Thoughts on pleating a MacLachlan kilt?

[chasem]

I've finally gotten my hands on some MacLachlan tartan to make into a kilt for myself, and I'm trying to sort how I want to pleat it. I had settled on pleating to the sett, but am now leaning to the stripe for two reasons - one pleating to the sett, cheating some pleats, I was able to make 17 or 19 pleats. I'm sure someone could cheat it better than I, but that's what I came up with.

The second, and more important reason is that I spent this past Saturday at the highland games in Glasgow, KY. While there, the kilts that I found most pleasing to the eye were all pleated to the stripe; they just seemed to emphasize the swish better. So that's the direction I've decided to go, but I'm struggling with the decision on how to pleat it, exactly.

For those unfamiliar, MacLachlan is a Black Watch based tartan, and the material I have has a sett of about 14". Pleating to the stripe that often works in Black Watch (black stripe in green) doesn't work so well in MacLachlan as it's green stripe in dark blue and that gives the lovely lawn chair effect.
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Pleating to the double-black in red would result in pleats that are around 6.5" deep - which I don't have a problem with, but we're back in the neighborhood of 17-19 pleats. Totally fine if that's where I decide to go, but I wanted more...

...so I'm tossing around the idea of pleating to what I'm going to call the billiard-ball pleating - pleating to the stripes and solids. This would give me up to ~33 pleats if I felt like sewing so many, but I'm not 100% sure whether I like it. I wanted to see what the reactions would be from you folks. Thoughts?
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[MacGumerait]

I like your first example the best . I know that sometimes pleating to a particular stripe or pleating to the block can give that " lawn chair effect " , however , it can also work ... depending on a few items .

1. Does the tartan lend itself well to that style of pleating . In my humble opinion yours does , this of course is just my opinion , others may disagree .

2. If your body type is of medium build , the " lawn chair effect " is not that pronounced .

3. The pleating style in your first example can also add to the " swish " if there is a red reveal beneath the pleat that would show when walking . It would appear that you would definitely have a red reveal .

Here is an example of my Montgomery tartan kilt being made pleated to the block with a red reveal . Notice that it could also be accused of having a somewhat " lawn chair effect " .




My kilt waist size is 34 " and this seems to work for me , however , regardless of size , this pleating style may not appeal to others but I like it and I like your first pic .

Cheers , Mike

[ChattanCat]

I'm with Mike on pleating to the stripe with a bold red reveal.
Cheers, Wallace

[Chas]

Sett, sett, sett - always the sett.

[chasem]

I hadn't even considered a "flash" pleating before the comments - slipped my mind. Pleating to the green stripe (as above) wouldn't flash red as the red is in the inside fold of each pleat. but I did do a test pleat to the black blocks guarding the red to see how the flash would look.

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