Military Box-Pleats: some questions for the rabble.

[Joe I]

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I have never made a kilt in this style, but I wonder if some people are seeing these and this is what is causing confusion to some. Left unpressed, as intended, these kilts would look dramatically different from a regimental box pleat, but I can easily imagine the pleats in these kilts getting pressed over time (after all, pleats are supposed to be pressed, right?) which would visually blur the differences in styles.

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You haven't made one so read here a company that does.
http://www.gaelicclothing.com/boxple...ltmilitary.htm

[Tobus]

I've really tried to explain this as clearly as I can, and I'm sorry if it is still confusing to some. What you have is a box pleated kilt. Yes, the narrow pleats and the difference in depth between one side and the other makes it look just like "a knife pleated kilt with the edges folded over" which is a pretty good visual description. But I assure you that this is a form of box pleating, just like your four yard kilt is.

...

All I can do is ask you to please go back and re-read my posts. I assure you that the military kilt you have is indeed box pleated.

Don't worry, Matt. Your previous descriptions made perfect sense. I own traditional knife-pleated kilts, a 4-yard box-pleated kilt (like the ones you make), and a (Seaforth MacKenzie) military box-pleated kilt, and I have looked at the pleating on them all very closely after reading your descriptions. It may be difficult for some to grasp the finer points of what you are saying, but your descriptions are spot-on.

Despite many pages of misunderstanding, it's really as simple as this: in the final product, looking at the bottom of the kilt, a military box-pleat is indeed a true box-pleat (just an asymmetric one), and it's also a knife-pleat with the edge folded back over itself. They are the same thing! Just different ways of describing them.

[Joe I]

" Let call the whole thing off"

[Friday]

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[Steve Ashton]

Actually Friday the excellent graphic you presented is just slightly off from the Military Box Pleat kilts that I have examined.

If you were to lengthen the Blue leg of the Military Box Pleat till it was long enough to reach to the joint of the Green and Black legs you would have a better representation of this pleating.

While Matt's description of these being box pleats with asymmetric legs is probably accurate, the effect or first impression you get with this style of pleat, is that they are knife pleats that were originally pointing in the usual direction but have been folded back on themselves and now point left.

There was speculation that perhaps this effect could be achieved by pleating a kilt as normal but have the pleats pointing towards the wearers left,,,and then reaching inside and flipping the inside portions also to the wearers left. I basted prior to cleaning, and pressed afterwards, one of these kilts and this is how I managed it. As the pleats were 1/2" wide on the outer side, or reveal, and each pleat required two passes of basting, this was a very time consuming basting job.

[Friday]

Deleted by Poster

[Steve Ashton]

No, I was not saying that the Green lines should touch. You are correct that this makes the image difficult to understand.


It was not the Green line I was asking you to extend in length but the Blue line.

Just make the Blue line almost as long as the Green line.

Let me see if I can find the photos I took of the hem of the kilt I basted.

[Friday]

Deleted by poster

[xman]

Just so. I would like to point out that this is merely the lengthening of the underside of BOTH plat faces of a box pleat until one can no longer lengthen. The other then must take all the extra length.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

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You haven't made one so read here a company that does.
http://www.gaelicclothing.com/boxple...ltmilitary.htm

The link you provided appears broken, but one can find the page by going to the Keltoi link in the advertisers section and finding the military box pleated kilt in the menu. This is a military (regimental) box pleated kilt, and NOT the barrel pleated kilt described in Bob Martin's book.

If the kilt you have looks like this, then it is a regimental box pleated kilt. If the kilt you have had the pleats running in the opposite direction of a normal kilt and appears to have a twist at the hip, then it is a barrel pleated kilt.