Black & blue, but only my checkbook is bruised.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I had to look it up to see, and they have similar dark/light proportions, but colors and details are pretty different.



We found it interesting with the black T-6 that from a distance or in low light, the general impression is black and red rectangles, but when you take it outside in good light and get close, the variety of colors really pops out. My advice to anyone who is seriously into tartan and thinking about designing a personal one and having it made is to do it! Yes, it is expensive, but it's really fun to see your design come to life and to know that the only piece of fabric in the entire world that looks exactly like that is right there in your hands (or maybe surrounding your posterior). The design tools like the one at Scotweb's website are excellent and fun to just doodle on, even if you never take the project to the next step.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that the tool only generates a little more than one sett. To really get a feel for what the tartan will look like, you need to see a broader view with multiple setts. I do this with Photoshop, capturing the image and pasting a bunch of them together to get a picture that is extended, even if the bits aren't all perfectly lined up. There have been several designs where I really liked the original one-sett sample, but really wasn't fond of the extended version. A couple even generated a semi-Op-Art look, that was kind of interesting, but made the viewer feel like it was time to get new glasses. The one-sett sample of T-15 was pretty nice, but the extended version was rather strange, and I'm not sure whether it was good-strange, or bad-strange.


T-15 Extended

Our T-6 Blue is basically woven with what are mostly labeled "ancient colors" and does have a little bit of that weathered or ancient look, despite being fairly light and bright. I have one more version that we eventually want to do, which would be modern colors and bolder. The blue would be darkened and the orange and red brightened. Time to start saving pennies (lots and lots of pennies). I used to own a sailboat named "Bad Habit" because like all sailboats, it was a perpetual money drain. I may have to use the same name for our tartan.



Pleater, I trust Barb when it comes to picking the stripe. Last time she sent me photos of several possible versions to choose from and we picked the one we liked best. I imagine she will do something similar on the black kilt.