Difference Between US Marine Corps Tartan & Leatherneck Tartan

[Steve Ashton]

Do you still want to see photos of the more subdued Tartan pleated to the gold stripe?

I have about 5 pleats sewn in mine. Haven't had time to do much sewing on my own kilt lately but could take a pic for you.

[Dixiedog]

Steve... Yes Please, if you have the time !!!

Thank you very much...

Do you still want to see photos of the more subdued Tartan pleated to the gold stripe?

I have about 5 pleats sewn in mine. Haven't had time to do much sewing on my own kilt lately but could take a pic for you.

[piperdbh]

Pardon me if I'm looking crooked, but I don't see that there's a big problem. It looks to me like we have two examples of the same tartan which happen to have been woven using slightly different shades of certain colors. My understaning is that this is perfectly acceptable in the tartan industry, unless the customer specifies that a certain color must perfectly match a color sample or Pantone number. The slight variation in the number of red or yellow threads might be a result of the weaver not paying close attention to his work, or someone's sloppy handwriting on an order ticket, or any of several factors.
Am I way off base?

[The Wizard of BC]

piperdbh,

What is being discussed is that there are two tartans listed with The Scottish Tartans Authority. Both have the exact same thread count.

R6------DR6
Y8------MY8
B64----RB64
G24----G24
R6------DR6
G8------G8
R6------DR6
G80----G80

The strange thing is that while both have the same thread count the designer specified slightly different colors. One uses Yellow (y) the other Dark Yellow (MY)

As you pointed out if the thread count is the same but the colors slightly different we would normally consider them the same Tartan and have no problem. But we have two Tartan listings with the same thread count.



Then there is a second issue. Neither of the two Tartans that are currently being woven and sold are using the thread count from the listing in the STA.

So they are both different from the published thread count.

At first I thought that the weaver may have done a proportional thread count. ie 1/2 or 3/4 but this does not seem to be the case. As you can see from the photo above the two Tartans which should have the same number of yarns per color are quite different.

[piperdbh]

Were they designed/registered by the same person, Steve? And how common is it to have two different colorways registered for the "same" tartan, as it is for the tartans in question here?

[Paul Henry]

piperdbh,

What is being discussed is that there are two tartans listed with The Scottish Tartans Authority. Both have the exact same thread count.

R6------DR6
Y8------MY8
B64----RB64
G24----G24
R6------DR6
G8------G8
R6------DR6
G80----G80

The strange thing is that while both have the same thread count the designer specified slightly different colors. One uses Yellow (y) the other Dark Yellow (MY)

As you pointed out if the thread count is the same but the colors slightly different we would normally consider them the same Tartan and have no problem. But we have two Tartan listings with the same thread count.





Then there is a second issue. Neither of the two Tartans that are currently being woven and sold are using the thread count from the listing in the STA.

So they are both different from the published thread count.

From the Tartan Register, (which has actual ( additional) values for the colours)
Actually the yellows are the same,the greens are the same the blues and the reds are different

US Marine Corps tartan.
Threadcount:
G80R6G8R6G24B64MY8R6
Pallet:
MY=D09800M YELLOW;G=006818GREEN;R=C80000RED;B=2C2C80BLUE;

Leatherneck tartan
Threadcount:
G80DR6G8DR6G24RB64MY8DR6
Pallet:
DR=880000DARK RED;G=006818GREEN;MY=D09800M YELLOW;RB=1C0070ROYAL BLUE;

[The Wizard of BC]

Here is a shot of some test pleating of my leatherneck kilt.

The fabric that is pleated is the more subdued from Lochcarron.
The roll of fabric you can see on the right is the brighter from Strathmore.

[Dixiedog]

Steve... John Rickman here...

Thank you for taking the time to pin up a sample of your Leatherneck Tartan pleated to the Gold Stripe for me. It is Greatly Appreciated !!!

One question though... How wide are your pleats (3/4 on 1 inch ?) and about how many of them can you get with 8 yards of Tartan with a 42 inch waist ???

I'm only asking because my Leatherneck came in yesterday with 22 pleats at 1.5 inchs wide using 8 yards of Tartan with a 41-42 inch waist. I ordered my Leatherneck with the Gold Stripe at the leading edge of the 1.5 inch pleats to show more (1 inch Blue Stripe) reveal before the next pleat starts. It also spaces out the Gold a little so that the Gold dosen't Over-power the rest of the colors.

The pattern looks pretty good and because the pleat goes 1.5 inchs, it causes the Large Lighter Green Stripe with the Red Stripes (hiding under the reveal of the next pleat) to FLASH when walking. It's not real dynamic, but it works to some extent.

I came up with that idea before I read Barb T.'s FLASH Idea that would have worked even better, because it Completely hides the Brightest (Double Gold) Stripe under the reveal. Which causes a much more Dynamic Flash when walking.

But this is a Leatherneck Kilt and I think that there is a RULE Engraved in Stone somewhere out there that says, "THOU SHALT NOT HIDE THE GOLD STRIPE ON A LEATFERNECK TARTAN !!!" So I think I'll just keep it as it is !!!

Steve... I just want to say that I really enjoy your Posts and your Pictures on XMTS. You really help us out with our Kilted Problems and I just want to say Thank You for Time and Help...

Most Sincerely...

Here is a shot of some test pleating of my leatherneck kilt.

The fabric that is pleated is the more subdued from Lochcarron.
The roll of fabric you can see on the right is the brighter from Strathmore.