Stupid Question for the day...

[UmAnOnion]

The weft runs right to "weft". The warp is the lengthwise threads, under and over which the side to side threads, the weft, are woven.

so the threads that run PARELLEL to the selvedge are the...???

[Pleater]

so the threads that run PARELLEL to the selvedge are the...???

Warp - a kilt is worn with the fabric turned 90 degrees to the orientation it was on the loom.

The weft is vertical, as worn, horisontal as woven.

[Barb T]

A loom set up to weave tartan is really pretty. The warp threads run front to back on the loom, and the warp is as long as the piece of tartan to be woven. The warp on the loom is a set of color stripes, with the right number threads of each color to make up the sett.

When it comes time to weave the tartan, the weft threads are carried in the shuttle, which goes back and worth creating the web (the fabric). If the warp starts with 4 threads of black, for example, the first 4 throws of the shuttle will be black, giving a 4-thread cross-stripe in black. If the next 24 warp threads are red, the next 24 throws of the shuttle will carry red thread, creating a wide red cross-stripe. The thread not being used is commonly carried up the edge of the warp as a "float" so that it's ready to use again when the next stripe needs to be woven.

Some mills still weave single-width kilting tartan with a kilting selvedge on one edge and the color "floats" on the other. Since one long edge is always cut off to make a kilt with a single width piece of tartan, all the floats don't matter. Many modern mills do selvedges and turns differently, so I think I've only seen this recently with custom weaves from D.C. Dalgliesh.

Cheers!

Barb

[MacSimoin]

...hence my confusion...

UmAnOnion,

Please don't 'lift' my photos: I don't need the extra bandwidth on my image folders, so please remove it from your post.

FYI, you could have asked me directly about this particular photo: There was an obvious dye error when this bit of material was run. Whoever makes this material (it's the "All Ireland Green" tartan) for Sport Kilt looks to have messed-up the dark green in the weft (it IS there but it's way too light and almost blends into the background color) of the design and unfortunately I'm now the one who's wearing the mistake.

The "All Ireland" tartans (Green, Blue and Red) ARE symmetrical regardless of what you read here; no offense intended but I would have expected Barb to know that:

True - the plaid fabric you show is not tartan.

Barb

Just thought I'd pass the information along. Next time, please ask me if you have any questions on anything I post. Thank you.

[mudd]

The "All Ireland" tartans (Green, Blue and Red) ARE symmetrical regardless of what you read here; no offense intended but I would have expected Barb to know that:

She didn’t say it wasn’t symmetrical. She said it wasn’t a Tartan.

[Barb T]

Hmmm - I feel like I've stepped into the middle of something here. All I was doing was answering a question about whether a posted photo showed tartan fabric or not. I had no idea where this picture came from or that it was supposed to be an All Ireland tartan. From the colors in the picture, it seemed to me from looking at the photo that the dark teal stripe appears only in the warp and not in the weft. In a true tartan, the dark teal stripe should be in _both_ the warp and the weft. And yes, I know that the sett shown is symmetrical, but that wasn't what I was commenting on.

Barb

[UmAnOnion]

UmAnOnion,

Please don't 'lift' my photos: I don't need the extra bandwidth on my image folders, so please remove it from your post.

Apologies for lifting your photos - LOVED THE KILT - as i said in your thread first - the fabric just prompted my question and my confusion about the tartan/plaid issue

Photo is hereby removed.

Cheers

[MacSimoin]

Photo is hereby removed.

Cheers

UmAnOnion,
No apologies needed but thank you for removing the photo.

As for the last two comments: I'm not looking to argue with anyone and as I stated previously, no offense was intended by my remarks. Maybe it was my mistake to think that Barb would know the tartan and I apologize to her if I offended her; however, Barb did initially respond without knowing anything about the kilt.

In the end, this is much ado about nothing: I'm happy with the kilt and my point (that I should have been the one asked about the kilt since I'm the one who actuallys owns it) was made to and taken by UmAnOnion and that's what matters. Thanks for your input anyway.

[cavscout]

Thank you Barb for participating in the discussion. Since the true question was "What defines a tartan as a tartan?" She had all the information she needed based on a random image to go by. While the intention of the weaver was to make a tartan, by his mistake in coloring, the pattern ceased to be tartan and became plaid as per Barb's explanation. Don't take this as an insult to the kilt or tartan.

[MacSimoin]

Don't take this as an insult to the kilt or tartan.

And with that, I end my participation in this thread.