advice on pleating / yardage

[Dutch piper]

Hi,
I'm about to make a kilt for a rather big fellow (hipsize 55").
He wants a kilt from the "henderson modern" tartan.
the tartan has a sett of 8,5 "



I can purchase extra fabric (say 4,5 yard double width) and pleat the kilt to the stripe.
Or as the customer suggested, pleat the kilt to the blue and the black stripe (so I would use half the sett).
That way I can use a normal kiltlength of tartan.

Does a kilt with a sett-size of 4,25" still make acceptable pleats?
They will be very shallow.
And does it look allright to make a kilt pleated to 2 different stripes alternately?

With kind regards from the Netherlands...
Dutch piper

[The Wizard of BC]

As a general rule of thumb - For a guy with a hip circumference less than 45" you would order 4 yards, double-width.
For a guy with a hip circumference between 45" and 50" you would order 4.5 yards, double-width.
For greater than 50" order 5 yards, double-width.

An 8.5" Sett is large but not excessively. The average is somewhere between 6.5" and 7.25".
I personally would not halve the Sett down to 4.25".

Also in general terms I would not alternate this Tartan as you suggest. It is not about the White stripe, it is more to do with the background Blue and Black. If a kilt is pleated to alternating stripes the backgrounds behind the stripes is usually similar.
Here you can see the pleating of a alternately striped kilt. This is from The Canadian Scottish Regt. It alternates Red and Yellow. But the background is very similar.

[Tarheel]

Now that the "Wiz" has posted a physical example, you could get your customer to look at the photo, imagine the blue and black stripes (vertical lines of the Henderson modern) as they show on the green.

I understand price is still a major factor in cases, as is carrying around a lot more material on one's body. I'm trying to think like a client here instead of a kilt maker.

[Taskr]

As a customer, I would be concerned with "they will be very shallow". Sounds to me that would make the kilt appear skirt-like and not have the swish and sway. For the additional cost of .5 - 1 yd, the customer might be far happier in the long run

[Benning Boy]

Figheadair's backside is seen in one of the kilt books covered by a kilt pleated to alternating stripes. I looks pretty good to me. I'd tell you which book, but the books are all in piles as we paint the library, and can't find the color pic on the computer now of it pic he sent me. But, it does look good.

[Dutch piper]

Thanks for you thoughts on this subject.
I decided to go for the extra yardage and pleat to 1 stripe.

regards,
Tómmes

[Barb T]

Just to add to the discussion - below, you'll see a pic of a kilt that I pleated to a yellow stripe with alternating green and black background color. This pleating was unavoidable because the tartan sett was nearly 17", and there was nothing that repeated twice per sett. I think it looks fine.

[Dutch piper]

Yes Barb, that looks great.

But in my case I have a white stripe on a blue background, and a yellow stripe on a black background.
This will probably be to much difference between the pleats, but I should check in real life. See how it works.

What is your opinion about pleats being "only" 2" deep (because that will happen if I pleat to the alternating stripe)?

[Barb T]

Yeh, I realize yours are different stripes on different backgrounds, and that would likely not look good. I just wanted to show that it's not impossible to have a nice pleating with different backgrounds. But, different stripes on different backgrounds would be unconventional enough that, even if I tried it and liked it, I would OK it with the customer before I did it.

I agree that 2" deep pleats are pretty skimpy. You have a big guy, and I agree with Steve that more tartan is a better answer than trying to get a kilt around him with only 8 yards.

One good solution to the weight of tartan on a big guy is to suggest a box pleated kilt. I've made a couple of box pleated kilts for a guy with 65" hips, and it takes about 6 yards. Not as heavy as a trad knife pleated kilt, and it looks good on a big guy because the pleats are wide and more proportional to his size than a lot of little ones.

[Dutch piper]

Thanks for you clear answer.

I allready decided to pleat to 1 stripe and I ordered enough tartan for the job.
I never thought about the box-pleated kilt. And I like the idea but my customer absolutely won't go for that.
He's a piper (although the kilt is not for band-use), and I'm sure (read: I know) he wants his kilt in the traditional knife-pleat-version.