Quote Originally Posted by paulhenry View Post
It's not my view that the MBP and the Box pleat are different, they just are!
That's precisely where I disagree. They are the same sort of pleat, just utilizing different amounts of cloth. If it is true, as you say, that they are in fact different pleating styles, then one should be able to make a "military box pleated" kilt from four yards of material and a "traditional box pleated" kilt from eight yards, correct? How would one do so?

I don't think one could, because they are in fact the same pleating style, the only difference being the amount of cloth used.

A box pleat by defintion has a "wall" on either side of the face, often that wall is up to about half the width of the face and folds under the face. The wall doesn't have to be half of the face but usually with kilts is approximately that. A Box pleat is often used with ladies skirts and in that case the walls are usually very narrow.
I am afraid I am having trouble visualizing what you mean by a "wall" in this context, so I'm not following your description here, I am sorry.

A military box pleat is a knife pleat folded over onto itself , it doesn't have 2 "walls" on either side,so it's not a box pleat by definition.Because it's formed as an further stage of knife pleating it means the pleats tend to be much narrower than a normal box pleat.
Actually, when I am sewing a kilt I always start by sewing the pleats in the same way, whether the kilt will ultimately be a box pleat or a knife pleat. Both pleats begin life looking the same. Forming the "box" in the box pleat always requires an additional step after the pleat is sewn, whether the kilt is made from four, five, six, seven or eight yards of material. The size of the pleats is a direct function of the amount of cloth used, and whether the kilt is box pleated or knife pleated makes no difference.

The ammount of cloth tends to be smaller in an historic box pleat and greater in a MBP but the actual lengths of cloth used are not particularly important, but certainly in a true military kilt there will be more fabric - 8 yards plus perahps.
I would say the amount of cloth was smaller in historic kilts period, regardless of the pleating style. Kilts were simply made with less material in earlier days. Today's military kilts are nominally eight yards, but many I have seen in person and bothered to measure out actually contained less, sometimes as little as six but often closer to seven.

I'm not doubting your experience at all or your fondness for a box pleat, but I'm merely hoping to make clear that the two forms of pleating are different,and certainly on this forum there is often confusion between the two.
I agree with your last statement here, that there is indeed a lot of confusion about this issue. I will only stress that my fondness for the box pleated kilt has nothing to do with what I am saying here, and that is that what people often refer to as "military box pleats" and "traditional/historic box pleats" are in fact the same style of pleat, only made with different amounts of cloth in the kilt.