Weird white thread at selvedge - MOD RRS tartan

**Tobus** · 12th June 20, 07:02 AM

Hmm, those are interesting precedents. They both seem more subdued than the one in my sample. Now I'm wondering what material this white thread is. It looks like a fat white wool yarn, but I'll probably have to yank some of it out and see.

I am assuming that both of your examples had traditional kilting selvedges?

**Pleater** · 12th June 20, 12:47 PM

Wool will dissolve in bleach so if you get a bit of it and leave it in bleach overnight is should vanish away.

Anne the Pleater

**Tobus** · 21st June 20, 12:10 PM

I ended up needing to cut about 10 inches of this RRS tartan for my quilt project, so I experimented a bit with the selvedge (which was trimmed off, not being useful for my purpose).

The white thread is not wool. It's some sort of poly material; a little stretchy with a slick feel to it. Maybe even silk? My first test was to see if it could be teased out little by little with a needle and removed. That was a pain, and not worth the effort for the length of material I have. It's a tiny thread, and actually there are two of them in there. Getting them both out would nearly be impossible.

Plus, as you can see below, when the white threads are pulled out, the selvedge appears more ragged. I don't know how it would behave over time.

My second test was to use Father Bill's idea and just darken it with a sharpie (black felt-tip marker). That actually worked very well! To see if it would be colour-fast, I washed the strip in soap and water after using the sharpie pen on it, and it held. So that is probably the easiest solution here: just hide it with a sharpie. No one would ever notice it, I'd bet.

Interestingly, the white thread seemed to shrink a bit in the washing process. As you can see below, on the top strip it is less noticeable in the areas that weren't touched up with the sharpie compared to the bottom strip that hadn't been altered.

**figheadair** · 21st June 20, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by Tobus

I ended up needing to cut about 10 inches of this RRS tartan for my quilt project, so I experimented a bit with the selvedge (which was trimmed off, not being useful for my purpose).

The white thread is not wool. It's some sort of poly material; a little stretchy with a slick feel to it. Maybe even silk?

I very much doubt that it would be silk. First and foremost, silk is much more expensive than wool so I cannot see why that would be used. Secondly, silk doesn't shrink like wool and would cause the selvedge to distort in the finishing process.

**Tobus** · 22nd June 20, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by figheadair

I very much doubt that it would be silk. First and foremost, silk is much more expensive than wool so I cannot see why that would be used. Secondly, silk doesn't shrink like wool and would cause the selvedge to distort in the finishing process.

Yeah, I thought silk might be a long shot. I did the washing in cool water so the wool wouldn't shrink. I was just trying to see if the black marker would wash off. The change in the white thread was a surprise to me. It did not appear to shrink in length, but it just got narrower and less obvious. I may go back and pull some more of that white thread out so I can test it over a flame to see if it melts versus burns to ash.

**Pleater** · 22nd June 20, 05:41 PM

Possibly rayon.

I am currently still looking at 10 meters of similar tartan which can become three kilts for me - but unlike the usual problem I have, which is making a piece of fabric into one decent kilt, I keep looking at this and wondering how to cut it for the best outcome for all three.
Should I make a long one and a shorter one, where should I place the set on the apron, I could pleat to the stripe, to the set, do box pleats - sometimes there are just too many options and the little grey cells, they become overheated.

I have to go out and do some work later this week so perhaps it would be a good idea just to put it away until I can unfold it and gaze at it for a while, turning it about to consider the various options.....

Anne the Pleater

**Deirachel** · 1st July 20, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by Father Bill

If you resort to that one, what about dye-water in an old (and therefore disposable if need be) fountain pen?

No need to use an old pen; some of those have more value than folks think.

You can get Jinhao X350 pens for a couple of US dollars from AliExpress if you are willing to wait. Brush pens are just as cheap. Using sample inks from somewhere like Goulet Pens or any of the fountain pen forums or subreddits can allow for color matching pretty close to the yarns of the the tartan.

Jinhao X350, X450, and X750 are pretty decent starter fountain pens, too, if anyone is looking to try out using fountain pens as their daily writer.

**Father Bill** · 2nd July 20, 03:54 AM

Originally Posted by Deirachel

No need to use an old pen; some of those have more value than folks think.

You can get Jinhao X350 pens for a couple of US dollars from AliExpress if you are willing to wait. Brush pens are just as cheap. Using sample inks from somewhere like Goulet Pens or any of the fountain pen forums or subreddits can allow for color matching pretty close to the yarns of the the tartan.

Jinhao X350, X450, and X750 are pretty decent starter fountain pens, too, if anyone is looking to try out using fountain pens as their daily writer.

You're absolutely right! Actually, my best pen came from Goulet. I guess I was suggesting a pen in bad condition, but again you're right - some of the old ones are also some of the best.