Has anyone made their own flashes?

[Michael Weatherhead]

Has anyone made their own hose flashes? It would seem that the sky is the limit, on creativity, fabric being so readily available. Also, has anyone here ever made the old style flashes, that you tie up (rather than just having ends sticking down, from an elastic band)? I'd be interested on your ideas/input

[GrainReaper]

I've made several pair of flashes that dangle from an elastic strap, I've purchased several pairs of garter ties, but if you can knit you can make them yourself

[Mikilt]

Has anyone made their own hose flashes? It would seem that the sky is the limit, on creativity, fabric being so readily available. Also, has anyone here ever made the old style flashes, that you tie up (rather than just having ends sticking down, from an elastic band)? I'd be interested on your ideas/input

I have VERY rudimentary knitting skills. I attempted to knit garter ties once but I found myself struggling with length/knowing how much it would stretch. I wound up with a garter that was far too long. I eventually grew wearing of knitting and just knit two 8" pieces that simply hang from an elastic garter.

[Mike S]

I've mad a gazillion grosgrain ribbon ones in just about every color. I intend to learn how to knit some self-tie garter types soon.

[Dileasgubas]

My military unit makes its own. A roll of grosgrain ribbon is all it takes.

I have also made my own by dying white ribbon. A bit messy but certainly cheaper.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Yep, quite a few - tartan, tweed, cut-off knit and even some we wove on an inkle loom (solid red). I have some of the long knit garters that tie, but can't say I've ever noticed any real advantage to them. The elastic band version go on instantly and are always the desired length right off the bat with no fussing and the same look.

[ScottishStuart]

I shadowed our seamstress in our workshop one day a few months ago and took some photos of the process of making Tartan Flashes, it might be of help to those starting out.

Less and less customers are going for self-tying flashes, with the elasticated strap versions being the most popular.

[Michael Weatherhead]

Wow, Todd, those look great, and easy. The reason I posed the question, was I was looking for an easy way to make them. I have some Douglas tartan flashes (which match my kilt), but wanted to make some solid color ones. Thought I would make some that match the green and blue hues, in my kilt. Thanks, for the photo.

[BertMcG]

Also, has anyone here ever made the old style flashes, that you tie up (rather than just having ends sticking down, from an elastic band)? I'd be interested on your ideas/input

I've experimented with the ones you tie, made a pair on a homemade Inkle loom. They probably need to be a bit wider but they were easy to make. The loom was easy to make as well, a long piece of dowel and some left over wood.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yy6saHjqC4

[Todd Bradshaw]

I'm thinking about trying some diced garter ties on our inkle loom, just to see how they come out. It currently has a wide band on it, which my wife is weaving. I set it up with colors similar to one of our tartans and it will probably end up being a strap for a leather general purpose shoulder bag I'll make her. I'm getting the feeling though, that due to the nature of inkle weaving (weft yarns don't really show, so the weavings tend to be kind of stripe-y) it may end up looking as if it sort of goes with our tartans, but just by coincidence and be more of a distraction than anything else. We'll see how it turns out.



It's kind of fun though. I designed a simple computer program that allows me to punch in different colors and widths to preview the designs. Then we made a whole bunch of them. The only problem is figuring out what to do with them, now that they're done. I don't usually have much use for a sash, no matter what I'm wearing. Garter ties, especially solid colors, or maybe solid with a stripe or dicing along their edges would work pretty well, and the fully-diced ones might be neat.