Any experience making kilts with fabric from the Batly mill?

[rodandy]

I'm wondering if there are any kilt makers out there that have used fabric from the Moven tartan range by Batli mill and could compare it to Lochcarran?

Scotweb has a 20% off sale that is over tomorrow. I've ordered swatches, but they won't be here in time for me to order and get the discount. The Scotweb web site says that the Batli is perhaps slightly more coarse than the best Scottish mills. Will I notice the difference?

Thanks,
Rod

[Alan H]

I have not made a kilt from it, but I've handled it. As a general rule, their weaves feel "lighter" to me than Locharrons or Marton Mills. When researching possible weavers for the X marks tartan, I sent around samples of N Bately cloth to several kiltmakers on the board, who seemed to agree that their 13 ounce and 16 ounce stuff was quite appropriate for making kilts. Personally, because of the "lightness" factor, I would opt for their 16.

[ForresterModern]

Only felt their material once or twice at a Games vendors display. Seemed okay, but I was relatively "kilt inexperienced" then, with only three kilts to my name. What I did not like was their color palette for their tartans which just did not seem to match well what other vendors were selling as the same tartans when put side by side. The Batleys seemed dull and dark by comparison---rather bland.

One man's O.

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Well, I haven't made a kilt out of it, but the kilts my husband and I bought from Scotsweb were out of tartan fabric from Batli.

We like it a lot better than the other MacPherson kilt he has (which I think the tartan was from Locharan, the orangey red and almost black blue and green colours match) It swings really nice! I now want an 8-yarder like my hubby has. Mine is a mini-kilt. They are all 16 ounce (I was told the other one was anyway...seems a lot lighter)


Batli


The other one

The feel is a little coarse but gets better with a few times wearing it. It's not itchy though. I LOVE the vibrant colours.

If I could afford to, I would buy a bunch of it to make kilts out of. lol

--Chelsea--

[Squeaky McMurdo]

The Batleys seemed dull and dark by comparison---rather bland.

It probably varies by tartan then. We chose Batly for its brighter, more colourful version of MacPherson

[fluter]

It probably varies by tartan then. We chose Batly for its brighter, more colourful version of MacPherson

Batley also has a line of "muted" colors, as does House of Edgar. My current avatar is the HoE muted Wallace. From the online e-swatches the colors are similar.

PS: Y'all look great in your matching tartans!

[turpin]

I have a Batley 13 oz from Scotweb and like it very much. It is my only 13 oz kilt so I can't really compare it to my 16 oz HoE or Lochcarron kilts, but the hand is very smooth and it holds the pleats beautifully.

[Kevboy73]

Does anyone know where the Batly/Bati Mill is?
I've wanted to look at their range of tartans but can't find any information, website or phone number for them anywhere. Do they have a website?

[Morris at Heathfield]

The correct spelling is "Batley". Scotweb uses five-letter abbreviations for the names of the weavers who supply their cloth, hence "batli", "hedga", "glena", etc. Batley appears to be located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and this seems to be their website. Not very useful at the moment. As for their address and phone number, there doesn't seem to be much agreement. Perhaps they've moved (twice or more) recently.

[slohairt]

I've only used their material once and I didn't really like it. Though their prices are good, I prefer to do business with Marton Mills when dealing with value-priced tartan.