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5th April 16, 12:00 AM
#11
The Marton Mills wool tartan that I have has a very neat tucked selvedge that has worked fine (weft yarns do a 180 at the edge and come back into the weave for about 1/2" where they are trimmed off). I'm not aware of any wool tartan weavers using a fringed selvedge like you find on denims, some woven wools and some synthetics or blends made to resemble wool (which would be undesirable and require hemming) but I only have tartan from about four different weavers, so I'd check before buying, just to be sure. Surprises on expensive custom orders like a roll of tartan would not be much fun. The more information you can gather with expanded pattern images, yarn samples for color, and nailing down the details before placing your order, the better.
The good news is that the people I have dealt with when placing my tartan orders have all been helpful, patient and terrific to work with, despite the fact that I'm not some big company ordering hundreds of yards of cloth. I actually get better service from the tartan weavers than I do from the sailcloth companies when buying fabric for work.
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5th April 16, 10:18 AM
#12
Purely out of curiosity (and possibly out of a drink I had at a wedding last night), can you guys give me an idea of what it would cost to make a kilt out of a personally designed tartan? I understand that this will probably be a target you could drive a truck through, but it would be interesting to know.
I had always figured I would wear something in the Roberts Tartan at my wedding, or something close - other family weddings have used more commercially available but "close" tartans like the Rangers Strath Blue. That said, I think it would be a really interesting idea to make one that incorporates elements of my tartan and her adopted tartan. As warned, this design site has gotten addictive, and I am just curious of what the next step might set me back.
Thank you all in advance,
Rob
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5th April 16, 10:31 AM
#13
Originally Posted by WalesLax
Purely out of curiosity (and possibly out of a drink I had at a wedding last night), can you guys give me an idea of what it would cost to make a kilt out of a personally designed tartan? I understand that this will probably be a target you could drive a truck through, but it would be interesting to know.
I had always figured I would wear something in the Roberts Tartan at my wedding, or something close - other family weddings have used more commercially available but "close" tartans like the Rangers Strath Blue. That said, I think it would be a really interesting idea to make one that incorporates elements of my tartan and her adopted tartan. As warned, this design site has gotten addictive, and I am just curious of what the next step might set me back.
Thank you all in advance,
Rob
I am currently in the process of having my own tartan designed and registered. I can't speak for other's but the company I am going through has a package that includes the weaving and the kilt for roughly £855 or $1255. I opted to have 60m woven as my fiance is a seamstress and will be making other items from our tartan, so the expense has been more than that, but worth it as mine also includes registration with the Scottish Tartan Authority.
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5th April 16, 11:27 AM
#14
Originally Posted by WalesLax
Purely out of curiosity (and possibly out of a drink I had at a wedding last night), can you guys give me an idea of what it would cost to make a kilt out of a personally designed tartan? I understand that this will probably be a target you could drive a truck through, but it would be interesting to know.
I don't know what Marton Mills might charge for doing a totally new design, but you can contact Hanna there and find out. I wasn't charged any design fee when she worked on my Dalrymple, but that was a standard thread count. Expect to pay around $1,000 for a minimum order of 16 ounce wool from MM delivered to a US address, plus any design fee they might charge.
Expect to pay more fro an equivalent amount from Dalgliesh. Elliot's might be about the same as MM, but the minimum would probably be more.
This might help. http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-buyers-88206/
I have no problems with the tucked selvedge MM and other mills use. Unless a viewer gets down on their knees and looks at the lower edge of a kilt from an overly friendly distance the difference can't be seen.
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5th April 16, 01:37 PM
#15
I'll usually budget somewhere around $800-900 USD as an estimate of what a hunk of a new tartan will probably cost. Depending on what it is and how much non-kilt yardage my wife wants, it may run a bit less or a bit more. Shipping can run $100 and you may get stuck with an import duty (my last duty from an MM order was about $60). It's expensive, but we justify it by being basically home-bodies and not spending a lot on entertainment, movies, dining out, etc. The kilt will probably still be there in 20 years. That prime rib hopefully will not (unless it gets stuck in your arteries).
