How to place the pleats when pleating to the sett

[@rossthefiddler5890]

Thanks for the elaboration on getting the pleating to sett correct. One thing that does my head in is your imperial measured 'gauges'. I grew up using inches but thankfully we changed to metric (downunder) before I became too entrenched in the imperial measurements, & so I could see straight millimetre gauges would be somewhat easier to see & select. Anyhow, just a thought.

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

haha - do an internet search for "how to measure like a Canadian "...we measure clothes in inches, vehicle speed in Km, temperature in Celsius and distance in 'time' rather than Km or miles ("that place is 25 minutes from here") Imperial works best for me when tailoring, in part because the width of my thumb is exactly an inch, and a (cloth)yard is exactly the length from an earlobe to the opposite middle-fingertip at full stretch. both 'Imperial ' and Metric are human inventions rather than otherwise anyway...

[@rossthefiddler5890]

@@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063 Good answer. 😄 I still wear 32' or 34" jeans etc but I work in mm when working on instruments like violins & cellos, however I also play on a 16" viola. 😁

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

@@rossthefiddler5890 yes, when one us working to such fine tolerances it only makes sense to use millimeters

[@jeremiahkindel9301]

I am an industrial mechanic in the USA. Using metric for fastners or fabrication is great, especially for tight tolerance. But watching Mr Macdonald layout tartan for tailoring. It becomes clear how important both forms of measurement can be. With the imperial system it gives the ability to divide evenly and quickly. Thank Mr Macdonald for your sharing of knowledge. I am gathering all the knowledge I can with my first attempt at sewing my own kilt. I am lucky to have 8 other quality kilts as a guide. But between yourself and other literature. I am feeling more confident in the process. Thank you again for your time!

[@muffemod]

Great instruction.

[@ichabod0391]

Is that a Wallace Hunting tartan? If so, is that Ancient or Modern color palette?

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

Yes, it's the Wallace Hunting in the 'modern' palette.

[@tallakff7349]

Can all tartans be pleated both to the strip and the set?

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

Short answer: yes - I've never encountered a tartan which could NOT be pleated either 'to the sett or 'to the stripe', although a really 'busy' sett might limit how much the individual pleats could be tapered (you don't want an element of the design such as a stripe 'vanishing' into a seam, because it just looks wrong) this has a straightforward solution: less taper in the pleats between hip and waist, and more shaping in the aprons' "A-line".

[@petergordon5552]

The reason kiltmakers make kilts with irregular pleats is that they were taught that kilts had to have no fewer than 21 knife pleats regardless of the sett size.Madness!Just make as many pleats as you need of regular size for a balanced kilt.Anything else will not hang properly!

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

I don't completely agree with you - the irregular pleating that I've seen has invariably been the result of a lack of teaching...

[@petergordon5552]

@@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063 If you are taught that irregular pleats are preferable to 17 or 15 as most apprentices were surely this is a fault in the’rules’ it happens when the tartan has an especially large sett which cannot be made out of 8yards with 21plus pleats of regular size.

[@PatrickDionneKuno]

how do you pleat to the strip?

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

thanks for asking! I'll explain that in a video tomorrow!

[@jrcunha4335]

Thank you for the video But would’ve been better if you could ACTUALLY plead the fabric and some of us will understand better how the pleads are actually made

[@artisanlove7124]

You talked a lot in this video about how many pleats without any pleating…. Then at the end you tell us that you’ve already figured out the math… but you never show how you’re actually pleating?

[@robertmacdonaldbespokekilt3063]

thank you for pointing that out. I'll go back and watch this again to see how I can address the shortfall