Military Box Pleats

[Barb T]

To add to Peter's comment about historical kilts, I believe I am correct in saying that historical 4 yard box pleated kilts did not have canvas or stabilizer, either. At least that's what I remember from learning how Matt Newsome makes box pleated kilts. As many of us have said many times here on the Forum, there's more than one way to make a kilt. When Matt and I wrote the box pleat supplement to The Art of Kiltmaking, we discussed whether the instructions should be with or without canvas and stabilizer, because I put canvas and stabilizer in and Matt doesn't. His way is more historical, mine is parallel to the instructions in The Art of Kiltmaking. He was fine with having parallel instructions, so that's what we did.

I think this points up three things, one of which is related to Michael's post above. 1) Matt and, of course originally, Bob Martin have been incredibly generous over the years in sharing how to make traditional box pleated kilts. If people have a close-guild mentality, these kinds of traditional crafts and skills can be simply lost. All of us benefit from openness and sharing. 2) There is no one right way to make a kilt. Uber-traditional/historical kilts will look different both inside and outside from modern kilts. Someone as talented and generous as Matt is OK with someone else making a modern box-pleated kilt with different internal construction than one patterned after a historical kilt, and he's flexible and not insistent on "the one right way". Also, some constructions are sturdier than others, and some are faster and less expensive to produce. Doesn't make one right and one wrong - it simply means that you need to know what you are buying. 3) Even with modern trad 8-yard knife-pleated kilts, there is no one right construction technique, and outstanding kilts can be made in different ways. I've said quite a few times that I am in awe of Rocky's ability to machine stitch perfect pleats from the inside (he hates to hand sew). Some people baste all the pleats first and then stitch them. Some people stitch pleats one at a time, like I do. The overall look and durability at the end is pretty much the same, and insisting that there is "one right way" is silly.