Black & blue, but only my checkbook is bruised.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I received a small bolt of the black version of our tartan from Barb yesterday (except for an eight yard chunk that she hung on to....gee, I wonder what I should have her do with it????)

It's Dalgliesh, single-width heavyweight, where the previous blue version we had woven was double width. We figured that if we ever wanted this one woven we should probably get it done while the yarn colors are still available and while there are still some weavers in business.

It's pretty interesting how they can be so similar, but so different just by changing one color. No classy name for these yet. We called them T-6, blue and black, just because this pattern was the sixth tartan design I came up with that was a "maybe this is the one we should have woven" thing, and this pattern won. It's also interesting how bright red/orange the bright sections are. There is no really bright red or orange in the yarn selection - just a rusty orange and a fairly dark brick red (DCD red 50 &60).



It should pleat up kind of like this.



and kind of like this....only different...

[Pleater]

That black version is really impressive - rather imposing.

If it was a drink it would have a label with swords, shield and axes on it, and a name like - Chieftain's choice.

Now I like blues - I wear a lot of blue and blue green to true green - but the black is good.

Why not pleat it to a stripe?

Black and yellow would look good.

If it was pleated as a reverse Kingussie, the type I like, it would be possible to have the gold line nearest to the edge on both sides of the centre back.
I think I have a bad case of tartan envy.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Liam]

I like the black version. I was immediately struck with how similar it looks to the City of Calgary tartan. I'm sure if one examines the thread count and colours it is different.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I had to look it up to see, and they have similar dark/light proportions, but colors and details are pretty different.



We found it interesting with the black T-6 that from a distance or in low light, the general impression is black and red rectangles, but when you take it outside in good light and get close, the variety of colors really pops out. My advice to anyone who is seriously into tartan and thinking about designing a personal one and having it made is to do it! Yes, it is expensive, but it's really fun to see your design come to life and to know that the only piece of fabric in the entire world that looks exactly like that is right there in your hands (or maybe surrounding your posterior). The design tools like the one at Scotweb's website are excellent and fun to just doodle on, even if you never take the project to the next step.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that the tool only generates a little more than one sett. To really get a feel for what the tartan will look like, you need to see a broader view with multiple setts. I do this with Photoshop, capturing the image and pasting a bunch of them together to get a picture that is extended, even if the bits aren't all perfectly lined up. There have been several designs where I really liked the original one-sett sample, but really wasn't fond of the extended version. A couple even generated a semi-Op-Art look, that was kind of interesting, but made the viewer feel like it was time to get new glasses. The one-sett sample of T-15 was pretty nice, but the extended version was rather strange, and I'm not sure whether it was good-strange, or bad-strange.


T-15 Extended

Our T-6 Blue is basically woven with what are mostly labeled "ancient colors" and does have a little bit of that weathered or ancient look, despite being fairly light and bright. I have one more version that we eventually want to do, which would be modern colors and bolder. The blue would be darkened and the orange and red brightened. Time to start saving pennies (lots and lots of pennies). I used to own a sailboat named "Bad Habit" because like all sailboats, it was a perpetual money drain. I may have to use the same name for our tartan.



Pleater, I trust Barb when it comes to picking the stripe. Last time she sent me photos of several possible versions to choose from and we picked the one we liked best. I imagine she will do something similar on the black kilt.