Introducing "Heatherfield"

[Rex_Tremende]

In January of this year, Nick Fiddes of Scotweb announced a new design-your-own-tartan service. He asked for feedback, and because I played with it a lot, I gave him plenty. In the process, I came up with a design that appealed to me a lot, and I began to muse: what if you like a tartan just because it's pretty?

The design I came up with reminded me of the African violets that my mother used to keep on the kitchen window sill and for a while that was its working title, "African Violet."

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Which didn't seem very Scottish, so I renamed it Heatherfield.

In time, Nick declared the new and improved tartan designer ready for service.

Designing an attractive tartan is not as easy at it might seem. Designing one that pays due respect to the history of Scottish tartans, and is suitable for weaving and kilting is another matter. So with input from Brian Wilton of the Scottish Tartans Authority and master kiltmaker Barbara Tewksbury, I made modifications and came up with a revised design.

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In July, after much handwringing, I finally pulled the trigger on having it woven.

Then a hitch.

The colors I chose were from an earlier edition of the designer, and were no longer current. Scotweb contacted me and asked if I would like to redesign it with new colors or try to have my original choices matched to current yarns as closely as possible - no guarantees. After trying to come up with replacement colors, I opted for the close match.

Stewart Robertson, director of operations, sent me this lovely little sampler.

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Well, YUM-OH! I approved!

And then much waiting ensued.

Early this month, the expected ship date passed, and the status hadn't changed, so I put in an inquiry to find out what the progress had been. Well, today I found out.

Nick Fiddes himself presents:

Heatherfield

Rex is very pleased.

I'm sharing this now because it will be quite some time before I can have a kilt made from this, and I anticipate that it will travel many miles before it all comes together. Frankly, I think I've done a pretty good job keeping the jones in check (though my wallet may have suffered a little lately, I'm afraid), but it crops up here from time to time, "What can I wear if I don't belong to a clan." Well? Now there's "Heatherfield." I've been itching to say that this tartan was designed with the clan-less in mind, and anyone is welcome to wear it if it pleases them, too.

Regards,
Rex.