Where to buy tartan in UK?

[Iain Ruaidh]

Thank you all for the info so far..
@figheadair I will PM you in a few months time when my kilt fund goes critical and I have to Go For It!

Meantime, I'm going to look up Andrew Elliot. New one on me!

[joe=totale]

Hi folks. Thanks for a very interesting thread. I'm currently checking out options for buying tweed / tartan in the UK, so this has been helpful. (Although I am somewhat overwhelmed, even limiting myself to weavers in Scotland / Yorkshire).

I think there was a question about whether Andrew Elliot is available to buy direct from the weaver - and I think they might. They list a price per metre for all their fabrics, and I think their Stock Estate Tweed is their heavy weight option (100% new wool, 150cm wide, £60 per metre.)

There isn't an option to "add to shopping basket", but their Contact Us page invites emails if you're interested in buying.

I hope this is helpful. I'm very new here, so certainly not trying to teach experienced hands how to suck eggs

[joe=totale]

I got so carried away with my previous reply, that I forgot to ask my question, hopefully relevant to this thread. Can anyone recommend UK suppliers/ranges that are known for providing a good, useable selvedge? I'm keen to avoid "tuck under" and it would help me narrow down my long list of companies.

If helpful, I'm currently thinking of going for a heavyweight, pure wool, and probably a tweed rather than proper tartan.

[I've been reading @figheadair's paper on historical selvedges and it's quite fascinating how these have been treated. It's a shame we're losing some of these quality elements as mass production techniques take over in the interest of lower cost of manufacturing]

[figheadair]

I got so carried away with my previous reply, that I forgot to ask my question, hopefully relevant to this thread. Can anyone recommend UK suppliers/ranges that are known for providing a good, useable selvedge? I'm keen to avoid "tuck under" and it would help me narrow down my long list of companies.

If helpful, I'm currently thinking of going for a heavyweight, pure wool, and probably a tweed rather than proper tartan.

[I've been reading @figheadair's paper on historical selvedges and it's quite fascinating how these have been treated. It's a shame we're losing some of these quality elements as mass production techniques take over in the interest of lower cost of manufacturing]

All of Andrew Elliot's cloth has a selvedge; most of HoE's cloth does; and some of Lochcarron's material does (so you'd need to check).

I have been working with Lochcarron and their new British range of wool which in my opinion is the best tartan on the market. They have been excellent at recreating a traditional selvage based on my research. Here's a project currently being woven.

Strathspey Waistcoat reconstruction-3-sm.jpg

Strathspey Waistcoat reconstruction-2-sm.jpg