Aberdeen District - Pleasure or nightmare to pleat?

**unixken** · 19th August 12, 11:44 AM

(If the mods feel there's a more appropriate place to move this thread to, then please feel free to do so.)

My questions are meant primarily for those among the rabble who have made kilts either for themselves or for customers, and for those who may own kilts in this tartan.

I recently ordered a 5 yard casual kilt in Aberdeen District. This tartan is both asymmetric and huge in sett size... 18-23 inches from what I've read, depending upon the thread weight. My kilt is being made from 16 oz. Locharron Strome, so I suspect my repeat will be at the high end of that range. And as I did not specify how I wanted the kilt to be pleated (I suspect they will know better than I, how to handle this unusually large tartan), my curiosity is getting the better of me. (I also expect this to be quite a loud kilt, in "Modern" colors!)

So my question to the kiltmakers among the group - What kinds of challenges, if any in particular, do this tartan create, when pleating? How did you decide to do the pleats, and were you satisfied with the results?

And to those who own a kilt in this tartan, how is yours pleated and do you like the results?

**Tartan Tess** · 19th August 12, 12:46 PM

My friend just did this one. It was a challenge.
The inside was VERY interesting with so many different pleat depts in the 23" sett.

**unixken** · 19th August 12, 01:18 PM

Tess, that doesn't surprise me. I picked up a copy of "The Art of Kiltmaking" last month, to gain an understanding of how my kilts are constructed. And trying to imagine how such techniques would handle a tartan that seems designed to object at every step (at least in my mind) has been a fun mental image puzzler!

**xman** · 19th August 12, 03:54 PM

Wow, yeah, huge. For a traditional kilt I'd pleat to the white stripe in the red because there are lots of them. That's how yours might come if it's a small enough sett.

**unixken** · 19th August 12, 04:11 PM

Well, as I mentioned, there will be nothing "small enough" about this particular sett. In fact, I'm thinking the front apron alone just might be wide enough to provide just one complete representation of the full sett. Remember that this particular tartan, in a 16 oz fabric, is likely to be a full 23" across.

[edit] It just dawned on me, that as a casual, worn at the trouser waist, I ordered this kilt to be 21" long. I may not even see the full vertical representation of the sett, on this kilt! LOL

I do agree, though, that if the kilt maker decides to pleat it to the stripe, there are lots of "white stripe in the middle of the red" to work with.

**Joe I** · 21st August 12, 10:33 AM

I just don't understand why a tartan would be designed with the sett so long and I wouldn't buy a tartan that long(personal preferance) knowing that a kilt made of this is likely to have very few pleats.

**unixken** · 21st August 12, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Joe I

I just don't understand why a tartan would be designed with the sett so long and I wouldn't buy a tartan that long(personal preferance) knowing that a kilt made of this is likely to have very few pleats.

Why would you think there would be very few pleats? I suspect such a kilt will have a fairly typical number of pleats. As has been pointed out, there are LOTS of red stripes in the Aberdeen tartan, if that's where the kilt-maker chose to stripe it. If anything, pleating to the stripe may result in a higher than normal number of pleats specifically because there are so many red stripes to work with. What's important to note is that the red stripes vary in width. So fold the wide stripes down to the width of the narrow stripes, and you have the potential for lots of pleats. Either way, I suspect that each pleat may vary some in depth (as Tess pointed out.) The trick is to do a few test pinnings, to see what works and what doesn't.

**Joe I** · 21st August 12, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by unixken

Why would you think there would be very few pleats? I suspect such a kilt will have a fairly typical number of pleats. <snip

Just remembering what I read in "The Art of Kilt Making"

**figheadair** · 21st August 12, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Joe I

I just don't understand why a tartan would be designed with the sett so long and I wouldn't buy a tartan that long(personal preferance) knowing that a kilt made of this is likely to have very few pleats.

You presume that all tartans were designed for kilting which was not the case, as in this sett. This was a c1780 Wilsons' fancy pattern, woven very finely and designed for shawls, narrow (19") or to be joined. Similar era designs: Lasting, Wilson, Hunter and Ritch were similarly never designed for the use that we tryh and make them fit today.