Pleat Depth Dynamics

[Barb T]

Length of fell is one of the critical factors. If it's too short for the length of the kilt, the pleats aren't "controlled", and the kilt tends to be flippy instead of swingy. If the fell is too long for the length of the kilt, the pleats don't swing.

Weight is also a factor. More fabric swings better than less fabric.

What about pleat depth? I agree that 2" deep pleats just don't swing like deeper ones do, but I'd say that the increase in swing with increasing pleat depth is a case of diminishing returns. On the small end, there's no swing, of course. No one would want half inch pleats. But I wouldn't say that there's much difference in swing between, say, 3-3.5" deep pleats and 5" deep pleats. In other words, with a "normal" sett typical of the tartan you'd make a man's kilt from (6-9" setts), the swing is governed far less by pleat depth, in my estimation, than by the amount of tartan and the depth of the fell. I'd be interested to hear what all y'all who make kilts think of this analysis.

As far as the choices you've listed, alternating pleats wouldn't be a formal traditional choice, so if you need your kilt to look like a trad, knife-pleated kilt, you wouldn't alternate the pleats. This wouldn't not be true for a casual kilt or a traditional box pleated kilt.

5/8" wide pleats are really small for a man's kilt, in my estimation.

And, if you have 8 yards of tartan for an average-size man, and the sett size is 9", I'd be flabbergasted if you got more than 27 pleats out of the tartan. 9" is a pretty big sett size. 25 pleats would be more likely. If the person is a man of substance and you only have 8 yards, you'd likely only have 21-23 pleats.

[xman]

What tartan are you using?

MacDonald of Clanranald.

I'd be treating the sett as if 4.5" and pleating to alternating stripes rather than the full 9", much like is done with Black Watch.

[longhuntr74]

MacDonald of Clanranald.

I'd be treating the sett as if 4.5" and pleating to alternating stripes rather than the full 9", much like is done with Black Watch.

I'm making a Black Watch kilt and my pleats are the full 11"...pleated to the black on blue. If you pleat to the green you can do half sett repeats...not so for the stripe I used. I ended up with 22 pleats at just shy of an inch...and nice deep pleats of course!