Buying Tartan Flashes for the first time?

[Presidential33]

As I have mentioned in other posts, I have ordered my first kilt. It is a wool heavyweight from Jerry at Stillwater.

I did not order any accessories yet, as I wanted to be able to study the stuff first (i.e. shop around on the internet, ask questions here LOL!)

What I am wondering though is whether or not I should have ordered matching tartan flashes when I ordered the kilt? In other words, is it recommended that one buy tartan flashes from the same kilt supplier to get the best match or does it simply not matter?

Is there a place that is recommended for good flashes, or are they all pretty much the same?

[artificer]

Personally, I'd say sod the flashes (especially matching tartan) and buy some garter ties. The Scottish Tartans Museum has them as does Countrynaturals.co.uk.

They're nice, as you can tie them to a given tightness and don't ever have to deal with elastic biting into your calves (and they look the biz, as well).

ith:

[Mikilt]

I think that flashes are one of those things that you can accessorize at will. While I have flashes that match each of my kilts from stillwater, I also have some plain color ones because sometimes I want to match something besides my kilt.

I have found that sometimes the easiest way to get exactly what you want is to make it myself. In my opinion, flashes are one of the easiest accessories to make yourself.

[Maclachlan]

I agree with the above unless you are buying a wool kilt and then if you want matching flashes they can cut them from the tartan material used to make the kilt.

[Chas]

Although I have tartan flashes (the last kilt I had made, came with a free pair), I have never worn them.

I wear garters. I have about two dozen pairs in a great variety of colours. Some are knitted by female friends, but most are self made. Here in the UK, fabric shops sell "woven woollen tape". I buy two metres, cut in half, tie a knot in the four ends about 3" in, fray the end up to the knot. 15 minutes, job done. The cost of a metre is 75 pence. So for under £2, another set of garters.

I have used bias-binding before to get the right colour. Admittedly, I had to use a double layer to get the thickness of the tassel, but bias-binding only costs 12 pence a metre!

There is also grosgrain which makes a very fine bow.

If you are talking about a one-off event, the shops are full of of various ribbons with sparkles and spangles - nothing wrong with a bit of bling.

Tartan flashes are an OK starting point, but a little imagination and really very little money, you could make yourself something vastly superior.

Regards

Chas

[Tobus]

I agree with the above unless you are buying a wool kilt and then if you want matching flashes they can cut them from the tartan material used to make the kilt.

Yup, if you're set on tartan flashes, it's best to have them made with the kilt (or get some scraps of the tartan material so you can make them yourself). It will be hard to get perfectly matching tartan flashes later on.

That said, tartan flashes are not very traditional, and seem to be a recent fad. I started out with my first kilt wearing tartan flashes, as many people do, but quickly moved away from flashes altogether. Traditional garter ties are the way to go. They are superior in comfort and style.

Personally, I'd say sod the flashes (especially matching tartan) and buy some garter ties. The Scottish Tartans Museum has them as does Countrynaturals.co.uk.

Don't forget Keltoi Gaelic Clothing, one of our forum advertisers! You get 10% off if you're an X-Marks member, and John (known by Slohairt here on the forum) is great to work with.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

IF you are going to wear tartan flashes, it makes the most sense to order them at the same time as your kilt, so they can be made from the same material. But it's not essential. After all, it's just a small bit of tartan showing in the flash and if it does not match the tartan of the kilt 100% very few people will notice, and even fewer will care.

But if you want my personal recommendation, I much prefer the look of solid flashes, and strongly recommend the traditional self-tie garters that Artificer mentioned in his above post. Here's a link:
http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/garters.html