1796 Gordon box pleat kilt

[Steve Ashton]

I believe this kilt is indeed box pleated. But very narrow pleats by today's standard.

Box pleats look like this when viewed end on.



You should be able to see that each pleat is exactly 3 layers of fabric thick.

The width will be 1/3 of the width of one Sett.

This means that the depth of each pleat is 1/2 of the width of the outer reveal.

Today's RRD kilt is pleated to what a sometimes called Military box pleats. Basically a knife pleat folded back on itself.

Matt Newsome called this pleating style "Unequal leg box pleats".

To achieve greater depth of the pleats you may need to consider this pleating style.

This is what military box pleats look like end on.