An interesting example of pleating to stripe

[JRB]

Thanks for the enlightenment. That's very interesting. I never would have guessed that a kilt may have pleats of different depths in order to keep to the sett.

[Hamish]

Barb, what can I say? All the superlatives have been used already. I am a huge fan of weathered tartans and you present this one to perfection. Thank you for showing us, and for explaining so clearly the intricacies faced in producing such a gem.

[Barb T]

I am a huge fan of weathered tartans.

So am I, and I would love to make another one from this particular tartan. But Lochcarron has stopped weaving it, probably because of the issue presented by the huge sett size.

I actually bought this piece of tartan five or six years ago to make a kilt for myself. I had ordered a swatch of the tartan and fallen in love with it. Unfortunately, the swatch wasn't big enough to show me the whole sett (note to self here - check more carefully next time....), and I didn't discover it until I actually had the tartan in hand. I had intended to pleat it to the sett, but I quickly abandoned the idea when I saw the tartan. As much as I love pleating to the stripe, the red stripe was too narrow to give a strong vertical element, and my wide little kiester didn't need a bunch of horizontal stripes. So, the tartan just languished on my shelf for several years.

Then I had the brilliant idea to offer it for sale on XMarks, and one of you guys bought it to make a kilt for himself. After another stretch of time, he decided that he really wasn't going to make it himself, so he sent it back to me to make him a kilt. So I got to make the kilt after all!!

Cheers,

Barb