Help with tartan variant

[RACharlesworth]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking on this website for quite some time (a couple years) but have only recently joined. I'm a member of our local St. Andrew's Society and have also been Scottish country dancer for about 5 years and love all things Scottish so am happy to have joined.

I have a question/would love some advice with regards to tartan variants. Right now I have a couple off the rack sort of kilts, one an acryllic "Heritage (or Pride? I see it listed differently) of Scotland" and a better wool Black Watch that I pretty much wear exclusively. However I'm now at the point where I would really like a really good quality kilt which I'm thinking of getting from New House Highland.

Now the only even remotely Scottish-seeming part of my heritage comes from my grandfathers mother whose maiden name was Johnston. I have no idea whether her forebears actually came from Scotland or not, and don't really have any idea how I would even be able to find out. But given that, I'd like to use the Johnstone tartan. I actually really like the Johnstone ancient, but since another member of my dance group has a kilt in Johnstone ancient I wanted to get something slightly different so I'm thinking of doing a custom variant. Most of my ancestry is actually Swedish, so instead of having blue and green be the primary colors I was thinking of making it blue and yellow like on the Swedish flag.

I used a couple different online tartan designers to try and make something I liked, so I was just wondering if ya'll would be willing to take a look and a) tell me if it looks correct as far as the actually patterning goes (I think it is) and b) since I'd like the kilt pleated to the stripe, if what I've mocked up for that looks like it would be correct or not, and c) whether it is god awful ugly

Any help/opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

The original Johnstone tartan from the Scottish register of tartans



My variant



And then what I think it would look like pleated to the stripe

[Andrews Son]

I think it a really good tartan and that you did a good job,
where did you do the customization?
As it can be expensive getting the fabric made and might need to order a bit extra material than expected

A)It looks a good match just in the blue section in the original theres three black lines, in yours one blue stripe has three then the next has four so you might want to ask a kiltmaker about that.
B)I cant see anything wrong with pleating to the stripe, depends what colour you want showing on the pleats
C)I thinks its a nice tartan, and wear it with pride.

My grandads middle name was johnston and all his family called him "Jonty"

[Tobus]

I used a couple different online tartan designers to try and make something I liked, so I was just wondering if ya'll would be willing to take a look and a) tell me if it looks correct as far as the actually patterning goes (I think it is) and b) since I'd like the kilt pleated to the stripe, if what I've mocked up for that looks like it would be correct or not, and c) whether it is god awful ugly

What do you mean by "looks correct"? This is a custom tartan; "correct" is however you want it to look! I can see that you've chosen a large sett with the alternating 3 and 4 stripes in the blue field.

The tartan is not "god awful ugly". But it is pretty loud. You may find that when it's actually woven, the overall presentation will be more bright than what you're seeing here on the screen. So you'll have to work very closely with the mill to make sure you choose the right yellow. Have you requested yarn samples from any of the mills?

Your pleated-to-the-stripe image brings two thoughts to my mind. First, the way you've shown it, it looks like you've got it very tightly pleated. Did you base this on a pleat width that's standard for an 8-yard kilt, and use measurements from the sett to determine the scale of the pleats? (I hope that question made sense.) Second, though, when I look at the image, it reminds me of the phrase that some people use: "the dreaded lawn-chair effect". Some tartans, when pleated to the stripe, can take on this effect.

[rondo]

I'm with Tobus, that tartan might be more subdued pleated to the sett. But if you are confident and bold, why not? Thousands of McCleods can't be wrong.
Rondo

[ASinclair]

First...

Hello, RACharlesworth!



And I like the colors, but as Tobus mentioned, be sure the yellow is not too bright. I'm thinking yellow and blue like you see in Old Colors. I also think pleating to the sett would look better. If you want your tartan to vary from the original only in colors, then lose that 4th line.

[Father Bill]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble!"

[wingedferret]

Have you thought about this one here: Swedish National Tartan

[EagleJCS]

Now the only even remotely Scottish-seeming part of my heritage comes from my grandfathers mother whose maiden name was Johnston. I have no idea whether her forebears actually came from Scotland or not, and don't really have any idea how I would even be able to find out.

I think others here are more qualified for discussion of your proposed tartan, so I'll just answer the above selection of your original post (and your first! Welcome to XMTS!).

Have a look at Rootsweb. Enter your great-grandmother's (ggm) maiden name in the search fields and see what turns up with the WorldConnect database. (There will be a lot, probably, but you can narrow it down at the bottom of the WorldConnect page by entering birth/death dates, locations, etc.). There may be someone that has researched their line (containing your ggm) and published the results.

You could also try the US census for her early years. If nothing else, you could get a lead on her parents and siblings names and birthplaces.

Happy hunting!

[RACharlesworth]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. By correct I guess I meant something that reflects the sett of the Johnston tartan. Is there somewhere that gives the correct instructions for the setts of different tartans? I'm actually a bit confused by that fourth stripe myself as I thought I followed design correctly. And now doing more research I see I was actually using a "Clans Originaux" variant which is where the fourth stripe came from, I'll have to redo using the regular version.

As far as my pleating - this was really just a rough attempt, so I didn't properly measure anything - I'm not even sure how to go about it, honestly. I did try to go by a picture I saw of a Johnston tartan pleated to the stripe that was similarly tight. I was a bit disappointed with the "lawn-chair effect" Tobus, which is one of the reasons I wanted to get some other input, so thank you. I think on the regular Johnston tartan the colors are dark enough that you don't really see the horizontal stripes and the vertical lines are the ones that actually stand out more. I definitely want to avoid that lawn-chair look so pleating to the set might be the way I have to go.

I definitely don't want the tartan to be too loud so am looking into muting the colors a bit. Although since I do participate in several dancing demonstrations every year I wouldn't mind something that catches the eye just a bit. I haven't gotten yarn samples yet so I guess that's my next step.

I actually do like that Swedish national tartan as well... something to think about.

[pbutts]

Greetings from Kalamazoo, Michigan!

Your tartan has real potential there. I tend to agree with what others have said about the yellow possibly being too bright. One suggestion on the pleating--instead of pleating to the thin black stripe, what about pleating to the blue, so that the yellow is revealed when the pleats swish?