Designing a tartan and how to pleat it

[Paul Henry]

Yes of course, pictures are always a good thing.
A question as well... do you know the weaver that the tartans will come from , because not all weavers have the same sett size for any particular tartan and this might be relevant.How many are you thinking of, because if it was enough yardage it might be possible to get a special run done at very little extra cost.

[Semiomniscient]

Yes of course, pictures are always a good thing.
A question as well... do you know the weaver that the tartans will come from , because not all weavers have the same sett size for any particular tartan and this might be relevant.How many are you thinking of, because if it was enough yardage it might be possible to get a special run done at very little extra cost.

We do not know what weaver we will use yet. We may decide to buy an entire bolt. (I don't know how many yards comes on a bolt yet.) But to start, we need approximately 12 kilts each 8 yards. I assume we are trying to get 16 oz. weight wool rather than 13 oz. We want to be able to have fabric on hand with which to have new kilts made, or ties, or whatever we want, for the use of our pipe band and society. Buying a full bolt should give us the best opportunity to do that both for convenience and cost.

[kc8ufv]

Just thinking of the pleated to the stripe, pleat widths, and amount of fabric neccessary - Some tartans may allow for multiple pleats per sett, if they have multiple similar stripes at different points.

[Paul Henry]

Just thinking of the pleated to the stripe, pleat widths, and amount of fabric neccessary - Some tartans may allow for multiple pleats per sett, if they have multiple similar stripes at different points.

Very true, but until we know the tartans, it's safer to go for the single stripe per sett,then at least we will have plenty to play with! I know that James is very much a traditionalist, so having a little extra cloth in the kilt would doubtless be better than skimpting!

[Semiomniscient]

Very true, but until we know the tartans, it's safer to go for the single stripe per sett,then at least we will have plenty to play with! I know that James is very much a traditionalist, so having a little extra cloth in the kilt would doubtless be better than skimpting!

:-) I might surprise you on pleating. (I'm very much excited about my Kingussie pleated kilt from Matt Newsome coming this month!) But the band members are also tend toward a traditionalist approach too. It's much better to take it traditionally when trying to please a lot of people.
But I've posted a tartan, so we can start addressing what I'm doing wrong and/or right.

[Semiomniscient]

This is an example of a tartan I've done and how I'm working out the pleats after Paulhenry's explanation. This isn't one of the tartans that's really on the table for the band, it's just one I've designed. Let me know what you think of the pleating size.

[Paul Henry]

This is an example of a tartan I've done and how I'm working out the pleats after Paulhenry's explanation. This isn't one of the tartans that's really on the table for the band, it's just one I've designed. Let me know what you think of the pleating size.

You've gone for pleating to the stripe in a sort of non stripe sort of way, I've got no problem with that , although some here don't always like it calling it "the dreaded lawnchair effect".
As long as the colour blocks are about 1" wide you will be able to have the block pleated to about 3/4", it's helpful to have a little spare so the next colour lines on the block don't show at all.Using your example I'd still only use one stripe per sett even though both green are doubled up,as the pleat depth would be just a little "too little"
So using 36" as a hips measurement.... and 18" as the back , with 3/4" pleat width you would then get 24 pleats, so if the repeat is 8"( for ease of calculation) you would need 192" then add fabric for the aprons and reverse pleats , (I normally allow at least 3 aprons worth ) so that would be about 54 ". That makes a total of 246" , that is a minimum really but it comes out at about 7 yards. So on a basic calculation of allowing 8 yds person that would be fine.

[Semiomniscient]

You've gone for pleating to the stripe in a sort of non stripe sort of way, I've got no problem with that , although some here don't always like it calling it "the dreaded lawnchair effect".
As long as the colour blocks are about 1" wide you will be able to have the block pleated to about 3/4", it's helpful to have a little spare so the next colour lines on the block don't show at all.Using your example I'd still only use one stripe per sett even though both green are doubled up,as the pleat depth would be just a little "too little"
So using 36" as a hips measurement.... and 18" as the back , with 3/4" pleat width you would then get 24 pleats, so if the repeat is 8"( for ease of calculation) you would need 192" then add fabric for the aprons and reverse pleats , (I normally allow at least 3 aprons worth ) so that would be about 54 ". That makes a total of 246" , that is a minimum really but it comes out at about 7 yards. So on a basic calculation of allowing 8 yds person that would be fine.

I now feel a bit more lost. What do you mean by "stripe in a non stripe sort of way?" And I've never heard of the "dreaded lawnchair effect" either. :-/ I think I understand the math and measurements though. So you're not wasting your time with me I promise!

[Paul Henry]

This is an example of a tartan I've done and how I'm working out the pleats after Paulhenry's explanation. This isn't one of the tartans that's really on the table for the band, it's just one I've designed. Let me know what you think of the pleating size.

The most obvious stripe in this tartan is probably the light blue bordered by red and green, BUT I think it might be a little complicated for the kiltmaker to use that because it contained so many fine lines, which would most likely disappear partially with the tapering to the waist.
Your latest example of the black line with blue on one side and green on the other might be ok, depends on the width of that portion. I know Barb likes the pleats to be absolutely mirror images, but I actually like the effect you can get from using the two colours in your example.
I recently did a kilt in Rankin and we pleated it to a similar idea to yours, although in mine I had the red line as the centre markIt's not a great photo , but you get the idea I hope.when the kilt was worn it actually looked as if it had double the number of pleats.
I'm not sure there is actually something that is "right" , but something that is pleasing, every tartan offers different choices.

[Semiomniscient]

I think I'm getting it a little more, and I appreciate your help very much. By "getting it right" I mean giving it the most pleasing look.