Kilts made from the same tartan will look the same from the front, which is unpleated. But they can look very different in the back, depending on how the fabric is pleated. A flat piece of MacPherson Red Muted shows the full sett, which is the tartan’s repeated pattern. It runs horizontally from the left edge of the first double white stripes to the left edge of the second double white stripes.

The kilt I just finished is pleated to the first teal blue stripe to the right of the first gold stripe.

The kilt above is pleated to the double dark blue stripes to the right of the double whites.

This kilt is done in a “ketchup-mustard” pattern. The pleats alternate between the prominent double white stripes and the double blue stripes that are in between the gold stripes.

One tartan, three looks! What fun!

I’ll get a photo of the owner modeling it as soon as I can. Since it will have to be transported across a few states, I’m leaving the basting in the pleats for now. Next, let’s compare pleating patterns.