WIP Tartan Design - Suggestions Please!

[artificer]

Have you tried printing several copies of these designs, taping them together and then pleating them in different ways? That might help in the design process, as well as giving you some direction toward which pleat style will look best.

I like the latest design with the "vanilla" stripe. I want you to box-pleat the tartan to hide the light blue, so you'll have the light "flash" when you walk.

I'm photoshopping, based on the examples of Matt and Barb. My plan IS to have the blue be the 'flash' or 'reveal' in the pleat.

That being said, I noticed you had faded out the additional blue stripes when adding the cream. Having you tried tossing them all together and making the accent stripe the same dark blue? It would leave the large cream stripe as the real pop for the sett and would allow you a dark reveal in either box or knife pleat. Just a fanciful suggestion.

Thank you for catching that, I meant to mention it. It appears to be an error in the ScotWeb software, as both darker blue stripes SHOULD be the same colour. I experienced the same thing just now when I went to tweak the blue a bit.

A couple of thoughts:

1. The broader white on the green/brown ground will dominate the sett from a distance in much the same way that it does on the Forbes/Lamont sett or the yellow does in the Gordon. If that's not what you want then think again.

2. I don't like the blue shade which I find too insipid and it it were me I'd make it darker.

I may reduce the count slightly on the white stripe... it's one of the things that bothers me a touch... but when I reduce it, I feel like the balance is off.

The 'background' blue isn't quite the proper shade yet, but this is fairly close. Slightly deeper, and with a hint more grey is where I'm aiming, but have a problem replicating the colour in the software.

3. The green stripes on the blue are too similar in shade and will disappear when viewed at a distance, so what's the point of having them? Similarly, the white on the blue will look very faint unless it it is balanced proportionally against the white on the green.

See above, the dark blue stripe on the brown IS the proper colour for all the thin blue stripes. The lighter colour seems to be an error in software (as in my 'selection' both are using the same blue).

I definitely like the second design better (although I also like the look of the first design too).

The blue/green/rust color scheme is very attractive and unique. I can't think of any other tartan I've seen that looks like this. It would look stunning with the blue fields hidden in the pleats to 'flash' when you walk.

I like it better without the second cream stripe, though. Putting that cream stripe in the blue field seems to throw off the nice clean lines. It breaks up the pattern, if that makes sense. Even though you're using a lot of colors and a fairly complex design in the darker portions of the tartan, it still has a nice clean look from a distance. But that thin white stripe in the blue field breaks that cleanness up.

How many colors are you using? I count 7, but I could be wrong. Didn't someone say that most weavers would only do 6 colors?

See above, it actually IS 6, but the two blues appear radically different on screen!?! I may use GaelicThemes software again, now that it's back up, to see if I can make the actual sett appear as intended, although S/Web has a much better colour selection in their software.



Thanks all for the feedback so far, you've given me much to think about.

It's all a bit like being back as school- where you stare at a project for so long, you lose the ability to properly 'SEE' it.