BEWARE - Fraser and Kirkbright Hunting Stewart

[Alan H]

Be aware that the currently available (November 2012) Hunting Stewart tartan from Fraser and Kirkbrights "remnants" area is not laid out symmetrically over the width of the cloth. You'll notice that the red and yellow lines appear to be symmetrical, but if you look closely at the patterns in between the lines, it's not.

You can't buy half the length of cloth that you need, measure up from the selvedge and cut, and then assemble the two halves. Trust me, I just ruined 3 yards and $50 worth of material finding this out the hard way. If you want to use the selvedged edge, you will have to buy a full length of tartan. The other option is to hem the kilt.

Now to figure out if I can salvage this disaster. I'll save you the cursing.

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EDIT - OK, I got lucky. I cut the material such that if I flip one piece, and then serge the raw edge, and then hem it, it'll be fine. It'll be about 3/4 on an inch shorter than I'd planned, which is also fine. It's not what I'd planned, but it will work perfectly fine. My own kilt made out of this material in a different tartan is done this way and it's held up well over 3+ years of wearing.

[davidlpope]

Alan,

I may be missing something, but all Hunting Stewart is woven as an asymmetric tartan, so it isn't just a F and K issue. Likewise Old MacMillan, Buchanan, etc. Most mills will sell you a "kilt length"- an eight-yard split from double-width fabric if you ask for it.

Cordially,

David

[M. A. C. Newsome]

What David said. The Hunting Stewart tartan is one of those asymmetrical setts that cannot be cut and joined, and so is generally supplied to kiltmakers in single width lengths. I suspect with this F&K cloth, because it is a light weight wool/ploy blend, they did not assume you were making a kilt from it and so did not know you'd need the cloth delivered that way.

[Alan H]

I didn't know that, gents....you learn something new every day. Thanks. Whatever the case, I will manage to make a reasonable kilt out of this stuff, though lightweight, of course.

[Blupiper]

Alan:

I purchased five meters of the above mentioned fabric with the thought of trying my hand at a DIY kilt. If I understand correctly, one cannot cut the 56 inch wide fabric in half to create an eight yard kilt. Is that correct? Even if one (which would be me) was planning on a pleating to the stripe, not the sett? My planning, using Barb T's "Art of Kiltmaking" book, was to try to create a lightweight, summer-wear kilt out of the fabric. I would welcome any response from anyone with experience in kiltmaking to help me not ruin this piece of material. Thanks in advance.

JMB

[Alan H]

You have it correct, Blupiper. You can't measure up from one selvedge and cut...and then measure up from the other selvedge and cut....and then join the two pieces. Whether you pleat to stripe or sett is irrelevant in this case.

If you bought 5 yards, though you can just make two, 5-yard kilts, right? I would recommend taking a hard look at that selvedge, though. I thought it looked fine when I was cutting it out on the floor, but closer inspection when it was on the kitchen table got me to hem it. Hold it up to the light, or a light colored background before you decide for sure.

The fellow that I'm making this for is pretty slender... 38 inch rump circumfrerence. I'm using 5 yards of the 6 I have to work with, to make a nice lightweight kilt that's working out to have 24, roughly 3/4 inch wide pleats. It looks pretty good to me, but it would have been nicer if I'd cut it out very slightly differently.

[Pleater]

Asymmetric material can be a real pain, far more when making a shaped garment out of it, as usually it is possible to reverse one piece so that they lie close together and cover more material than having them placed all the same way.

I well remember one furious customer who had not appreciated this, and after causing me to redesign the pattern to be less flared in the skirt so as to be able to make it at all from the material supplied, threw a real paddy when presented with the finished gown.

As Alan discovered, for a kilt made from double width fabric the only way to match up the pattern is to join two pieces keeping them in the same orientation and then hem it, but at least that allows you to select where the edge of the kilt falls on the pattern. It would be problematic for a tall man, though, as even with the most favourable fall of the pattern you'd be struggling to get a drop of 26 inches, and it could be rather less if the alignment was problematic.

I do find that making clothes keeps the little grey cells well exercised.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[gwynng]

I am currently working with a poly wool mix from F&K. Not the Hunting Stewart, but the unnamed blue/navy on the same page in remnants. No complaints so far. It is a little light for a kilt I guess, but in San Diego, that will be welcome. It definitely needs to be hemmed since the selvage is not up to snuff for a self-hem. No problem, the extra weight in the hem line will give some added weight and give better swing.

I also got a piece of Ramsay New Blue Modern in the same 50/50 mix. Since it is the family tartan, I am looking forward to working on it next. Same issue with the selvage. Anyone out there who has worked with the F&K all wool? How is the selvage on it?

[kiltedwolfman]

If you are pleating to the alternating red and yellow stripes then you could get away with cutting and joining the fabric they way you would with a symetrical tartan since the non matching patter would be hidden inside the pleats. Of course this wouldn't work pleating to the sett, but going to the stripe might make the project and the cost salvagable.

[Alan H]

If you are pleating to the alternating red and yellow stripes then you could get away with cutting and joining the fabric they way you would with a symetrical tartan since the non matching patter would be hidden inside the pleats. Of course this wouldn't work pleating to the sett, but going to the stripe might make the project and the cost salvagable.

No! .....well, unless your pleat reveals are SO small that all that is seen is the yellow or red stripe and none of the surrounding tartan.....which is pretty much impossible to do. You'd have 1/16th of an inch-wide pleat reveals. I can't imagine trying to explain why, though a picture would show why in an instant. However, please trust me. You cannot do this with this particular fabric. The only way to combine pieces from opposite sides is to pick your line at which you cut very cleverly and then serge a raw edge and then hem the kilt. That's what I did, though I wasn't clever, in the slightest. I was just plain lucky.