Help need kilt with a bit of pink

**Hamish** · 2nd April 05, 04:04 PM

Further to my earlier post in this thread. I have now been able to photograph the sample of 'Bruce of Kinnaird - Ancient colours' which Lochcarron weavers in Scotland sent me.

Whilst the colours are not precise in my photo, I believe they are truer than in the example provided by the Scottish Tartans Authority, where they are dark and dull.

For some reason I am unable to reproduce the image in this posting, but it is in my personal gallery here at "X Marks the Scot".

I am most definitely going to order a kilt for myself in this tartan, probably pleated to the stripe - but not the pink one!

**Thistle Stop** · 2nd April 05, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Hamish

Whilst the colours are not precise in my photo, I believe they are truer than in the example provided by the Scottish Tartans Authority, where they are dark and dull.

I think it depends on the type of computer monitor one has. On my laptop, the sample you posted looks garish, almost like Day-Glo colours, whilst the STA example looks closer to the real cloth and much prettier. But on your monitor, the photo you have is more true-to-life. It's devilish hard to get anything like a true representation of colours with a computer. That's why I use Pantones (a universal colour-coding system) to specify colours for my tartan designs, when communicating with clients and the weaving houses. Every weaving mill has its own set of standard colours, which is why examples of the same tartan can look quite different when made by different mills.

At any rate, Bruce of Kinnaird is a beautiful tartan!

The half-sett, full-pivot thread count for this tartan is XR48 DG44 K4 CW12 K4 YT4 K30 AA12 AS12 CW4. The AS is the lighter pink stripe. The A means Ancient, but I don't know what the S designates. Matt, can you clarify that? Also, what would be the usual names applied to XR and CW? I am assuming CW is Clear White -- ? XR is the colour I'm calling Rose. Would you call YT (Yellow Tan) Mustard? And AA (Ancient Azure) Turquoise?

**Hamish** · 2nd April 05, 05:49 PM

Many thanks for your input Cyndi. Of course, what you say is perfectly correct and normally I see the STA interpretations in fairly true colours but, in this instance, the STA red comes up as maroon when, in fact, it's more of a 'tomato red', and the green appears as a very dull khaki instead of what I'd call a yellowish moss green.

I know the Pantone system well, having used it myself many years ago when dealing with catalogue printers and publicity agents in my work. It's an excellent tool.

**Riverkilt** · 2nd April 05, 08:54 PM

Congratulations Gez,

Ain't this board great?!

What an outpouring of information.

Don't overlook the Presley of Elvis tartan, black and pink, sorta like the black Stewart only pink instead of red....what, oh, really...April fool was yesterday...okay, never mind...sorry....

Ron

**Silverlake_Punk** · 2nd April 05, 09:55 PM

Howzabout the Glasgow?

http://clan.com/tartan_detail.html?t...tartan_finder2

**gez** · 3rd April 05, 01:38 AM

thanks to everyone for the replies. you've all given me so much to think about and check up on. Im really grateful - didnt think that i'd get such a healthy response. many thanks. i look forward to speaking to you all soon.

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 3rd April 05, 04:44 AM

One other pink tartan that comes to mind, that I don't know why I didn't think of earlier, is the Red Gordon. In the ancient colors, it is very pink!

Hamish,
The colors on the STA site tend to be off because in their graphics, each thread of the tartan has a small black border. This is excellent for taking an accurate thread count when looking at a close up image of the tartan. However, the more you zoom out, the more the black outlines darken the overall image, which tends to mute the colors.

Cyndi,
I've found that the STA uses abbreviations for colors in their thread counts that I am not familiar with. I havent' discussed it with anyone, but I would assume they have had to go beyond the more standard color codes as used by D. C. Stewart simply to catalog all of the different shades of colors now in use by the woolen mills. I don't know what the "X" indicates in front of "R" which could either mean Red or Rose. But "S" would designate Scarlett.

If I were at work and had access to The Setts of the Scottish Tartans, I'm pretty sure he gives the threadcount for this tartan there, and I could find that for you.
Aye,
Matt

**Thistle Stop** · 3rd April 05, 05:23 AM

Originally Posted by Silverlake_Punk

Howzabout the Glasgow?

http://clan.com/tartan_detail.html?t...tartan_finder2

There are a number of tartans with 'Glasgow' in their names, but I didn't think any of them actually had any pink in them. See http://www.tartansauthority.com/web/...rtan=By+Tartan for a view of them. As Matt said, the STA tartan images have a charcoal-coloured outline on each 'thread' of the tartan, so the overall effect may appear a bit darker than reality in many of the images.

Originally Posted by M.A.C. Newsome

Cyndi,
I've found that the STA uses abbreviations for colors in their thread counts that I am not familiar with. I havent' discussed it with anyone, but I would assume they have had to go beyond the more standard color codes as used by D. C. Stewart simply to catalog all of the different shades of colors now in use by the woolen mills. I don't know what the "X" indicates in front of "R" which could either mean Red or Rose. But "S" would designate Scarlett.

If I were at work and had access to The Setts of the Scottish Tartans, I'm pretty sure he gives the threadcount for this tartan there, and I could find that for you.

Thanks, Matt. I will suggest to Brian that he should put a comprehensive listing of all abbreviations used in the ITI threadcounts somewhere on the STA web site. If there's one there now, I can't find it. But there should be!

I feel really stupid... of COURSE S=Scarlet! How silly of me not to think of it. Duh! I suppose AS makes sense for pink, though I think of Scarlet as being an orangey colour and thus not representative of a clear pink hue as AS (Ancient Scarlet). In the Alberta tartan pink is designated CLR (Clear Light Red), which sounds more 'pinkish' to me!

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 8th April 05, 01:41 PM

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but one of my favorite tartans is Aberdeen, and it does indeed have pink. It's a very old tartan, from 1794, and has a distinctive 18th century look to it.

Click on "Aberdeen" in this index to see a picture:
http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/10oz.html

Doesn't do it justice, IMO!

Aye,
Matt

**arrogcow** · 8th April 05, 04:34 PM

Not sure I'd really call it pink. It has a light purple, a medium red and a light red that when woven through comes out a little on the pink side (my gallery also has a pic both of aberdeen and of the purple heart kilt pin I made on a swatch of aberdeen).

A question on that tartan though. I have an almost nine yard length (which was cut in half and sewn together to make a great kilt - my first kilt). I have been thinking about having it made back into a regular kilt (or perhaps one of your box pleats), but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to pleat it. The sett is too big for either regimental or to stripe. Any suggestions?

Adam