How do you go about it as a potential mill customer?

[bookish]

I ended up going with Marton Mills as a customer, and the process was not too difficult. I was probably a little headstrong in wanting to have custom-dyed yarns, and at the cost of nearly £7/meter per thread color, I opted to go with stock colored yarn.

My initial contact with the mill was to get the price list. That was in March of this year. After I saved up a certain amount of money, I decided to engage the mill to do the weaving in late June. After I confirmed that I wanted to start the process I was contacted by someone from the design team. I let them know the colors that I had in mind (having designed the tartan with a Pantone palette), and in turn, I received a digital mockup of the tartan with the suggested yarn colors from stock that the designer felt closely resembled the Pantone colors. I requested a physical printout and yarn swizzle samples. I spent about a week with the samples, comparing the options with the Pantone swatches that I had on hand. During this time, I considered the cost/value proposition for custom-dyed yarns. The red of my design was the color that I wrestled with the most. I had the option of a maroon, and a couple of adjacent reds. I took the colors out into the sun, I looked at them in indirect natural light, and in artificial light. I thought that the maroon was closer in hue, but darker in value, and that one of the reds was the right value, but the hue was just a little warmer. I also played with the yellow options quite a bit, one yellow was closer in hue, but darker in value. In the end, I chose the red over the maroon, and a yellow that was closer in value to the light blue. One of the things about tartan that is interesting, is that the sett is a set of instructions that has to be interpreted and negotiated. A color can be pushed around and manipulated by other colors (look up Josef Albers if you haven't considered the intricacies of color and design). I made my selections in early August.

After I made my choice, the order was finalized and I put down half the estimated cost in payment up front. The weaving was due to commence in late October, but began earlier this month. I made my second pay installment when weaving was about to commence, and I received my tartan yesterday.

I am happy with the finished product. I do think the red is trying to dominate its peers, but I did make design choices in the tartan that would naturally result in the red standing out a bit (like being bordered on one side by a light blue). That conflict does create some visual interest (in my mind). At an intermediate distance I think the overall effect is balanced, and at a distance the 4 colors blend together in the eye to create a prismatic effect with subtle pop of lightness when the warp and weft meet as a 4 color check square with elements separated by white lines.

As for the quality of the tartan cloth itself, I am quite pleased. It is heavy, crisp wool in 16oz. It is the fourth example of tartan that I have, and my favorite (probably due to the amount of time and effort as much as the quality of the wool fabric). I ripped off a 5 yard piece to play with, trying my hand at donning the great kilt, but that will likely end up as something (or a couple) somethings else. I'll be practicing some stitching on a sample piece in preparation for making my first kilt.

I am working on a commemorative tartan design for my friends, so perhaps I will have the opportunity to gain more experience in the near future. I can't seem to insert the images that I have (they may be too large), but I'll try to troubleshoot and post a couple of images here in the near future.