Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
The first thing that struck me about the 1796 kilt, as well as the 1815 kilt that figheadair posted, is just how small the sett is. Getting a tight box pleat pattern with that smaller sett seems naturally easy, where it would be impossible with a larger sett. I wonder if the transition to "military box pleat" patterns was done specifically to imitate these earlier stantard box-pleated military kilts, out of a sense of frustration in being unable to get those narrow pleats with a larger sett.
The 1796 and 1815 kilts both looks to have about the same size sett albeit that the cloth is of different widths - 6 and 8 half setts respectively. I suspect that both were officers' kilts and therefore purchased rather than issues which might have had a bearing on the choice.

The standard (later) issue ORs' tartan had a much bigger sett, less so the officers' cloth. The size ORs' later setting was actually closer to the Wilsons' era plaid setting, itself much larger than these kilt settings.

There is no evidence that the Gordons ever used a box-pleat with the heavier cloth and seem to have switched directly to a knife pleat at some point post-1850.