From Coat of Arms to Tartan: The Cadilhac Case.

[figheadair]

I find the latest ineration a little too busy for my liking. Too many two thread stripes on too narrow a ground.

[Jock Scot]

I find the latest ineration a little too busy for my liking. Too many two thread stripes on too narrow a ground.

Purely as an observation might the "busy" look be less, if it was a larger sett?

[cadilhac]

@Todd Bradshaw: Awesome, thanks! I may lighten one of the colors as a result; this is great! If I end up finding the time, I'll code some piece of software that automagically does that, but it'll wait till I receive Barb's book :-)

@davidlpope: The coat of arms dates back from at least the fifteenth century and was the one used by my ancestors, of which I bear the family name. Seems legit enough to me :-) As for hitting the pause button, I asked my sister and she seems not prone to delaying her wedding for a year. Thanks for your feedback!

@OC Richard: My oh my, thanks, that's very kind! And there could also be a mix between this and Québec's, leading to something like this:

The possibilities are so endless! :-)

@figheadair @Jock Scot: Thanks a lot for your input! The 2-thread stripes are mainly concentrated on the blue to dark-blue portion, and the red cross is a Y2 R4 K2 indeed. Removing the 2-thread stripes on the blue portion, and adjusting the black a bit, gives a 7" sett that looks like:

which I find doesn't help to lighten up the pattern; simply removing most of them results in something that could be appealing:


Again, thanks all for your great comments; that's amazing! :-)

[OC Richard]

I find the latest ineration a little too busy for my liking. Too many two thread stripes on too narrow a ground.

Yes indeed, I was looking at the miniature version, and hadn't clicked on it to get the larger image.

I hadn't noticed all the fine lines. I think some simplification would strengthen the design, for example in the blue area.

[cadilhac]

@OC Richard: Ah! So I guess that with the miniature, you didn't have any of the fine (and arguably clumsy) lines, so this would give:

which is probably the most satisfying arrangement to date :-)

[Todd Bradshaw]

I guess my first thought on these would tend to be "Do you want a tartan that comes off as being mostly black?" There is no right or wrong, good or bad answer to that, but from a certain distance that's probably the look you will get.

[cadilhac]

@Todd Bradshaw: Well, yes indeed :-) I may end up lightening some colors, as I told you, but I want some prominent black. I also plan to pleat at the stripe, on the red cross, hence even blacker from the back, with flashes of blue. Brightening up the blue for contrast could also be good!

For instance:


Thanks!

[Todd Bradshaw]

Depending on the sett size and width of the red stripe, it's hard to estimate just how much black will be showing next to them. That did brighten things up quite a bit though. In my own opinion it helps balance the blue and gold stuff against the black and red stuff.

[cadilhac]

@Todd Bradshaw: Marvelous, thanks! A programmer friend of mine spoiled me an episode of Game of Thrones, so he has to repay me with some code: that'll be the Online Kilt-O-Maker then! :-) Thanks for the preview of the back! As I'm a lowly scientific researcher, I'll probably go for a lower cost box-pleated kilt, giving less stripes, and thus more balance between the black and the red in the back. At a third of the 5.8" that the sett is currently taking, that would amount to 10 pleats. I'll let the design sit for another week, then I'll go and order; with the delivery time being what it is, if I want the kilt to be ready for September, better act very soon!

Cheers!

[Tarheel]

My favorite (box pleat) will look good in this tartan. Sometimes a budget brings unexpected treasures. I think you will be pleased.