Is Tweed Acceptably Traditional?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Nice to see that Robert has discovered the joys of working with tweed cloth! Looking at his blog, it seems that his tweed kilts will be made along fairly traditional stylings, as opposed to the more contemporary kilt style of his other offerings.

I would say tweed kilts are certainly traditional, though not typical. Evidence for them can certainly be found in the nineteenth century. And I recall Bob Martin talking with me about making tweed kilts for clients in the 1980s so you couldn't really call them a modern day (meaning 2011) revival.

I always like it when I get an order for a tweed kilt because I think they just turn out so well, whether solid, in a check or windowpane pattern, or even in a tartan. But they are certainly the minority of my orders, by far!

Here is my current favorite Harris Tweed kilt.



I had the tweed woven to order in a pattern based off of this kilt (the colors are darker in the original portrait, which is from 1859).


Here's another of my personal kilts I made from organically produced tweed from Ardalanish on Mull.


And another Harris Tweed kilt I recently made from tartan, in this case the Stephenson Hunting tartan.


We don't often think of Harris Tweed as a tartan, but the very first length woven back in 1846 was in the Murray tartan!

[JSFMACLJR]

I think tweed kilts are traditional, but quite rare. I'v seen one man in Scotland wearing one, Herr Bruno Schroder.

I have a photo of my grandmother and her brothers and sister and cousins with their grandfather Sir Sandford Fleming, in which one or two of the boys are wearing tweed kilts.

I am considering having a kilt made up in Harris tweed, but it would be in MacLean tartan. That Stephenson kilt made by Matt Newsome is wonderful!