Who wears a Kingussie Pleated kilt?

[Pleater]

Yes that is the basic method - though you can refine it a little for that extra bit of swankiness.

My kilts are all just about a perfect mirror image from the centre back to the edges.

I find the centre of the strip of cloth, and with some patterns I cut along that line or one close to it and then turn one half over and join the two pieces. Depending on the pattern I make the join the centre back or the inner fold to one side of the centre box pleat - different patterns call for different methods. If one side is to be a bit shorter I have that as the right side as the under apron can be left straight at the outer edge rather than shaped like the standard apron. I usually leave both aprons straight edged, particularly if the pattern matches and hides the edge.

This reversal trick means that the pattern lies the same way on the pleats - if you have three stripes black red grey black red grey, and want to have the grey showing with a red flash you need to turn half the fabric over so the stripes run grey red black grey red black.

Now, you start in the centre back and create the nicest box pleat, folding the fabric under each side to make, if possible, a complete three layers of fabric under the whole box. You then continue to make knife pleats pointing outwards from the box pleat for the required distance and in accordance with the pattern.

I then look at the aprons to see how to make them match the centre front with the centre back exactly ( I actually considered this provisionally earlier so as not to have to remake the pleats or cut off lots of fabric ) The edges of the aprons are shaped in 2 inches at the waist in a sort of side turned dart.

The material left over is folded under the apron to make a large pleat, which is not really optional unless you are only going to stand still in your kilt.

Sitting down, climbing steps - vaulting gates even, the under apron pleats are going to give you the required expansion to maintain your dignity.

I bring the last pleat of the small set to touch the edge of the apron - that is there is no reveal between them. However - if you are working on losing weight you might consider making a reveal there and then removing it when you have shrunk enough. Conversly, if an expanding waistline seems to be your fate, make the pleats meet and put in the reveal when the inevetable happens. You need to make the waistband longer than necessary and hide the excess at the ends, or just at the end of the under apron if the pattern will not match on the apron.

Its the details that make the difference between a plain kilt and a well crafted one.

[Ryan Ross]

Thanks for that, but there is another thing that I still don't understand. Why can't you go the full 8 yards without a large central pleat or a central pleat overlap? It's essentially the same as a knife pleated kilt. More yards just means deeper pleats. I would have thought that anything that works for knife pleats would work for Kingussie pleats.

Well... if you're trying to use too much yardage in the kingussie, you'll end up with no place to put all the extra cloth needed to create the first knife pleat on either side of the central box pleat. Unless you're working with a very small sett, like the Rob Roy, you'll have to either make the central box pleat quite wide, or you'll need to make a military style box pleat on either side of the wide box pleat. It's all a matter of how much fabric you need to "hide" in the central pleat- the more overall yardage, the more you'll need to hide.

Yes that is the basic method - though you can refine it a little for that extra bit of swankiness.

My kilts are all just about a perfect mirror image from the centre back to the edges.

I find the centre of the strip of cloth, and with some patterns I cut along that line or one close to it and then turn one half over and join the two pieces. Depending on the pattern I make the join the centre back or the inner fold to one side of the centre box pleat - different patterns call for different methods. If one side is to be a bit shorter I have that as the right side as the under apron can be left straight at the outer edge rather than shaped like the standard apron. I usually leave both aprons straight edged, particularly if the pattern matches and hides the edge.

This reversal trick means that the pattern lies the same way on the pleats - if you have three stripes black red grey black red grey, and want to have the grey showing with a red flash you need to turn half the fabric over so the stripes run grey red black grey red black.

Now, you start in the centre back and create the nicest box pleat, folding the fabric under each side to make, if possible, a complete three layers of fabric under the whole box. You then continue to make knife pleats pointing outwards from the box pleat for the required distance and in accordance with the pattern.

I then look at the aprons to see how to make them match the centre front with the centre back exactly ( I actually considered this provisionally earlier so as not to have to remake the pleats or cut off lots of fabric ) The edges of the aprons are shaped in 2 inches at the waist in a sort of side turned dart.

The material left over is folded under the apron to make a large pleat, which is not really optional unless you are only going to stand still in your kilt.

Sitting down, climbing steps - vaulting gates even, the under apron pleats are going to give you the required expansion to maintain your dignity.

I bring the last pleat of the small set to touch the edge of the apron - that is there is no reveal between them. However - if you are working on losing weight you might consider making a reveal there and then removing it when you have shrunk enough. Conversly, if an expanding waistline seems to be your fate, make the pleats meet and put in the reveal when the inevetable happens. You need to make the waistband longer than necessary and hide the excess at the ends, or just at the end of the under apron if the pattern will not match on the apron.

Its the details that make the difference between a plain kilt and a well crafted one.

Absolutely! Thanks for that explanation! It's always neat to hear everyone's little tricks and techniques, come to kilt making.

[greenguzzi]

Well... if you're trying to use too much yardage in the kingussie, you'll end up with no place to put all the extra cloth needed to create the first knife pleat on either side of the central box pleat.

Oh yeah, of course, thanks . It was a dumb question really. My only excuse is that it's just past 2am here and I'm not thinking straight! Time for bed I think.

[Ryan Ross]

Oh yeah, of course, thanks . It was a dumb question really. My only excuse is that it's just past 2am here and I'm not thinking straight! Time for bed I think.

Nah, not a dumb question at all, really. Even Matt had to think twice about that issue, while he was making the kilt, so there's no shame!

[Tommie]

Wait a second here.
The kilt I told you I am making,I turned the pleats toward the rear on each side.
Is this not Kingussie style? If not I wasted a lot of time.
Im making this Kilt for hiking as I stated way back in this thread,and it just made more sense to me that it would not tend to hang on brush as bad if the pleats faced the rear.

Leave it to me to make it wrong.Oh well,I still can use it anyway.

[Ryan Ross]

Wait a second here.
The kilt I told you I am making,I turned the pleats toward the rear on each side.
Is this not Kingussie style? If not I wasted a lot of time.
Im making this Kilt for hiking as I stated way back in this thread,and it just made more sense to me that it would not tend to hang on brush as bad if the pleats faced the rear.

Leave it to me to make it wrong.Oh well,I still can use it anyway.

It sounds to me like you made what people tend to call a "reverse kingussie" style of pleating. While not historical (so far as we know), people who have them seem to say that they are wonderful for hiking/tramping through the brush. Also, many of the "neo-traditional" style of kilts tend to have this arrangement (Utilikilts, etc...).

I bet you'll be very pleased with your kilt, once it's finished, and not find your time wasted at all.

[Pleater]

Don't fret, Tommie, the reverse Kingussie is the best design for hiking - I started out making all my kilts Kingussie style and have remade all but one of them in the reverse way having had to go back and retrieve one from a particularly dense set of bushes. It was a case of leave it behind or rip it free, so I decided to preserve my handiwork at the cost of a few scratches.