Which is best kilt for daily/driving wear

[Dale Seago]

Depends how you get into the car. I have 16 oz knife pleats and leather seats which slide easily. I get in butt first, and then turn around to face the wheel, smooth it out one more time, and it's great. My PV casual needs a bit more settling after I'm in, but it also does well.

And that's the key with knife pleats -- just find some way to ensure that they stay smooth and aligned as you sit down, and you'll be fine. My employer (Jewish Temple) had a "fun day" excursion into the wine country yesterday for all the staff and I wore a 16-oz knife pleat (a 6-yarder by Matt Newsome). Drove 45 minutes from home to the bus pickup point; was on the bus to the winery tour and tasting at Castello di Amorosa; back on the bus up by Calistoga for lunch and a hike at Mayacamas Ranch; back on the bus to the dropoff point in San Francisco; drove to a restaurant to grab dinner before driving to teach my Thursday evening martial arts class (still in the kilt); and drove home.

When I took the kilt off at home, all the pleats were still perfect.

[slohairt]

I have to agree with Matt. I never press any of my kilts. The few wrinkles they do acquire just fall away after awhile. Now, a high-yardage kilt does has some advantage in that the sheer weight of the pleats will "pull" minor wrinkles out. It doesn't have much to do with the overlapping though.

Likewise, crispness of pleats seldom has much to do with pleating style. It's more likely a characteristic of the particular fabric. Marton Mills and House of Edgar can be a bit difficult to bang a good crease into, while Lochcarron, Dalgliesh, and Strathmore are fairly easy.

In the end, it's all in the 'sweep'!

[Kiltboy]

Tobus,
I, for one, find the four yard box pleated kilt more comfortable to drive in than my 8 yard kilts, for the simple reason that I am sitting on less fabric!

I agree.

I've had a few "driving vacations". The winner is a 4yd kilt with 16oz fabric. By far more comfortable to sit on, and easy to take care of.

[Tobus]

Out of curiosity, what is less comfortable about sitting on more fabric? Generally everywhere I go and sit, it seems more comfortable to sit on more fabric. It's more padding, for starters. And down here in Texas in summer, wearing thin fabrics can cause you to burn your bum if you sit on a metal bench (or touch the metal seat belt buckle as you get in the car). So I always find more fabric to be more comfortable.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Out of curiosity, what is less comfortable about sitting on more fabric? Generally everywhere I go and sit, it seems more comfortable to sit on more fabric. It's more padding, for starters. And down here in Texas in summer, wearing thin fabrics can cause you to burn your bum if you sit on a metal bench (or touch the metal seat belt buckle as you get in the car). So I always find more fabric to be more comfortable.

I'm not getting any more or less coverage with either style of kilt. Both come down the same length on my legs and cover the same amount of skin.

But with the 8 yard kilt I'm sitting on layer upon layer of pleats and it just feels like I'm sitting on a lumpy woolen seat cushion. :-) With a four yard kilt there is less overlapping of the pleats and it just feels smoother and less bulky for me to be sitting on.

[piperdbh]

Yeah. What Matt said.

[azwildcat96]

I have two 16-oz wool kilts. One is an 8-yard knife pleat and one is a 4-yard box pleat. I agree that 16-oz wool tends to do just fine in terms of pulling itself straight after being wrinkled.

However, I do find that the high-yardage knife pleats hold their shape better than a box-pleated kilt. This probably has to do with the fact that the pleats overlap each other and act as a group to hold each other in place. Since box pleats are kind of "individual" pleats, with no support from neighbors, any one of them can get wonky.

I have also noticed that box pleats tend to need more attention in terms of keeping the pleats pressed to look crisp. My high-yardage knife-pleated kilt has never had a problem with the pleats staying crisp. But my box pleats tend to want to open up by themselves (again, because they have no overlap to hold them down), and the crispness of the pleat just doesn't hold itself.

This could, of course, be a function of different weaves/makers too. I dunno. But in my personal experience, while I do find box pleats to be lighter and cooler when walking (a sort of bellows effect due to the shape of the pleats), I still prefer my knife pleated kilt for most activities. Especially if I have to sit for a while. I never have to worry much about keeping my knife pleats tidy when I sit. A simple fluid motion with my arm as I sit, and my pleats are aligned just right. Not so much with box pleats.

I too have an 8yd tank in 16oz Locharron Strome and a Newsome 5yd box pleat also in 16oz Locharron Strome. The only difference in the fabric is the tartan pattern. Let me say that I love both kilts! I have been wearing the box pleat more lately, but I think that is mostly because it is new, so it is the first one I reach for.

I have noticed that the box pleat seems (from my experiences) to wrinkle more, or at least hold the wrinkles. In addition, due to the shallower pleats, the boxes seem to want to “curl”, and are begging to be pressed flat. I have not pressed either kilt as long as I have owned them.

Regarding comfort while sitting, I notice a difference feel, but I don’t find either one more comfortable that the other.

My suggestion is to buy one of each and test them out for yourself. That will make a couple kilt makers happy.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

My wife is partially disabled and cannot walk far at all so when we go on holiday, I have to do a lot of driving and I want to be kilted all the time. So I am thinking of another kilt in 16oz fabric. I know about box and double box etc and some have said that they don't crease as much. Has anyone had any experience of using a box pleat in this way compared to a knife pleat.

Chris.

I can tell you that the most comfortable kilt for sitting, or driving, is a Kingussie pleated kilt.

[Ancienne Alliance]

I am constantly driving. The last feat was Glasgow – Inverness, the long way through Glencoe, Fort William, a 5 ½ hour drive. I got out of the car with a perfect kilt.

I was wearing a Kingussie pleated kilt; the modern version of this pleating :
http://www.lady-chrystel-kilts.com/s...ssie-angl.html


Best,

Robert

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I too have an 8yd tank in 16oz Locharron Strome and a Newsome 5yd box pleat also in 16oz Locharron Strome. The only difference in the fabric is the tartan pattern. Let me say that I love both kilts! I have been wearing the box pleat more lately, but I think that is mostly because it is new, so it is the first one I reach for.

I have noticed that the box pleat seems (from my experiences) to wrinkle more, or at least hold the wrinkles. In addition, due to the shallower pleats, the boxes seem to want to “curl”, and are begging to be pressed flat. I have not pressed either kilt as long as I have owned them.

Regarding comfort while sitting, I notice a difference feel, but I don’t find either one more comfortable that the other.

My suggestion is to buy one of each and test them out for yourself. That will make a couple kilt makers happy.

Thanks for the feedback. I do want to comment that as both of your kilts are made from the same weight fabric, from the same mill, one should "hold the wrinkles" just the same as the other. I wonder if you may simply be noticing it more on the box pleat because, as you say, the pleats are not as deep.

And, it could just be that as the box pleated kilt is new, you are not used it sitting in it, as you are the knife pleated kilt.

At the end of the day, no matter what the pleat style or the amount of material, I think the biggest factor as to whether and how much your kilt wrinkles is how you sit in it. If the pleats are smoothed out flat beneath you, it makes a world of difference!