turning your fabric 90 degrees...

**UmAnOnion** · 29th January 06, 05:39 AM

I have a friend who is seriously jonesing ( I love that phrase) for a suit similar to the one here

To make this kilt the fabric had to be turned 90 degrees so that the selvidge ran verertically instead of horizontally as in most normal kilts (in pinstriped fabrics the lines run the length of the fabric - not across. the across lines form the verticals in kilts, which i am sure you all know already)

woudl it be considered a crime to turn Tartans in a similar way? I have seen some fabrics that have a very strong stripe that when made into a kilt woudl create a less than attractive (IMHO) pattern across the back end. but if turned that strong stripe coudl be quite interesting to work with. It would mean piecing the fabric to get the proper yargdage but the seams could be hiddne inthe pleats...

woudl this be a crime against huimanity in the kilted courts & get me excommunicated from the tribe???

**Pleater** · 29th January 06, 06:12 AM

There is no reason other than it would be daft to turn narrow tartan fabric when it works the other way - but there is nothing dreadful going to happen as far as I can conjecture. It is just that modern looms are so much wider than the old ones.

You can get fabrics which have much weaker threads in one direction than the other, but it is likely it will be the weft that is weaker -(the weft threads go 'weft to wight') so the vertical - the warp threads - will be stronger.

It is normal to cut skirts so the warp of the fabric is vertical, so it should work just as well for a kilt.

Several times now I have taken some of the piece left from the middle of the fabric after cutting the selvage edges and used it to add a couple of pleats to a kilt - with the intention of removing it when I have diet down to a smaller size. They were plain and even weave, not twill so no trouble to do. If the tartan is exactly square then it will work, but you will - I think, get the wrong side of the fabric facing out if you match the line of the twill. Yes - I had to find a piece of tartan which I know the orientation of and turn it, but the modern fabrics are so good I would think that for most purposes it would not matter.

I do have a kilt which is made from a very wide fabric of hodden colour which was just enough for a kilt when torn across. That seems to have worked out well. It is probably a piece of good quality poly cotton sheeting but it was fine for my first 8 yard kilt practice.

**Barb T** · 29th January 06, 07:29 AM

Hi folks

If it's truly tartan, it won't look any different turned 90 degrees. The definition of tartan is that the warp and weft have the same size, order, and number of stripes of color. If the warp and weft are not identical, it isn't tartan. There's lots of "plaid" fabric out there that isn't tartan, and those are the ones that might have a prominent stripe going warp-wise but not weft-wise. So, the problem doesn't actually arise if you are dealing with tartan.

But, if you have a piece (such as the pin stripe fabric), or if you are just using a piece of plaid fabric that isn't tartan, you could certainly turn the fabric 90 degrees. But, given that fabric is not more than 56" wide, you'd have to put a join in the fabric at five or six places across a kilt that uses 8 yards of fabric. It takes me about an hour to do one join right, and, frankly, it would need to be a really special piece of fabric to get me to add 5 hours to the kiltmaking process!!

Barb

**GlassMan** · 29th January 06, 10:23 AM

Kilt making sounds hard enough as it is without having to worry about piece together fabric. But then I'm never going to try to do it myself anyway.

**646guy** · 29th January 06, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by UmAnOnion

I have a friend who is seriously jonesing ( I love that phrase) for a suit similar to the one here

To make this kilt the fabric had to be turned 90 degrees so that the selvidge ran verertically instead of horizontally as in most normal kilts (in pinstriped fabrics the lines run the length of the fabric - not across. the across lines form the verticals in kilts, which i am sure you all know already)

woudl it be considered a crime to turn Tartans in a similar way? I have seen some fabrics that have a very strong stripe that when made into a kilt woudl create a less than attractive (IMHO) pattern across the back end. but if turned that strong stripe coudl be quite interesting to work with. It would mean piecing the fabric to get the proper yargdage but the seams could be hiddne inthe pleats...

woudl this be a crime against huimanity in the kilted courts & get me excommunicated from the tribe???

Colin you can just admit it's me....a pinstripe kilt suit at teh closing night party of the Bingham Cup...now THAT would be hot....

**Ruanaidh** · 29th January 06, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Pleater

-(the weft threads go 'weft to wight')

What a great mnemonic device! Never could remember which was the weft and which was the warp. Thanks

**Pleater** · 29th January 06, 11:00 AM

I just dive in and do things before I know that they shouldn't be done - I have put joins in but have always made it so the sewing line forms the inner fold of the pleat. I sew the join straight, so the pleat depth is greater at the top than the bottom due to the supression for the waist.

I found the seam distorted the pleat if I tried to put it anywhere else than the back fold.

I have had to cut off the selvages on a kilt made with pieces taken 'across the cloth' as they were 1/4 inch shorter than the rest of the fabric once it had hung for a while.

I make the pleats and check that the join is going to be correct before sewing it. I mean the pleats on each side should lie right without the join being sewn - if they don't before they certainly won't after.

**Jewddha** · 29th January 06, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by Barb T.

Hi folks

If it's truly tartan, it won't look any different turned 90 degrees. The definition of tartan is that the warp and weft have the same size, order, and number of stripes of color. If the warp and weft are not identical, it isn't tartan. There's lots of "plaid" fabric out there that isn't tartan, and those are the ones that might have a prominent stripe going warp-wise but not weft-wise. So, the problem doesn't actually arise if you are dealing with tartan.

[...]
Barb

But Barb, I though I had heard somewhere about "asymmetrical tartans".

(or did I misread something)

**Barb T** · 29th January 06, 04:19 PM

An asymmetric tartan means that the stripes do not repeat in mirror image fashion (e.g., A-B-C-D-A-B-C-D would be asymmetric, as opposed to A-B-C-D-C-B-A-B-C etc. etc., which would be symmetric, because it has "pivot points" or "mirror points"). The same order is repeated in both the warp and the weft in tartan. An asymmetric non-tartan might have A-B-C-D-A-B-C-D in the warp and A-B-C-E-A-B-C-E in the weft.

If you want a picture, let me know.

Cheers!

Barb