Stripe or Sett?

[g koch]

Aside from the military/civilian thing, which do you prefer?

My first 8yder, bought a over a decade ago, was to stripe. The shopkeeper taking the measurements didn't ask what weight I wanted or how I wanted it pleated. It wasn't an issue. Back then, most of the kilts you saw on the band members at the Alma games were to stripe.

While most of my kilts since have been to some version of sett, when I look at pics of that first kilt I'm thinking I really like stripe.

[chasem]

It depends on the tartan for me. Some tartans I like to the stripe better, because of the effect (Barb shows a Hunting Ross pleated to the stripe in her book, and I've always loved the effect it gives in the reveal).

But most of the time, I prefer the look of to the sett.

[Tim Little]

I think it depends on the tartan, but generally I prefer pleated to sett rather than stripe.

That said, I've been won over to think that some tartans might look best pleated to "no-stripe" -- where pleating to either stripe or sett looks little too busy.

Take for example the Little of Morton Rigg tartan below:





There's a lot of white in the tartan, and while I probably wouldn't pleat to stripe on the yellow, pleated to "no stripe" on the red might look pretty good. (I'd defer to our expert kiltmakers to determine whether that would even be possible given the sett.)

EDIT -- On second thought, even if pleated to "no stripe" there would still some awfully strong horizontal white bands that might be a bit much....

[Riverkilt]

TRUST YOUR KILTMAKER? Part of their fee for the craftsmanship is advice. And of course the tartan you chose will govern the suggestions your kiltmaker makes. Then, order it up the way YOU like it.

Course you can also search this board, and the Internet, for finished examples to help you make your decision. Don't forget clan websites as sources of photos of their clan tartans in finished kilts.

Ain't this fun??!!

Ron

[McMurdo]

I'd have to agree it really depends on the tartan, your kiltmaker and of course your tastes, most of my kilts are to the Sett, however a few are to the Stripe, for the most part I've gone with the recommendations of my kiltmaker.

[Mair of the Tribe of Mar]

I agree with everything that has been mentioned above. But as well as taking advice from the kiltmaker, I also believe that the way a kilt is pleated can say a lot. For instance, I have seen Black Stewart pleated to the red stripe and it looked quite dashing. I would never have thought of that myself, but after seeing it, I am half tempted to do that when I purchase Black Stewart!

My opinion, the way a kilt is pleated makes the kilt a little more unique for that certain individual.

Jason

[Sir William]

I agree with those who've already offered their comments - it depends on the tartan and also your own personal tastes. Many tartans can be pleated to more than one stripe as well - and you may like one but not the other.

Looking over my four knife-pleated kilts, two are to stripe and two are to sett. I would not change any of them from one to the other, though I'm sure they would equally nice.

Discuss your options with your kilt-maker. Chances are, no matter which decision you make, you'll like the results.

[Pleater]

There is nothing like actually seeing the fabric and experimenting with different ways to pleat - there tend to be memorable ones, such as pleating to alternate red and yellow stripes, or the one I have which is a striped fabric and the inside of the pleats are alternately mostly red and mostly white, with black and gray added, but what shows is plain gray and black.

Then there are the almost to sett but which minimise one aspect, or brings out another, but really subtly.

It is part of the craft to bring out different aspects of the pattern, and part of the fun to work out the way to bring about the best result. Even better is getting a perfect effect when there is only just enough fabric but nothing is wasted and nothing is scrimped.

Anne the Pleater

[Standard]

Generally I prefer pleated to the sett. That being said I do think that some tartans look very sharp pleated to the stripe, but of course it depends on the stripe and to some extent what the "reveal" is. There are many striking examples on this list that perhapse would not automatically come to mind.

[Ruanaidh]

All things being equal, and depending on the sett, I prefer kilts pleated to the stripe.