Tartan Question II

[macwilkin]

Don't forget there is a special section in the forum devoted to questions about tartans and heraldry.

Todd

[M. A. C. Newsome]

There are a few things I'd like to comment on in this thread. First off, the comment that district tartans are "more of an Irish thing." Hardly. The very concept of Irish district tartans (or named Irish tartans at all) is relatively new. Just about all of the named Irish tartans only date to the last half of the twentieth century. The most popular Irish county tartans only to the mid-90s. So these are very new things.

District tartans arose in Scottish tradition at the same time and along side clan and family tartans. The Aberdeen tartan, for instance, can be positively dated to 1794 and may indeed be older than this, making it older than most clan tartans we know. So wearing a district tartan is just as much a "Scottish thing" than wearing a clan or family tartan.

On another topic, I read a comment about the Birse tartan being 1000 years old (if I read it right). This is not true. The Birse tartan can only be dated to 1957 when it was woven by Thomas Gordon's in Glasgow.

As to getting a special family tartan woven, such as this, it doesn't have to be as cost prohibitive as you imagine. Many are under the impression that to have a tartan custom woven requires buying a whole bolt of cloth, or half a bolt at minimum. And this can break the bank for a lot of folks. But some smaller mills will gladly weave a single kilt length on demand. I can have as little as four yards woven for a box pleated kilt. When you reduce the amount of cloth you have produced, it makes the idea more affordable. To give you an example, my standard price for a box pleated kilt in a stocked tartan is $395. For a custom woven tartan, it's $495, so one hundred dollars more. But if you think about the typical costs of you average 8 yard kilt in a standard stock tartan, $495 is certainly not outside of what people expect to pay for a good kilt. Yes, if you are comparing it to the cost of PV kilts or acrylic kilts, it's a lot of money, but if you are shopping in that category, you just have to accept the fact that you are going to be very limited in your tartan choices.

Finally, what to do if you don't like your family or clan tartan? Well, the first thing is to see if there are other variants. Do you like it better in the ancient colors? The weathered? Is there a hunting version? Many clans have variety and you might like one of the non-standard tartans.

If that doesn't work, you have to ask yourself, "Am I wearing this to honor my clan affiliation, or am I wearing this for fashion?" If you are wearing it to honor your clan, wear your clan tartan. That's the whole point, so choosing a different tartan won't really achieve that end. On the other hand, if you are wearing it for fashion, feel free to choose another tartan that you like better.

A third option is to have some variation of your clan tartan woven up in colors that you prefer. In essence you will be designing your own personal tartan, but it will be evocative of the clan tartan and so still give a wink and nod to the clan roots.

[RockyR]

Another option no one mentioned is to see if your family is a sept of a larger clan. If so, you can wear that tartan as well.

A last (and most expensive) option is to have a NEW tartan designed and woven for your clan. Unless you have approval of a clan cheif (if there is one), it will likely be categorized as a 'fashion tartan', but that won't matter, as you're the one who designed it, and you'll be the one wearing it.

[DWFII]

A third option is to have some variation of your clan tartan woven up in colors that you prefer. In essence you will be designing your own personal tartan, but it will be evocative of the clan tartan and so still give a wink and nod to the clan roots.

I was/am not fond of red kilts and when I first started looking at tartans, an old and trusted friend of mine made the comment that tartans with yellow in them were considered a little...how shall I say this? off-putting? The part I missed was that the yellow was only off-putting to military men.

In any case, my family tartan is the Macqueen, which is red and black with yellow stripes.

Matt designed and had woven a kilt length of the MacQueen sett that substitutes grey for black, black for red and red for yellow. And I had a box pleated kilt made from it. It really is striking. Matt says it will even be registered with the STA as the "Black MacSween."

Funny thing is, though, since I got it, I have begun a slow jones for a standard MacQueen...in all its red, black and yellow glory.

[McMurdo]

Don't forget there is a special section in the forum devoted to questions about tartans and heraldry.

Todd

Thread moved to tartans and heraldry section.

[Riverkilt]

Having dealt with this issue myself I found I've enjoyed hunting for other clan tartans than the most common one.

Its fun even when I like the common clan tartan.

Not always easy, but an adventure.

Ron