Child's question at school talk

[Piglet]

Hi. Its been a while since I've been on here - but when I was doing a talk at a local school about kilt and tartan, and a little P1 girl asked me a question that I couldn't answer, I reckoned that this was the right place to get some help.

Her question was - how many sheep fleeces does it take to make an adult kilt? I have been trying to work out what the weight of material is with a medium weight, 8 yard kilt. As far as I understood it, 13oz meant for a yard of double width material, but that would make a kilt 52oz and when I weigh one, its over 192oz, and I can't imagine that all the canvas/straps/buckles etc would weigh that much, so if anyone can give me a hand with the calculations of weight of tartan, that would be much appreciated, and I can then go back and work out how much wool you get from one fleece.

I will not be defeated by a 5 year old! Thanks.

[Steve Ashton]

It is generally accepted that fabric weight is calculated on the basis of a linear yard at double-width or 60" wide.

A 16oz kilt uses just slightly less than four full, double-width yards and would weight approx. 64oz or 4lbs.

[Piglet]

Hi Steve. Thanks for that - that's how I thought it was worked out, but it was just that based on a 13oz medium weight kilt, that would make the tartan used 52oz, and it just seemed a big jump to go from that to 192 oz for the finished kilt, but then I suppose it has two types of canvas, buckles, straps and linings, so maybe its right.

I will go and work on how many fleeces that would take then. Thanks.

[cck]

192 oz. is 12 lbs. That is a heavy kilt!

[Bruce Scott]

A single merino ram is capable of producing a 12 lb fleece:

"We weaned 185 2009-drop Poll Merino rams on the 9th September, 2009, (3 and a half months old). They averaged 37kg, with the top weight being 48kg. We shore 98 of these rams on the 3rd March, 2010, to record an average fleece weight of 4.8kg with 9 months wool growth. The top fleece weight was 7.3kg."

4.8kg = 10.5lbs, 7.3kg = 16.0lbs

http://www.haddonrig.com.au/About/stud-history

[Tarheel]

I didn't know there was going to be a math quiz. But, on the fly, two of Bruce's rams will make enough wool for one kilt. Check my math please as there should be enough left over for flashes.

[The Wizard of BC]

Piglet,

I'm sorry but if you have a kilt that weighs 192 oz I'm very sorry for your back. That's 12 pounds!!!!

A 16oz 8 yard kilt should weight somewhere around 64oz or 4 pounds.


I've also been looking around at the amount of usable wool in one sheep fleece. The numbers are all over the place. It seems that a lot of people throw out figures and weights for wool right off the sheep. This includes all the dirt and excess lanolin.

I am looking only at a cleaned and prepared wool ready for spinning. The best figures I can come up with say that one sheep will average between 4 and 6 pounds of clean, ready to spin wool.

This would mean that one fleece is about one to one and a half kilt's worth.

[Jock Scot]

It is one very good question! However the question and answer is one of those "how long is a piece of string" type things, as it depends on the breed of sheep mainly, but other factors come into it such as quality of food, age, size, sex of the sheep and condition of the fleece and how carefully the sheep was shorn, then we have to consider the weight(13/16oz) of the finished wool and amount of cloth(length) used in making the kilt. However the question really does deserve an answer. But my fairly educated guess considering all the variables, would be on average, about one fleece per 8 yard 16 oz kilt.

[marypenny]

That reminds me of folks who would call my husband's orthodontic practice and ask how much braces cost. I finally began answering that question by saying it was like calling a garage and asking how much it would cost to repair a car...without a clue what was the problem. But at least now I have a mental picture of sheep on a hillside all wearing a kilt apiece! Now let's talk which tartan. Are they all the same clan? Might some be rebels and wish another tartan? Obviously it's too early for me to be serious! Coffee, I need coffee..

[tundramanq]

Add to Jock's list the fact that shorn wool includes a lot of lanolin weight that is mostly removed in making the thread that goes to the looms. This is becoming rocket science.