Pleated to the line

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Just a little bit of history to put things in perspective. Pleating to the sett is a relatively new thing in the world of kilt making. When Stuart Ruaidri Erskine wrote The Kilt & How to Wear It in 1901, he described pleating to the sett as a very new thing, and he didn't even know if it had a proper name, but he liked it!

Since then it has become the norm, but the norm for most of the nineteenth century was pleating to the stripe.

Kilts, keep in mind, were first tailored at the very end of the eighteenth century. The oldest surviving kilt is from 1792 and it is a Gordon Highlanders regimental kilt, containing less than 4 yards of cloth, box pleated, to the yellow line. All military kilts were pleated to the line (to stripe). Civilian kilts from this period were pleated to no pattern at all (see the main page at http://www.scottishtartans.org for a picture of a civilian kilt c. 1800 which is pleated to no pattern). Civilian kilts eventually adopted the military fashion of pleating to the line sometime around 1815-1820 so that by the mid-1820s the norm for a civilian kilt was about 4 yards of cloth, box pleated to the line.

Box pleating did not come out of India, I'm afraid, nor was it invented as an accedental way of pressing or pleating a knife pleated kilt. All the early tailored kilts were box pelated. The first regiment to adopt knife pleating (side pleating) was the Gordon Highlanders in 1854.

Y'all have a good weekend!
Matt

[Robin]

The pictures Hamish just posted inspired me to get at least one kilt pleated to the stripe


MacLaren muted, pleated to the stripe...the yellow stripe running vertically also is pretty stunning imho.


The sett

[djweso]

Lots of great history! Great Pics! Thanks guys.

This may just be me, but often when look at a a tartan pleated to stripe/line I almost miss the stripe that its pleated to. I see the strong, dominate stripes running horizontally and almost miss the center stripe running vertically. Just an observation.

[Scott Gilmore]

The pictures Hamish just posted inspired me to get at least one kilt pleated to the stripe ...

MacLaren muted, pleated to the stripe...the yellow stripe running vertically also is pretty stunning imho.

I agree, handsome tartan, and it looks good pleated to the stripe. Thanks for the pictures.

Interesting thead.

Regards,
Scott Gilmore