Tartan ID if possible

[Ryan Nielson]

Can someone help me to identify this tartan if it is a tartan at all. My mother went through her stuff and found this. It is wool and I don't know the exact thickness but seems suitable for a kilt. There is 60x60 inches of material. I am not super crazy about this pattern but we might want to make kilt out of this.

[chasem]

I can't help you on the tartan, but 60x60 isn't quite enough fabric to make a kilt. That gives you a little over 3 linear yards, which isn't really enough to work with for kiltmaking.

[Carolina Kiltman]

The only way it could be made into a kilt is to go with the box pleat, and if you are extremely small around, like say a 24" waist and 28-30 around the hips.

[Mac Ghille Sheathanaich]

Greetings Ryan,

I looked through several sources but couldn't place a name to your fabric.

If you want to take the time to look through the House of Tartan listings, it may turn up.

http://www.houseoftartan.co.uk

There are thousands of tartans to look through and each has a good digital picture.

My guess is that you won't find it. As I mentioned, there are thousands of tartans in various Registries, but for every one that is registered, there are unknown numbers that aren't.

Your fabric is a basket-weave type fabric, as opposed to twill weave which is the commonly used type of weave for kiltmaking.

One can identify a twill weave because the weave appears to run in a diagonal line.

The sure-fire way to know if this or any plaid fabric is a tartan, is to fold it diagonally through the solid color blocks. If it is a tartan, the blocks of color and lines will match up at the edges.

All tartans are plaids, but not every plaid is a tartan.

The difference is, that to be a tartan, there have to be the same number and sequence of threads in both directions of the weave. Using the simple test as noted above will prove it.

I wish I could have been more help. but I tried.

Fide et Fortitudine, aye!

Tim in Caldwell

[Paul Henry]

......


The sure-fire way to know if this or any plaid fabric is a tartan, is to fold it diagonally through the solid color blocks. If it is a tartan, the blocks of color and lines will match up at the edges.

All tartans are plaids, but not every plaid is a tartan.

The difference is, that to be a tartan, there have to be the same number and sequence of threads in both directions of the weave. Using the simple test as noted above will prove it......

Tim in Caldwell

This is a good first method but doesn't actually work completely for every tartan, for example most of the Welsh Tartans are more rectangular than square.

But as to your question, it's likely it's a fashion tartan but not the worse for that

[chasem]

This is a good first method but doesn't actually work completely for every tartan, for example most of the Welsh Tartans are more rectangular than square.

And many Welsh tartans are nowhere near the same weft and warp. At least not thread-count-wise, they are often similar color-wise.

[Mac Ghille Sheathanaich]

PaulHenry and Chasem are correct about the Welsh tartans. I would imagine that some of the asymmetrical Scottish tartans would not pass the 'fold it in half diagonally test' either.

The difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical is:

a symmetrical tartan pattern has repeats which are mirror images of the ones that precede or follow. The pattern has a
center point' or 'pivot'. The elements of the pattern which precede or follow the pivot are the mirror images

The elements of an asymmetrical pattern go from nose to tail, in the sense that if the pattern colors are

Black, red, white, green, the next repeat of the pattern would also be
black, red, white, green

In the symmetrical pattern, using the same colors, the pattern would go

black, red, white, green, then reverse...green, white, red, black.

This is a very simplified account of the differences.

Fide et Fortitudine, aye!

T.

[RockyR]

One can identify a twill weave because the weave appears to run in a diagonal line.

The sure-fire way to know if this or any plaid fabric is a tartan, is to fold it diagonally through the solid color blocks. If it is a tartan, the blocks of color and lines will match up at the edges.

I would respectfully disagree with this statement. When making a fly plaid (a 40 to 54" square of fabric with a box pleat sewn in on 1 corver on the diagonal), I've run into DOZENS of 13 and 16 oz tartans from EVERY mill (Lochcarron, HOE, Str, MM, Bat) that do NOT line up on the diagonal. It doesn't mean they're 'not tartans', just that they don't match up square.

MANY times a mill will actually 'adjust' the thread count of a tartan to fit their loom. If there's a section of 50 black threads, but the weaver needs another inch to make the edges line up where they want, they may make that black section 52. Does it change the look of the tartan? Not really... not many KNOW that the mills does this unless they physically sit there and count the threads.

Another example is when tartans have a SMALL thread count. Mills often multiply the thread count by a number to make the sett appear larger, although it may not be the TRUE thread count.

[Carolina Kiltman]

I would respectfully disagree with this statement. When making a fly plaid (a 40 to 54" square of fabric with a box pleat sewn in on 1 corver on the diagonal), I've run into DOZENS of 13 and 16 oz tartans from EVERY mill (Lochcarron, HOE, Str, MM, Bat) that do NOT line up on the diagonal. It doesn't mean they're 'not tartans', just that they don't match up square.

MANY times a mill will actually 'adjust' the thread count of a tartan to fit their loom. If there's a section of 50 black threads, but the weaver needs another inch to make the edges line up where they want, they may make that black section 52. Does it change the look of the tartan? Not really... not many KNOW that the mills does this unless they physically sit there and count the threads.

Another example is when tartans have a SMALL thread count. Mills often multiply the thread count by a number to make the sett appear larger, although it may not be the TRUE thread count.

I discovered this the hard way when I was undergoing the aftermath treatment following cancer surgery, and had to do something to keep from going stark, staring bonkers; I decided do a purled fringe on a fly plaid. . . . there was about a 15-20% difference between warp and weft thread count. It kept me occupied through much of that 12 week bout. Funny thing, it looked square.

[chasem]

My understanding is they change the thread count on warp or weft (i can never keep straight which is which) to make the tartan look square. The threads of one get compacted more in the weaving process, while the lengthwise threads are set. The compression would make it not look square, so they compensate by adjusting the thread count.