Favorite Mill?

[kemileswallace]

Hey all,

I'm working on having my tartan design woven and was curious for the wisdom of this community. Do you have a favorite mill? Are there things that I should be looking for in a mill? Places that I should be avoiding?

The folks over at Prickly Thistle suggested Ingles Buchan and Andrew Elliott. I know USA Kilts will do custom orders through Scottish mills, one of which being Marton Mills and Sport Kilt will source fabric specifically for kiltmaking.

Anyhow, I appreciate the advice!

[figheadair]

Hey all,

I'm working on having my tartan design woven and was curious for the wisdom of this community. Do you have a favorite mill? Are there things that I should be looking for in a mill? Places that I should be avoiding?

The folks over at Prickly Thistle suggested Ingles Buchan and Andrew Elliott. I know USA Kilts will do custom orders through Scottish mills, one of which being Marton Mills and Sport Kilt will source fabric specifically for kiltmaking.

Anyhow, I appreciate the advice!

By way of clarification, Marton Mills weave nice cloth but they are not a Scottish weaver, they are based in West Yorkshire (England).

If you want a short run then there is only one mill IMO, Andrew Elliot Ltd. Not only is it a Scottish based firm but they still use ther older type of Crossdob Loom that allows them to weave a selvedge, as opposed to a 'Tuck Edge'. I use them for all my special weave projects.

[Tobus]

I'll second the recommendation for Andrew Elliott. I recently had a custom weave done with them and it was a very good experience. Robin is a pleasure to work with.

[Tobus]

For reference, here's a photo of my tartan on the loom at Andrew Elliott's. They can do single-width or double-width.

[Nemuragh]

...The folks over at Prickly Thistle suggested Ingles Buchan...

I hadn’t seen that name before. I looked at their web site. They have some attractive tartans but they don’t seem to be a twill weave. Is their material suitable for kilts?

[kemileswallace]

By way of clarification, Marton Mills weave nice cloth but they are not a Scottish weaver, they are based in West Yorkshire (England).

If you want a short run then there is only one mill IMO, Andrew Elliot Ltd. Not only is it a Scottish based firm but they still use ther older type of Crossdob Loom that allows them to weave a selvedge, as opposed to a 'Tuck Edge'. I use them for all my special weave projects.

I appreciate the clarification! I did know that but mis-typed. It may be helpful to know that for my purposes I'm not deadset on a Scottish mill, although that would certainly be a bonus. The idea of this tartan is tying heritage with the new creation of our family and blended name; that heritage includes Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales so a mill from any of those places would do!

I've dropped a line for a quote to Andrew Elliot after what seems to be a unanimous agreement in their favor. I'd love to hear more about everyone's experience with having something woven, having never done this before!

[figheadair]

I hadn’t seen that name before. I looked at their web site. They have some attractive tartans but they don’t seem to be a twill weave. Is their material suitable for kilts?

Their Dance range is twill but if you're going for a special in a limited run, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.

[kemileswallace]

For reference, here's a photo of my tartan on the loom at Andrew Elliott's. They can do single-width or double-width.

Oh that's lovely! Did you go with 16 oz? I ask because I'm just an hour and a half-ish from you and Texas heat is a thing

[Tobus]

Oh that's lovely! Did you go with 16 oz? I ask because I'm just an hour and a half-ish from you and Texas heat is a thing

Yes, I went with 16oz cloth. I wanted a heavier regimental weight like 18oz or 22oz, but most weavers will only go up to 16oz. I also specified mine to have minimal finishing, as I wanted a more course feel to the cloth.

I must be an anomaly, because I don't find 16oz kilts to be any hotter than lighter weight tartans. If it's hot outside and I'm going to sweat, I'm going to sweat just as much in a 16oz kilt as a 13oz kilt. But I'm a smallish fellow, and don't have a lot of internal insulation, so the heat doesn't bother me as much as most folks. I've sold off all of my lighter-weight and lower-yardage kilts. I just prefer the weight and swish of the heavier cloth with higher-yardage construction.

[Jock Scot]

About 8 years ago I had a couple of VIP events to attend and it was decided that my 30/40 year old kilt, whilst being perfectly serviceable for everyday events, was not going to do. So I took the opportunity to personalise my tartan(MacLeod of Harris) to my specifications. Basically I wanted "modern" colours, but with personal input on the colours, "heavyweight" wool and I wanted a larger sett than what is normally available commercially. Due to to my size and I think, the size of the sett, 9 yards of tartan was needed.

Dalgliesh were my choice of weavers------for no particular reason other than I knew of it------- and whilst I am personally not interested in construction details I am very happy with their service and the result. I think that I was lucky with the price charged as I think, since then, prices have increased markedly.

I started off with choosing the colours of the thread and through my non artistic eye and outside help from those who know, I/we came up with this.

1-_MG_5643.jpg(click to enlarge)

Which turned into this.
cid_part1_01010709_08070007paulhenrykilts.jpg

And then this.First outing.
017 2.jpg