MacArthur tartan weaving project/kilt finished!

[djmacnyc]

Excuse me. I just went to your picture site and saw the amazing photos of this project. Did you weave this cloth on that little 16" Leclerc tabletop loom?

Did you have to stitch it or what?

Amazed,
Irish Jack

Ha! No. I didn't. Sorry, forgot I had weeded out the photos there and moved most of the weaving ones to the Yahoo groups Weaving & Spinning photo sites. I've uploaded a few of them back to the Scots' wear album at Picturetrail - you'll see the Harrisville T6 loom I used for this project there now. I used the LeClerc Dorothy for the sample. Sorry for the confusion.

Best,
Doug

Here it is,...

[Irish Jack O'Brian]

Thanks Doug! It's amazing enough without getting into the realm of fantasy! I thought you had invented some new way to weave double wide cloth!

Regards,
Irish Jack

[Eleazar]

Fantabulous! Wow... Very inspiring.

[Downunder Kilt]

Congratulations on comming to the end of your project. I would imagine it would be very satisfying and a great story when someone asks about your kilt.
I doff my hat to you Sir on a job, extremely well done.

[idyllicchick]

Thanks for the photo link. Your work is so inspiring!

[Joshua]

Outstanding!

Congratulations on comming to the end of your project. I would imagine it would be very satisfying and a great story when someone asks about your kilt.
I doff my hat to you Sir on a job, extremely well done.

I can see it now...
"Where did you get your kilt?"

"The Sheep"

[Hothir Ethelnor]

Can you give some detail of the setup used? I have considered learning to weave before (I'm also such a DIY I've thought about making my own loom.) what dent reed did you use how many threads per inch etc?

[djmacnyc]

Hi, and thank you all for the great compliments. Finishing it brings a wonderful sense of satisfaction/completion, but is sure nice to hear all the kind responses, too!

Here are most of the pertinent technical spinning, weaving, dyeing details for anyone as interested as Hothir,.. at least what I can remember off the top of my head, at the moment.

Can you give some detail of the setup used? I have considered learning to weave before (I'm also such a DIY I've thought about making my own loom.) what dent reed did you use how many threads per inch etc?

Spun the yarn on an Ashford Traditional wheel with the "high-speed" whorl/flyer, for a 2 ply yarn approx. 60 wpi (3500-4000 yds/lb.) 100% Merino (64 bradford count)

Dyed the yarns in tied skeins with ALJO acid dyes 2-3 batches per dark color (Dark Green, Lemon Yellow, Black) on the stovetop in a couple huge stock pots - dried over a foldable laundry drying rack.

Wound the warp on a warping board - the very max mine could handle - 10 yards. 1440 ends - 4 ends at a time from 4 center-pull balls (would make cones next time for even tension/untangling), using a warping paddle. Alternately wound in A/B groups A = Green/Yellow/Green B = Blk/Green/Blk/Green/Blk, each about 4-5 inches wide. Also, alternated the dye lots of each color A/B while winding to intersperse the dye batches evenly.

Woven in 2x2 twill - 40 epi in a 10 dent reed (4 ends per dent) across a 36 inch reed on a Harrisville T6 (4 shaft/6 treadle) loom, tied up 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 4/1, odds/evens on 5&6. Also, did 1.5 in. in a Herringbone twill kilting selvedge 1234/4321/1234, etc. Warped 10 yards on the loom, but cut off the first 5-6 inches that was sampled at 48 epi. Too, dense.

Then, unwound and removed the excess warp and re-wound the warp spread out again, re-sleyed the reed at 40 epi,.... what a pain. Next time, would probably take the time to do another small sample at the estimated finished epi, first. The sample I wove early on was made using the thickest yarns I had spun up and was set at 31 epi on a LeCler Dorothy table loom. 15" x 3 yds, 2 ends/dent - 15 dent reed.

Wet finished the yardage in the bathtub in warm/hot water, then ran in through a hot mangle press - an Iron-rite mangle donated to me by a very nice Quilter near Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Took a few hours to do this last part,... thank god for patient friends who step in to help,... wrangling 8 yards of steamy, hot, wet wool fabric isn't fun, or easy, but the results are beautiful - nice and pressed and crisp! Ended up wrapping it around a large cardboard tube (for fabric yardage) between passes - dozens and dozens of passes.

That's the short (and very long) of it. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

And, btw - if you're handy in basic wood & metal shop, there's no reason you couldn't, build your own loom. There are many plans out there. The contraption itself isn't really all that complicated - frame, castle, metal rods/flat bars, pulley wheels, cables (can be bought pre-made), heddles (can be hand-made, or buy the metal ones, easily found online) and various flat wood lengths for treadles/harness frames, some chain, etc. Handles, ratches & pawls are probably the hardest things to come by, but anything can be found on Ebay!

Best wishes and Good luck,
Doug
NYC

[Hothir Ethelnor]

Wow thanks for all the info it's inspiring and sounds like quite the accomplishment.

I don't know if I'll go to the extreme of spinning my own yarn but a loom does seem to be in my future.

Thanks again

[Coinneach]

Wow! From weaving to the finished kilt. That's just so inspiringly incredible. Just wow!