If you re having one of our esteemed kiltmakers make your kilt it may indeed be cheaper to order your tartan in your design through them as part of the process. In my case, I just cut off a chunk and send it to Barb to make me a kilt and my wife gets most of the rest. Lately we've been using 13 oz. fabric (Marton Mills "Bute" wool) which still makes a wonderful kilt, but is a weight that my wife likes a bit better for the skirts, dresses and jackets she's been making recently. I have never been charged a separate design fee that I know of to have one of my own designs woven. On the current grey pattern, Bethany at MM spent the better part of a month exchanging e-mails with me and sending me yarn samples and print-outs to help nail down the exact yarn shades that I wanted. If you had one of the manufacturers' teams actually design you a tartan, I suspect there might be a charge, as that would be a lot more work for them.
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8th April 16, 02:17 PM
#16
Originally Posted by WalesLax
Purely out of curiosity (and possibly out of a drink I had at a wedding last night), can you guys give me an idea of what it would cost to make a kilt out of a personally designed tartan? I understand that this will probably be a target you could drive a truck through, but it would be interesting to know.
I had always figured I would wear something in the Roberts Tartan at my wedding, or something close - other family weddings have used more commercially available but "close" tartans like the Rangers Strath Blue. That said, I think it would be a really interesting idea to make one that incorporates elements of my tartan and her adopted tartan. As warned, this design site has gotten addictive, and I am just curious of what the next step might set me back.
Thank you all in advance,
Rob
My brother and I just went through this. Did a bit of a family campaign to bring more into the project and ended up weaving both 16oz and 10oz. The kilts arrive from the UK this weekend!
Send PM
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9th April 16, 03:03 AM
#17
What a beautiful tartan, Todd!
As an artist who studied design at university, it's interesting to me that though the name of this thread is "tartan design questions" not a single word has been written about tartan design.
Colours: warm, cool, tertiary, complimentary, saturation, etc etc.
Pattern: proportion, balance, consistency of scale, etc etc.
I think it's why I see so many recent tartans which are clumsy, simplistic, graphic-looking, etc.
Todd's above does everything well. It's fantastic.
Last edited by OC Richard; 9th April 16 at 03:04 AM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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9th April 16, 10:47 AM
#18
I liked that one a lot - right until I pasted a bunch of them together to see a larger sample of the pattern and saw the op-art effect. Would it do it in real life? I don't know, but spending $900 to find out didn't seem wise.
I do enjoy the idea of playing with the visual effect of 3-D depth with the designs, or seeing if I can make colors or elements "pop" and stand out (sculpture major in college). Again though, it's one of those things that would need to be woven in order to see if it really happens similarly in wool. If I thought I could break even doing it, I could see designing universal tartans ("fashion tartans" seems like a rather insulting term) having them woven and retailing yardage, but I think you would lose your shirt trying to sell expensive wool to most Americans.
Christmas with square holly
Last edited by Todd Bradshaw; 9th April 16 at 11:21 AM.
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10th April 16, 02:38 PM
#19
Thank you, fellow X-markers, for your input and advice.
I've been working on a preliminary design but due to the limited Internet available whist I'm deployed it's a bit slow going. It is, however, a nice project to chip away at when the net is up.
Please do continue the discussion. Even if I'm not replying to the thread right away it's an excellent topic for the forum.
As to tartan design itself, what is rule of thumb to produce a sett that is about 6 1/2 to 7 inches? Is this too small? Should I scale it up?
Thank you, friends.
The Official [BREN]
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10th April 16, 03:05 PM
#20
Originally Posted by Benning Boy
I Expect to pay more fro an equivalent amount from Dalgliesh. Elliot's might be about the same as MM, but the minimum would probably be more. .
Elliot's minimum order is 10 yds single width.
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