I also made a tartan shawl

[AlabamaCelticLass]

Ok, a confession... I LOVE tartan! If anyone is a Seinfeld aficionado, you may remember one of my favorite lines by George Costanza- "If it were socially acceptable, I would drape myself in velvet." My goal is to figure out as many ways as possible to wear tartan, and find or [preferably] create those pieces until I have a wonderful, colorful, expressive wardrobe of tartan. I have so many ideas in mind. Sashes, skirts of all lengths and styles, jackets, dresses, handbags... anyway. You get the idea.

I recently posted the kilted skirt I made and wore to Stone Mountain Highland Games in October 2019, using instructions I found on this forum. I used Celtic Croft's "homespun," a poly/wool blend, in Anderson modern tartan. I had some left and come January 2020, I wanted to make something different to wear to our Burns Supper. I was set on a sash but couldn't really figure out how I wanted to do that. I decided on a poncho-style shawl.

I began with a 52" x 34" piece of tartan. Not too worried about symmetry and being in a hurry, I drew a neck hole on paper. When free-handing a neck hole, always start small then cut bigger if needed. It is WAY too easy to cut a neck hole too big. I learned that lesson while making my first 18th century shift [chemise].



The long sides are the selvage, which is very tightly and nicely woven, so they needed no hemming. The cut end, or short end, needed finishing. Instead of hemming, I decided to fringe them in the same manner used for my skirt. I stitched a single tight & short straight stitch a little ways from the edge, then pulled the weft threads out.




Here it is in production on my vintage 1950s Singer 301A. Naturally, my supervisor was present.






Here it is on the hanger:




And here I am wearing it at our Burns Supper in Conyers, GA earlier this year. First one is me giving the reply from the lassies, second is out front with my gorgeous husband:

[AlabamaCelticLass]

I have been playing with different ways to wear it. Of course, it will look different on my body than on the dress form so I will have to actually try out these methods and see what they look like on me. I'm not really a shawl wearer, so opinions and suggestions are warmly welcomed- including what other garments or accessories would look decent with it. I've been sewing for a very long time but I'm no professional and have no formal training, I just get it in my head that I want to make something and I figure it out.

1) Worn symmetrically with the selvage edge across the front and fringed edges to the sides:




2) Worn symmetrically the opposite way, with the fringed edges across the front and selvage edges to the sides:




3) Again worn with the fringed edges across the front, with a belt. This would not be my choice of belt, it was just handy. I don't know if this shawl is long enough to look okay with a belt. What do you think?




4) Worn at an angle, pretty much how I wore it on Burns Night. It kept moving around and I had to adjust it several times, but it wasn't a huge deal.




5) Worn with the selvage edge across the front and the bulk of one side pulled over the shoulder. I feel like this might be my favorite, if I could pull it off in reality. It would need to be pinned in the back to hold it in place the way it's laid over the right shoulder.





6) Both long and short ways, with one side folded over a shoulder. Would also need to be pinned. I'm thinking of using a brooch? Not sure I'd be crazy about either of these.

[neloon]

Very nice, Becky.
To be pedantic, I think you have made a tonnag a.k.a poncho *
http://www.staonlineshop.co.uk/produ...cho-small.aspx
A shawl is just a plain rectangle.
* pronounced taw-nak - it's borrowed from the Latin tunica

Alan

[Katia]

I think you could wear it with the belt, but I'd need to see it from the side. From the other pictures, I would've guessed that the sides wouldn't be long enough to even tuck under the belt, but in the belt picture they appear to be. However, you might try it out around the house for bit before you wear it out, because I'm not sure whether they'll *stay* under the belt if you move your arms at all. (Yes, this is the sort of thing I might find out the hard way 10 minutes into me having committed to wearing the thing out, and then having to be annoyed by it all day!)