Advice on pleating choice for Macleod of Harris

[Kurt]

Actually the reason I was leaning toward pleating to the stripe has nothing to do with how I have seen kilts worn before. I have read through the advantages of both options and was left feeling squarely in the middle. Since I liked both options equally I was leaning toward pleating to the line as it was the older form of pleating. I figured as I was wearing a kilt for tradition in the first place that it would be the more traditional choice. But after reading Jock's comment I am starting to think that as I am wearing the modern knife kilt and the norm has evolved to pleating to the sett that would in fact be the way to go. If I was wearing a box pleated kilt I would go to the line with no hesitation.

At least it was easy for me to figure out who to marry...

[Kurt]

On a side note the kilt pictured is not my actual kilt...it is simply a kilt in the same tartan I am using by the same maker. He has not started mine yet so it is easy to change the pleating either way

[sydnie7]

That's a beautiful tartan. Personally, I'd go with sett.

While I prefer stripe in some cases, I'm not sett in my ways (sorry).

[davidlpope]

I'd pleat to the sett. If you're stuck on pleating to the line, go with the yellow on blue- better contrast.

[AKScott]

The "dreaded lawn chair effect" is also named pleating to the "unstripe" and I think referred to by most kiltmakers as pleating to the "block". That is to say any tartan can be pleated so there are no vertical elements visible in the pleats.

As has been pointed out, the kilt pictured on page on of this thread is pleated to the red stripe.

Clickable thumbnail is Clan Scott (Strome) modern green "pleated to the block" by opening an image of the entire sett in MSPaint, then selecting and copying a narrow vertical strip of just the vertical green block, then paste and drag, paste and drag, paste and drag:



If you can come up with a piece of fabric of your own, you can lay it out on a flat surface several different ways. While your kilt maker may be willing to do this for you, I would expect to be charged a fee if I asked for this service:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...tml#post947958

FWIW I went looking for images of my own tartan pleated to the stripe on several occasions, on two of those days my google-fu was otherwise quite good. I finally concluded pleating my clan tartan to the stripe is hardly ever done and ordered mine pleated to the sett.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I have yet to attend an event in Scotland or the United States where those gentlemen noticed to be in kilts pleated to the stripe where hustled outside, taken around back, and shot. Unless, of course, they were wearing white socks...

It's really down to what you think looks best. Just avoid the white socks.

[ShaunMaxwell]

The tartan is very like a Smith Ancient that I own, which is the only one of my kilts I've had pleated to the stripe. Personally, I like it pleated to the red stripe, as it's a large sett and there aren't too many stripes (notice that there's only one red stripe visible on the front of the kilt).

[MacGuffin]

Congratulations Kurt on the upcoming wedding.
I too have a MacLeod of Harris tartan kilt (though modern colors).
Striping to the red line looks quite dashing and would make for one eye catching kilt.

[OC Richard]

I really like that pleating to the red stripe.

On grounds of tradition, I prefer pleating to the stripe in most cases.

(Tradition, and a "form follows function" aesthetic, but we don't need to go there!)

However with some tartans the back of the kilt can look strange if the wrong part of the sett is chosen for repetition across the pleats. Furthermore some tartans really need to have the totality of all the colours to be seen for the tartan's effect to not be utterly lost.

Your tartan there has neither of those issues and pleating to the red line looks fine.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have photos of this tartan (or a similar tartan) pleated to the yellow line, or pleated "to the block" using the open green area or open blue area?

[xman]

Since I liked both options equally I was leaning toward pleating to the line as it was the older form of pleating. I figured as I was wearing a kilt for tradition in the first place that it would be the more traditional choice. But after reading Jock's comment I am starting to think that as I am wearing the modern knife kilt and the norm has evolved to pleating to the sett that would in fact be the way to go.

Well to be clear here;
The military developed the modern traditional kilt over many years by adding more and more fabric, most likely to achieve a pleasing and uniform look on parade. Their universal choice of stripe pleating fits this reason and was developed first. Civilians picked up on the new yardage and developed pleating to sett. Both are good options in your case. I personally love the pleating to the red stripe in this tartan.

If I was wearing a box pleated kilt I would go to the line with no hesitation.

Box pleating options are limited by sett size.