Having a custom weave done in a smaller pattern repeat

**Tartan Tess** · 23rd April 15, 09:19 AM

Hi all, I am experiencing my first custom weave order. It will be with Dalgliesh and the tartan is Symington modern.
The "registered'' thread count etc. has a 12.5" sett repeat but they said I could have it woven at 8"or 10" .
The client wants his kilt pleated to the sett
measurements are 41.5" W and 43.5" Hips
I am thinking I can get more pleats with less tartan with a smaller sett.
Thoughts on this please.....
Thanks!

**The Wizard of BC** · 23rd April 15, 10:37 AM

Hi Tess,

If there were something like a "normal" or "average" Sett size it would be somewhere between 6.0" and 7.5", with 6.5 being very common.

Most weavers can adjust the thread count of the fabric to achieve almost any Sett size you specify. Within limits of course. One common way of doing this is to halve the thread count. This effectively halves the Sett Size. If you start with 12.5", halving the thread count would result in, plus or minus, 6.25".

Looking at the Symington Tartan, ITI 7178 dated april 2007, it is a fairly simple design. Adjusting the larger colored blocks would do a lot to achieving a reasonable Sett size.

And yes, you are thinking correctly. A smaller Sett size does use less fabric per pleat. This also results in shallower pleats.

**Tartan Tess** · 23rd April 15, 11:40 AM

So Steve; do you mean that if I have it woven in the 12.5" size, I could do a little "cheat a pleat" type creative pleating to get more pleats out of it using the color blocks.
I don't have a lot of experience with that. Drives me wild to have some pleats inches deeper than the other pleats. I didn't mention this will be in 16 oz.
If I had it woven at half the thread count it would be easy to get more pleats out of it.
Thanks!

**The Wizard of BC** · 23rd April 15, 06:12 PM

Tess, I don't believe that I said that at all. Yes, some Tartans, with very large setts, and an element that appears twice in each Sett, can be pleated by what we have come to know as "cheating a pleat".

This does not work for all Tartans.

What I said was that it should be possible for the weaver to create your Tartan in almost any Sett size you specify. I said that if you halve the thread count the resulting Sett size would be about half.

**unixken** · 23rd April 15, 07:36 PM

If you were to simply halve the thread counts, I don't see where any "cheats" would be needed, in the pleats.

The only "cheats" I see would be when halving the thread counts, you can't "halve" a value down to an odd number of threads, since the shuttle still needs to go "out and back". In other words, if the original thread count for a particular color is "20", it can be halved to "10." But if the original is, say, "18", you can not halve that to "9." You'd have to decide whether you'd want the "reduced" tartan to use a thread count or "8", or "10", for that particular stripe.

**Tartan Tess** · 24th April 15, 03:02 AM

Thank you both for your input on this.

**Barb T** · 30th April 15, 09:29 AM

OK - so I don't actually think there's a problem. I went to the Dalgliesh web site, and the tartan is listed as having a 17.54 cm sett (which is about 7"). So non-issue, I think? If you just ordered what Dalgliesh has on its web page as tartan ID 515985, you would get tartan with a 7" sett, and you wouldn't have to do anything fancy with the pleats. Am I missing something???

**Tartan Tess** · 1st May 15, 02:52 AM

I just wrote to Ida to find out about this. In 2007 the tartan was designed and registered and on the Scottish registration site it says that Dalgliesh is the (I can't remember the exact word) weavers of this tartan. Meaning they were listed as "the only ones who are supposed to". I think it is left over from that run .
I need 10 meteres for what my client wants. My new order could only be woven in 10 oz. or 16 oz. (I was told) I would be a little miffed if there were some on a shelf in back somewhere....but I think it was just left there, sort of what the Scotweb site does, which for example, has the Maine Dirigo tartan listed in weathered and ancient etc. and it has only been woven in modern (as far as the people in Maine know)
I will let you know what they say. Thanks barb for looking

**Barb T** · 1st May 15, 03:51 AM

Dalgliesh weaves only lightweight (11 oz) and heavy weight (16 oz) tartan - they've never offered medium weight.

I'm not sure I understand the issue, though. ScotWeb lists all kinds of tartans that are available only as custom weaves, and pretty much _any_ tartan could be custom woven in modern, ancient, or weathered colors (or Wilson's of Bannockburn colors or even special colors - see, for example, this post: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-tartan-87002/), so the fact that the Maine tartan hasn't been woven in other palettes is neither here nor there. I'm not sure what that has to do with Dalgliesh having tartan left over on a shelf somewhere? Sorry I'm being dense.

**Tartan Tess** · 1st May 15, 01:40 PM

Naw, you're not being dense, I am new to this tartan ordering business. I do know that I have a lot of people (like me) who see things listed on the sites and they "assume" unless it says "Must be custom woven" there is a tiny tiny possibility it was, and there is some left. I do have to say that I was happy with the prices for a custom weave. I thought very fair.
I mentioned the Maine tartan as a point that with all the computer inhandsment going on it can get confusing what is "Stock" and what is not.