Closest USA Kilts tweed colour

[OC Richard]

I saw this photo online, and I really like the tweed colour.



Do any of you own or have seen a USA Kilts tweed kilt jacket in a similar colour?

It's not quite grey, nor one of the Lovats, but a wonderful neutral.

It's very hard to know from the images on USA Kilt's site, the closest I see is "LCS430" which is the upper image here:



(The lower image is Lochcarron's "S430 Gamekeeper's Shetland Jacketing Tweed" which despite having the same code number looks to be entirely different.)

[JPS]

Are you after something with the gold and blue stripes like in the picture of the jacket? I don't think either sample matches that. Or maybe it's just the color you're looking for.

[OC Richard]

Thanks, yes just a similar colour.

I should have mentioned that any overcheck etc isn't important.

[Tomo]

Have you tried:

• Marton Mills https://martonmills.com/product-cate...d-collections/ and

• Lovat Mills https://lovatmill.com/bunches/the-kirkton/

From Marton Mills:


MOSS & HEATH
Quality: Cairngorm
Code: CGE166



LOVAT & ANTIQUE
Quality: Cheviot
Code: CHE254



HEATH
Quality: Cairngorm
Code: CGE172



From Lovat Mill:


Kirkton 502


Kirkton 508

[StevieR]

The Shades depicted on Marton Mills’ website are a pretty good match to the cloth in hand, as it were. The company is also very obliging and will happily send samples to Joe Public, foc.

Have you tried:

• Marton Mills https://martonmills.com/product-cate...d-collections/ and

• Lovat Mills https://lovatmill.com/bunches/the-kirkton/

From Marton Mills:


MOSS & HEATH
Quality: Cairngorm
Code: CGE166



LOVAT & ANTIQUE
Quality: Cheviot
Code: CHE254



HEATH
Quality: Cairngorm
Code: CGE172



From Lovat Mill:


Kirkton 502


Kirkton 508

[Troglodyte]

Things may now be different, but mills used to supply customers with a 'swatch-book' at cost, and deduct that cost when cloth was ordered. Many tailors still keep a range of swatch-books from different mills, and are a good source of inspiriation.

It is worth remembering that the jacket cloth weight needs to be the same or slightly heavier than that of the kilt. A 16oz kilt can look out of balance with a 10-12oz tweed jacket.

[OC Richard]

Thanks! Good to know that the Marton Mills online swatches are accurate (of course so much depends on one's own monitor).

It's amazing how different the online swatches of Marton Mills tweeds on the USA Kilts site are compared to the Marton Mills site. In some cases tweeds with the same code designation look herringbone on one site and plain weave on the other.

On my monitor, at least, most of the swatches posted above look to be in the Lovat Green or Moss range, while the photo of the jacket I posted at top, on my monitor, looks neutral, not green, not grey, not brown, but right down the middle.

The best swatch above (on my monitor) is the Lovat Mill Kirkton 508. Thanks for that! I'm not familiar with that mill.

A wonderfully neutral tweed (on my monitor) is Marton Mill's online swatch of cge147 Plover

[Troglodyte]

For those who not already familiar with the book, Johnstons of Elgin brought out a revised and reworked edition of their 'Scottish Estate Tweeds' a couple of years ago.

It is be no means an exhaustive account and listing of all tweeds currently available, but it shows those that have been designed or adopted by various Scottish estates during the past couple of centuries. The book not only names the various tweeds, but gives a brief history behind their design, and some of the colours used, and why.

Having a name to identify the tweed is useful, particularly as many weaving mills identify their cloths numerically. Gun checks, or Gun Club, is a generic term now used for a particular style, but it helps to know whether a particular tweed is Coigach, Blairquhan or Lochmore when the differences are subtle but important. All these might be produced by a number of different weavers, each giving the cloth a number that would mean nothing to another mill or even a tailor.

It is a shame the samples shown are (pretty accurate for colour and texture) photographs - if each tweed illustrated was an actual swatch of the cloth, the book would be a tweed adict's dream..!

[Jock Scot]

The “Scottish Estate Tweed “ book is indeed a super piece of work and is probably the most thumbed through book that we have in the house. It lives on the coffee table permanently and is a huge source of interest to almost all who visit us.

I stand to be corrected here but as I understand it, the “gun club” description of some tweeds was first coined by the Americans perhaps some hundred years ago.

[Troglodyte]

I believe the so-called Gun Club tweed was adopted by one of the New England gun clubs at the end of the 19th century, and quickly became a generic short-hand term for that style of weave. I have heard it referred to as 'Gun Checks' in rhe same way as 'Hill Checks' or 'Glen Checks' are used for other types of sporting tweeds.

But how the club concerned came to choose 'Coigach' tweed as their own remains a mystery.

Being able to identify a tweed by name (rather than by the weaver's referrence) saves a huge amount of time if you want to match in later - particularly if the original weaver is no longer operating. I have a now ageing Inverness cape in what Johnstons gives as Pitcastle tweed, but I bought it from Haggarts of Aberfeldy as their B135 tweed, now produced by Glen Lyon as GL2135.

The examples Johnstons give will be included in swatch-books, but surrounded by other tweeds that might have more appeal - in tone, colouring, etc. I have a suit in what Johnstons gives as Conaglen tweed, but my father used to say made me look like a disreputable bookie at the Curragh!