Handwoven Tartan for a kilt

[HeathBar]

At the Tartan Day celebration here in Murfreesboro, I was set up next to a lady that handweaves tartan. She has a portable loom for the road and a non-portable one that stays at home. She does this as a hobby. And right now she is working on a project to weave pieces of each of the Stewart tartans. Well, of course, I start talking tartan to her. I asked her about weaving kilt length material. At first she was trying to discourage the used of her material because it would cost $150 a yard. But when I told her that a nice kilt could be made from as little as 5 yards, she began to see the potential. She is going to be at the Stewart tent in Gatlinburg next month. So I hope to get a chance to talk to her again.

My question to the kiltmakers. What is your opinion of handwoven tartan for a kilt? From the samples she had, it felt lighter and looser than machine woven. I don't know if she has ever done kilt length material before. Is this an investment worth looking into?

[Paul Henry]

Handwoven fabrics are wonderful , but I'd urge caution with using them for traditional kilt making, most tradtional(commercial) kilt fabrics are relatively finely woven and usually with very "hard" thread.It is partly this fact that creates a very stable fabric with hold the pleats and not distort. However if you were thinking of a "braveheart"kilt(!) then a hand woven cloth would be much more in keeping

[Barb T]

If you make a trad knife-pleated kilt with hand woven fabric, it will look and feel quite different from one made using commercially woven kilting tartan. You might be better off with a box pleated kilt, which can be quite nice with thicker, less "hard" fabric.

And, remember that fabric feels very different on the loom (or right after it's taken off the loom) and after it's been fulled.

[HeathBar]

A box pleat is what I had in mind. What is "fulled"?

[fluter]

A box pleat is what I had in mind. What is "fulled"?

Brief description in Wikipedia is accurate as as far as I know. Historical descriptions are quite colorful.

I think the result is similar to felting a knitted fabric (as for a tam), making it denser and thicker. If you've ever seen a wool sweater that was machine-washed at too high a temperature, that's felting!

[Kiltman]

Brief description in Wikipedia is accurate as as far as I know. Historical descriptions are quite colorful.

I think the result is similar to felting a knitted fabric (as for a tam), making it denser and thicker. If you've ever seen a wool sweater that was machine-washed at too high a temperature, that's felting!

Fluter, many thanks for the reference. It makes really fascinating reading and gives me a greater appreciation for the process of making tartan fabric from wool.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The kilt I am wearing in this photo is made from hand woven cloth:


It does fine, but it is a softer hand that the typical tartan. Remember that not all hand woven cloth is made equal (the same is true of machine milled cloth). The weaver who made this tartan for me used yarns from Lochcarron so the cloth was a good quality for kilt making.

Bob Martin used to make a lot of kilts from cloth hand woven by Peter MacDonald in Crieff, who was a full time professional hand weaver of tartan for a while. His cloth made superb kilts. But he knew his stuff and was weaving cloth specifically for this purpose.

[Nighthawk]

This is a very interesting read. I have a friend who weaves tartan (from wool that his wife makes into thread and hand dyes no less!!) who is making me material in the Colorado state tartan for a pair of moggins (Spelling? ) I'll make sure to let you all know how that works out- as far as durability and comfort and all that- at the end of the festival season.