. If I'd thought of it myself I'd use it on my site for my black fabric.
I'll see if I can come up with something but it will be tough to beat yours.

[Hamish]

Hamish, back to my original question, what's your opinion? Pleat to the stripe or the sett? The fabric is in my gallery. I'd really appreciate suggestions and opinions from y'all. I am kinda split on it.

Bubba,

I am sorry about that! I do tend to get carried away by my enthusiasm (or old age - or maybe both!).

Of all my kilts, only one is pleated to the stripe, and I feel it would have been better had I requested the stripes to be hidden inside the pleats, so that there would have been flashes of red as the pleats swung open. My personal opinion with yours is that you would be best advised to have it pleated as normal - to the sett.

[Rob Wright]

Bubba, I think if you pleated to stripe so that the red would flash as the pleats moved it would look very nice.

Rob Wright

[Miah]

I like the look of pleating to the stripe but, it strikes me as a more "formal/Military" style. I have thought of getting a Leather Neck Tartan and Attempting to Pleat it to the stripe
but that would also require me to learn how to sew and get a sewing machine.

[bubba]

Learning to sew isn't hard. You could learn enough in a week or less to do the job and a good used sewing machine from a sewing machine dealer isn't that much. I was sewing for about a year when I discovered kilts and took a swing at my first one.

[Doc Hudson]

I'm of the opinion that tartans look much better pleated to the sett rather than to the stripe.

I don't like the contrast between the back and the apron. Tartan pleated to the sett looks much better in my opinion.

BTW, I'd love to see you write a series of articles, with photos, about how to make your own kilt. The hand stitching directions in The Art of Kiltmaking has frightened my better half away from her commitment to sew me a kilt this summer.

[bubba]

Doc, get the Scottish pattern set from www.folkwear.com. The instructions for making the kilt in there are very nicely done and very clear. It is aimed at hand stitching, but doing it by machine instead is no big problem. It also has patterns for a Prince Charlie, waistcoat, adaptation of the kilt to make a kilted skirt as well as knitting directions for a ladies vest and argyll hose. Very nice pattern set and worth the $20.

[Alaskan]

That fabric looks like the Lauder tartan.