to pleat or not to pleat, military kilt

[bodysuittattoo]

black watch ,older kilt, piped or barrel pleat at fell, similiar to military box.
i am preparing to hand wash, and baste to repleat.
the question is "should the pleats be box pleated to hem, or in this case, is it correct for the barrel pleat to transition to knife pleat directly below the fell?"
the first case seems like it would particularly difficult to achieve in the 20oz fabric, as the under roll would be approx 3/8 inch.
i find no indication that it was ever pleated this way except for the first pleat (which is box pleated to the hem.) the current pleating seems to transition directly from barrel/box to knife pleat directly below the fell, However, it seems to me that the pleats are in a reverse direction as i would expect to find them, which of course begs the question, was this box pleated to the hem in order that the pleats would appear to be going in the expected direction?

[RockyR]

The pleating style of any kilt (box, knife, rolled, double box, etc) should start at the top and be the same all the way to the bottom of every pleat. it should NOT transition from rolled to knife.

[bodysuittattoo]

searching older threads confirmed this answer. quite a nice DIY thread dating from 2007 on MBP... on to washing and pleating then, though i'm not really looking forward to rolling that 20+oz fabric into 1/2 inch reveals...lol

[Tartan Tess]

Soooo
you are just going to wash it and baste it to PRESS the pleats.
your not going to change the stitching on the pleats right?
The way I would baste and press it would be to see what the measurement and elements(stripes,colored lines etc. in the tartan design) on EACH individual pleat, from the end of the fell (where it is stitched down) exactly like that down to the end of the pleat.
Baste that then measure and recheck and baste the next.
start at the bottom of the kilt with the basting then after you go all the way across the kilt to the inverted pleat.
Do it all again 3 fingers width down from the fell and add more rows, no more than 4" apart. Baste the apron edges to the inverted pleats or deep pleat or whatever you have there.
I have learned by the "Elsie" method but since it is a military kilt Matt might pipe in and tell you something different if your pleats have been rolled.
No matter what, it will be worth the time it takes to baste it.