Old Culloden Tartan

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I could have put this in DYI, but I thought it a good fit here, as well. I wanted to show you a photo of a kilt I've been working on.


This was in the beginning stages when I was just chalking out and pinning up the pleats.

I love working with these old traditional tartans, especially the ones based on the old blue/black/green motif (which includes all the Black Watch variations, as well as simpler tartans such as MacKay and Gunn). The reason being is that these tartans seem to be designed with making traditional box pleated kilts in mind.

In a traditional four yard box pleated kilt, the pleat width is typicaly going to be approximately 1/3 of the total sett size.

In tartans such as these, very often the pattern itself neatly divides itself into thirds.

Now, we must also keep in mind that the original tailored kilts, as we see in the 1790s and very early 1800s, did not make any allowance for waist/hip ratio -- the pleats were sewn straight up with no taper.

What this effectively means then is that the kilt maker has the pleats already marked out for him in the pattern of the tartan itself.

In the case of the above kilt, the gentleman for whom it was being made had a waist size close enough to his hip size that tapering in the pleats was not required. So these pleats are sewn straight up, just as they would have been in the 1790s. And the green portion of this tartan is exactly 1/3 the size of the sett.

It was a joy to mark out the pleats because I could just simply follow the lines in the tartan. It is as if the tartan is telling me how it wants to be pleated!

[CMcG]

<snip>
I love working with these old traditional tartans, especially the ones based on the old blue/black/green motif (which includes all the Black Watch variations, as well as simpler tartans such as MacKay and Gunn). The reason being is that these tartans seem to be designed with making traditional box pleated kilts in mind.

...

It was a joy to mark out the pleats because I could just simply follow the lines in the tartan. It is as if the tartan is telling me how it wants to be pleated!

That sounds very organic and natural for the tartan to "speak."

I wonder if those old tartans were designed with box pleats in mind or if box pleats were the best way of using the old tartans in an early tailored kilt?

[Highlander31]

I'm glad you posted this Matt. I've been thinking about the Old Culloden tartan, but have been waiting to see a kilt or a large enough piece of the tartan (preferably a kilt) to decide if it is something I would like enough to have a kilt made out of it.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I'm glad you posted this Matt. I've been thinking about the Old Culloden tartan, but have been waiting to see a kilt or a large enough piece of the tartan (preferably a kilt) to decide if it is something I would like enough to have a kilt made out of it.

I have photos of the kilt I just made which I can send you, but I don't want to post them in the open forum until the owner of said kilt gets a chance to debut it! :-)

[Tartan Hiker]

Is that a stock tartan somewhere or a custom run? It's gorgeous.

[Downunder Kilt]

Tartan Hiker I believe it was a custom run organised by Peter Mac at the Scottish Tartans Authority. I say this as matt refers to it as the old Culloden tartan and I remeber there being 2 threads on it in the past

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Yup! It was woven by Dalgliesh, organized by Peter MacDonald. A few forum members went in on the order. The above WIP is one of two kilts I'll be making for forum members.

You can read about Peter's research here:
http://scottishtartans.co.uk/Culloden_Tartan.pdf

[figheadair]

I wonder if those old tartans were designed with box pleats in mind or if box pleats were the best way of using the old tartans in an early tailored kilt?

It's unlikely that tartans were designed specifically to fit the sett to made up garments. In this case the tartan comes from an 18th century jacket.

I'm glad you posted this Matt. I've been thinking about the Old Culloden tartan, but have been waiting to see a kilt or a large enough piece of the tartan (preferably a kilt) to decide if it is something I would like enough to have a kilt made out of it.

I still have some of the custom run. PM me for details or view the earlier thread http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-thread-63376/

Is that a stock tartan somewhere or a custom run? It's gorgeous.

Custom run. Available from me.

Yup! It was woven by Dalgliesh, organized by Peter MacDonald. A few forum members went in on the order. The above WIP is one of two kilts I'll be making for forum members.

You can read about Peter's research here:
http://scottishtartans.co.uk/Culloden_Tartan.pdf

Looking good Matt

[Joe Gondek]

Matt

The kilt was at my door when I arrived home today
Words can not express how it felt when I opened the box

As a life long student of History and Historical reenactor I've wanted to have a kilt made in a Tartan that could be dated to 1745 for a long time.

Thank you Peter MacDonald for making the Old Culloden Tartan avaiable

Thank you Matt for making this dream a reality

I thought that the first photo of this fine kilt should done in 18th century attire, so I broke out my buckle shoes, colonial shirt and bonnet



No one was around to take the pictures so I had to use the timer on the camera. I had to hurry as I was losing daylight and will post other photos in better light and regular day wear later.









The photos don't do the richness of the colors in this tartan justice

Matt thanks for helping me in decide the pleating option, you were right it would look great either way

Matt, I only wish I had a better looking model to show off this fine kilt

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Joe,
Glad to see you are enjoying the kilt. The hose look grand, as well. Here are a few photos of your kilt I snapped before sending it on.

The next kilt I am making from this tartan will be pleated to the red line, so it will be interesting to see the difference.

Peter has told me he has cloth left from this run, so if anyone else is interested, contact him.