Weaving tartan (pics)

[Barb T]

Marjorie Warren is quite famous for her hand woven tartan, and she is very good at it. And, of course, all kilting tartan used to be "hand woven". I guess what I really meant is that hand weaving tartan that looks and feels like what one expects commercially woven kilting tartan to be like is really difficult (not impossible, but a real challenge).

The main difficulty is the thread count and the size of the threads. If you wanted to duplicate Lochcarron's Strome, you'd need to set the loom at a minimum of 48 pick per inch. That's a much finer weave than most hand weavers are accustomed to dealing with, and it's not immediately obvious what potential problems loom ahead (heh heh) as a result. Wool thread that's commonly available is a bit fuzzy, and the threads tend to stick together when you try to open the shed. It helps that the weave is a twill, because two adjacent threads rise together (plain weave is more of a nightmare, actually), but it's still common for the shed not to open cleanly. Then, you throw the shuttle, and, boing, it bangs into a thread that isn't far enough up or down, and you've got a broken thread. Grrr. It helps to keep a spray bottle handy with a little dish detergent in it to lightly spray the warp, but you have to be careful not to let your reed rust. And then, of course, you need to be vigilent about that 45 degree diagonal. If you beat slightly unevenly, it wanders drunkenly across the fabric.

Anyway, these aren't unsurmountable problems, and I presume that it _really_ helps to be working with the same thread that Lochcarron uses (a harder twist with fewer fuzzies) rather than what's commercially available in the US (although I've never tried Lochcarron's thread - I haven't woven tartan in quite a long time). And, as Matt says, the hand will be different from commercially woven tartan.

Cheers,

Barb

[O'Neille]

Here's my baby at home. I'm just warping the "Sierra Vista" tartan I designed. The design can be seen attached to the loom. I'll be weaving a double width X 9 yards. My weaving instructor has been a huge help with tips and tricks.