Kilts

"Military box pleat" is a term some people use to describe any box pleated kilt made from a high amount of yardage (nominally 8 yards); for example, the kilts worn by the Seaforth Highlanders, or the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.  In fact, these regiments are the most likely reason why people use that term, but more on that later. I don't like using the term and I sometimes find myself having to explain why.  I am afraid that occasionally during these discussions I can come across as a nit-picker.  So I thought it would be helpful to explain in a single blog post my reasoning.  This way I can simply refer to this post the next time the issue comes up and be done with it! But before we get into the term "military box pleat" and the issues I have with it, I want to explain why I care about kilt terminology at all.  For fourteen years I worked at the Scottish Tartans Museum and my work there involved me in educating the public about the kilt both historical

In my kilt making, I offer clients a choice between the usual color options for tartans -- modern, ancient, weathered/reproduction -- and the more historic Wilsons of Bannockburn colors.  Wilsons of Bannockburn was an old tartan mill that started in the 1760s and continued on into the early twentieth century.  They were the first large scale commercial producers of tartan cloth, and by the 1780s had standardized their colors to a large extent.  Modern day tartan researcher Peter MacDonald has painstakingly researched these colors and I am glad to be able to offer them as a special weave option for my clients. The problem is, however, that most people are not familiar with what these colors look like.  In terms of how they compare to the modern-day color schemes people are used to, I say they are not as dark as the modern, but not nearly as light as the ancient.  But that is not really helpful.  And because no mill today stocks them as a matter of course, there are no swatch books or on