Wrapping the Braveheart kilt

[MacLowlife]

Aye, Benning,

One wonders just how finely spun that Highland wool was. I am inclined to think it was heavy indeed.

I am not looking to start an argument, but the price of gold has not been as consistent as we might think. Granted, today's price matches nicely and it did when they first made Colt SAAs, but there have been wide ranging variations of the price of gold, even times when gold was positively cheap compared to, say Tartan or various forms of hardware. But I expect you could find some other item that has been more constant, say beer, or fuel.

I appreciate your warning about The Whole Nine Yards, which might or might not refer to anything at all. I am sure you are right about the expression having no connection to the great kilt. Charles Thompson says 4 1/2-6 yards. When I fooled around with a 9 or 10 oz version ( admittedly, to wear, not to keep warm) I found 3 or 4 yards was plenty, once you learned to work the ends...

[Calgacus]

Aye, Benning,

One wonders just how finely spun that Highland wool was. I am inclined to think it was heavy indeed.

I am not looking to start an argument, but the price of gold has not been as consistent as we might think. Granted, today's price matches nicely and it did when they first made Colt SAAs, but there have been wide ranging variations of the price of gold, even times when gold was positively cheap compared to, say Tartan or various forms of hardware. But I expect you could find some other item that has been more constant, say beer, or fuel.

I appreciate your warning about The Whole Nine Yards, which might or might not refer to anything at all. I am sure you are right about the expression having no connection to the great kilt. Charles Thompson says 4 1/2-6 yards. When I fooled around with a 9 or 10 oz version ( admittedly, to wear, not to keep warm) I found 3 or 4 yards was plenty, once you learned to work the ends...

As the links I posted show quite clearly, the cloth that was woven during the period in question and woven into cloth for wearing was very similar to the cloth used for tartan today. Certainly closer to that than to fuzzy blanket material.

Also, all this talk of cost and extrapolating the modern cost of tartan cloth over 250 years is pointless. The wool was produced, dyed, and woven locally. The only monetary costs involved were the import of some of the dyes (cochineal & indigo). Not everyone wove their own cloth, local weavers probably dyed and wove the wool supplied by the local people. Some areas were very much cattle country and probably bought or bartered for their woolen goods.

It's likely that clothing was a relatively major 'expense', either in cash terms or in terms of time & effort to produce when compared to today, but it is only in very recent times that clothing has become cheap and disposable. The average highlander probably had to save up for the dying and weaving of his wool, or the outright purchase of his feileadh mòr and it would have had to last him a good few years. When it was finally worn out it would have been cut up and used for various other things, which in turn would have been recycled until they were rags.