5 Yard Knife-Pleated Kilt in Braveheart Warrior (Marton Mills Jura)

[Barb T]

Well, all other things being equal, you get more pleats (and narrower ones) by pleating to the stripe than to the sett. But whether it makes more sense to pleat to the stripe or the sett depends on the tartan. How big a chunk of the sett would be in each pleat? Does that chunk look good repeated across the back of the kilt? How much taper do the pleats need for the measurements of the person? If you pleated to the stripe, would you lose a prominent edge stripe in the taper of every pleat (which doesn't look good)? Your measurements (which would be necessary to figure out the # of pleats and the size of the pleats), plus the size of the specific elements of the sett, are necessary to answer this question. It's best done with the tartan in hand. If you have hired an experienced kiltmaker who is willing to consider a variety of options, you can trust his/her judgment. But that shouldn't prevent you from asking to see what a variety of options would be like pleated to the stripe.

I'm working on a kilt for someone right now who was quite certain he wanted it pleated to the stripe. With the size of the elements and his measurements, though, I didn't think pleating to the stripe would look good. But I did pin it up and take a pic with my iPad and send it to him for him to make the decision rather than deciding for him.

[TheBrus]

Excellent advice, all. Ideally, I would like to see several pleating options... I'm afraid that might not be possible. I'm working with a kiltmaker in Kansas City (Lenexa), Kansas... if that helps narrow things down. I've liked the group's work in the past, but then there was more fabric to work with.

I'll contact them and suggest they take photos of pinned pleats, and keep you all posted.

JDB

[Barb T]

I think this really depends on whether you are dealing directly with a kiltmaker or with a "middle man". If you are dealing directly with the kiltmaker, you should be able to ask to see options. Takes maybe 5 minutes to pin up a few options, and a photo with an iPhone is all it takes. But, if you've ordered from a company that then contracts with a kiltmaker, that's not likely to be possible.

[OC Richard]

That's what the kiltmaker did for me, when I was ordering my Isle of Skye. He sent me photos of a sample section pinned in various ways:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...pleated-62121/

Barbara, am I correct in guessing that the potential issue with pleating to the white stripe is that it's not surrounded by sufficiently broad stripes? In other words, if the red bands on either side of the white stripe didn't have those narrow dark lines in them there would be room for the pleats to "breathe" so to speak, to taper and maintain a solid area on either side of the white stripe?

One solution would be to pleat it to the wide empty black area. Another would be using the brilliant blue stripe surrounded by black. Neither would be as satisfying (in the Gordon Highlanders/Seaforth Highlanders way) as pleating to that white stripe, possibly. I did something like that on my Isle of Skye: the obvious stripe to choose would have been the light grey one, but instead I chose the pairs of brown lines.

[Barb T]

I scaled up the thumbnail, used paulhenry's sett size of 7 3/8", and measured the distance between the outside edges of the black stripes. It's about 5/8". If you were having an 8-yard knife pleated kilt made, it would be tough to pleat it well to the white stripe because the pleats are likely to be about 3/4-7/8" at the hips, which only leaves only 1/16-1/8 of an inch of red on the edges of the pleats, and the red would likely be nearly or entirely lost in the taper toward to waist. On the other hand, a 5-yard kilt will have wider pleats (because there's less tartan), and there would be adequate red in each pleat if the pleats were wider. The pleats couldn't be more than 1 3/8" in size, or they would go (unattractively) beyond the red, but there should be enough tartan in a 5-yard kilt to have enough pleats to prevent that. So, I'm not clear on why a 5-yard kilt has to be pleated to the sett.

[TheBrus]

My new Braveheart Warrior tartan kilt arrived from J. Higgins today. I haven't been able to examine it in minute detail yet, but my over all initial impression is that it's a decently made machine-stitched kilt from five yards of heavy tartan.

However, going back to our previous discussion regarding pleating to the sett or the stripe, I have to say that I am disappointed in the kiltmaker's decision to pleat this to the sett. One thing that frustrates me most about John Higgins's approach to kilts is that he allows the customer very little in the way of choice. I asked to have the kilt pleated to the stripe, and I was flatly told that the kiltmaker would decide how to pleat the kilt. The result of the kiltmaker's decision was to center the apron between sett repeats and to mimic that same arrangement in the back. I will post pictures later, but I'm not in love with the pleating.

Other than that, it's a perfectly nice kilt, but now that I own a MAC Newsome kilt, I'm completely spoiled. The left buckle/strap that goes through the "buttonhole", which is quite standard, is now really annoying to me. I genuinely prefer Matthew's innovative hidden buckle/strap design. Maybe because the exterior buckle/strap seems to interfere with the buckle/strap adjustment on the inside of my belt. I don't need the belt, but I like the way kilts look with a belt when worn without a waistcoat.

Overall, I'd give the kilt a C+. The price is good (I have my suspicions regarding the labor-rate the kiltmakers are paid); the quality is average; the service (disregarding the whole pleating thing) was excellent; the aesthetics leave a bit to be desired.

I'll post photos soon with a more detailed write-up.

JDB

[TheOfficialBren]

TheBrus,

J. Higgins offers the choice of pleating style in their custom kilt (ie 8-yarders) range of products.

[Barb T]

I have to say that I am disappointed in the kiltmaker's decision to pleat this to the sett. One thing that frustrates me most about John Higgins's approach to kilts is that he allows the customer very little in the way of choice. I asked to have the kilt pleated to the stripe, and I was flatly told that the kiltmaker would decide how to pleat the kilt.

This is a machine-stitched, low-yardage kilt of modest cost, correct? Or did I misunderstand? If this is correct, then I think that's the answer to the question - neither the vendor nor the kiltmaker is making a lot of money on this kilt. To give you the options of a truly custom made kilt is more costly for them and beyond their price margin for this particular kilt.