I thought I'd try my hand at fashioning a military box pleat kilt from some inexpensive wool-mix obtained on eBay. The pictures below show the pleating process that seemed to work. It is much more labor intensive than straight knife pleats.

pic #1 - Mark and sew the tapers (suppressions) as normal, except DO NOT fold the next pleat behind the current pleat before stitching. In this kilt, twenty 1-inch pleats at the hip, tapering to 3/4+ inch at the waist.

pic #2 - Carefully baste down the left edge of each pleat (two thicknesses) to set it and hold it for pressing later. This step makes it look like the pleats are backwards from normal.

pic #3 - Baste down the right edge of each 1-inch box, picking up two thicknesses only. Needn't be so careful of the line because this step is only to ensure that the second thickness stays "tucked in" when the underneath part of the pleat is turned the other direction.


pic #4 - Each pleat is individually pressed about 2/3 the distance from selvedge toward the fell. "Eyeball" the centering of the stripe during pressing.

pic #5 - Stitch in lines of tailor stitching at selvedge and every few inches up toward the fell. The lines start easily with the pressed pleats and become more difficult in the unpressed portion toward the fell.

pic #6 - bottom edge of kilt, to show the intricate overlays of fabric.


I'm having a lot of fun doing this kilt. Because I do not have enough fabric for two aprons, the second part of this experiment is that this kilt will have a patchwork apron made from upholstery leather scrap. A coworker likes the reverse (suede) side of the apron better than the front side, so I'll post a pic tomorrow and let other experts (X-Marks) voice their choice.