what am I seeing here?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

As an illustration, this image is of the selvedge of Lochcarron's 16 oz Strome, the wrong side of the fabric:


This is the same cloth, the good face of the fabric:


Not too much noticiable difference in the pictures. The difference is only slightly more noticable in real life. Truth be told, in my experience some lengths of fabric I get are better than others in this regard. Notice, too, how they made sure that the tucked threads ended exactly where the green and black meet in the tartan, which creates a cleaner visual line.

And for comparison, here is a more traditional closed selvedge, on cloth from D. C. Dalgleish:

[Mr. MacDougall]

Wow, great pictures, Steve!

[cacunn]

Deleted by Cacunn

[McFarkus]

Thanks, Matt - that clarified this for me.

[starbkjrus]

Thanks, Matt - that clarified this for me.

It did? I can't tell the difference so I guess I'll just trust the kiltmakers.

[McFarkus]

It did? I can't tell the difference so I guess I'll just trust the kiltmakers.

In the top photo you can just see a slight fuzziness along the selvedge line where the threads are tucked in.

[Barb T]

One of the really nice things about getting a custom weave from DC Dalgliesh is that they still use the old clean (not turned) selvedge. It always looks really perfect.

The interesting thing about Lochcarron fabric is that, when I first bought Lochcarron fabric years ago and they were still doing a clean selvedge, the right side of the fabric was the side that had the twill line running diagonally and down to the left looking across the fabric. This is what I was taught to use as the right side of the fabric. Now, as Matt shows in his photo, Lochcarron fabric is woven with the right side as the side that has the twill line diagonally down to the right. Frustrating.

Whether the turned selvedge shows very much in a particular piece of tartan is at least partly a function of where the selvedge is placed with respect to the tartan. One of the things that no one liked about the early runs of XMarks tartan was the fact that the blue weft threads turned at the edge of the tartan made the edge white stripe look as if it had bled (the infamous "bleeding selvedge"). In the 16 oz run, F&K put a different stripe at the edge of the tartan, and the turned selvedge (where the threads are doubled) is much less obvious.

[Stewart Rendall]

It is important that the kiltmaker use the good face of the cloth for the outside of the kilt. I would guess that the picture in the first post is the "bad" side of the fabric, so hopefully this was on the inside of the kilt.
M

the right side of the fabric was the side that had the twill line running diagonally and down to the left looking across the fabric. This is what I was taught to use as the right side of the fabric.

Yes, I was taught this too. The twill should run from the right hip to the left knee when looking down at the kilt. Adhering to this means there is only one side the kiltmaker can use and no 'good' or 'bad' side.

Do you still work that way with the lochcarron cloth Barb, or do you change the direction of the twill when the tucked threads are visible on the other side?

[thescot]

All I have to say is, "The Wiz strikes again."

Thanks, DWFII, for bringing this up. I've never seen a rolled selvage before, and I would have been quite P.O.'ed had I gotten one.

And a special thanks to the Wiz for sharing his expertise dans photos. You have educated us all once again, and I personally appreciate it more than you can know.

What a great site!

[DWFII]

All I have to say is, "The Wiz strikes again."

Thanks, DWFII, for bringing this up. I've never seen a rolled selvage before, and I would have been quite P.O.'ed had I gotten one.

And a special thanks to the Wiz for sharing his expertise dans photos. You have educated us all once again, and I personally appreciate it more than you can know.

What a great site!

Well, I should have posted it to the forum sooner. When I got the kilt it seemed for all the world as if someone had tried to hem and baste the edge and in fact there was a short section along the side that was still hemmed.

Heck, I didn't know what I was looking at...babe in the woods and all that...but the wedding was fast upon me and so I immediately emailed the company I rented it from as a precaution. I have dealt in computer parts over the internet and all sorts of leather goods in my thirty-five years and I didn't want to be held responsible.

The company generously sent out another kilt and lo and behold it had the same problem (although not quite as severe). That's when I took the photos and posted them here.

I spoke with the warehouse--Scotland Yard (the real source for the rental company)-- this morning and told them my sad story. They have assured me that there was never going to be an additional rental fee (which relieved my mind considerably). No matter how you cut it, that's going the extra mile.

I might add that one of the main purposes of posting this here is to inform other folks, so that they don't make the same mistake.

And I want to thank everyone for all the very insightful and informative comments.

Looking back on it now, all I can say is that "we are all born ignorant, but stupid is a choice." I plead ignorance but with these posts hope to avoid compounding the error.