Belting the Plaid: How'd They Do It??

[The Wizard of BC]

I have a friend and customer here in Victoria who lives in the Great Kilt as part of what this thread has dubbed "Experimental Archeology".
He uses a piece of cloth of the weight of an army blanket because that is about what a hand loom of the age would and did produce. (His wife wove it)
The length is about 4.25 yards and length 54" as it is two pieces sewn together. The length and width are perfect for rolling up in at night as a sleeping bag.

He wears the Leine constantly. (He washes his about every 3rd day but in the Highlands it would have been washed about once every other week or so.) His Leine is hand woven of Wool and about the thickness of a Pendleton Wool shirt.
The other clothing he uses are a pair of "Ghillie" shoes. Basically three layers of Elk hide for a sole and laced up the calf. In cold weather he adds leggings of rabbit fur, fur side in, laced with the shoelaces.
A long leather belt with no buckle. Instead it uses a horn toggle.
A large shoulder/belt pouch to carry everything he owns when in the field.
A large bladed knife in a belt/shoulder strap.

In the morning there are all sorts of things that need attending to like stoking the fire for breakfast, fetching some water, and his ablutions.
His method of getting dressed is this;

Roll out of the blanket and wrap it around his shoulders.
Go Stoke the fire.
Find the latrine and relieve himself.
Fill a water skin and splash water on his face, hands, feet, pits, and crotch. Dry off with the blanket.

Go back to the camp and put the breakfast on the fire.

Finally, standing in front of the fire to get warm he pulls the blanket over his head and shrugs it around his shoulders.
He then grabs his belt and flips it around his waist and fastens it in place catching the blanket in the process.

Voila, he is dressed.

He does it standing and it takes all of a minute to do.
To get the sort of effect and imaging what it looks like find a picture of a ladies Arasaid. Same sort of look.
It's a Leine and Brat sort of look.

After he is warm he drops the top of the blanket off his head and pins it in front with a pennanular brooch. Over both shoulders and Pinned a little to one side so it won't get caught when he slings his pouch over his shoulder before going out to tend the sheep or chop some wood.

Does it give the look of those in the portraits? No, I'm sorry it doesn't, but it works very well, is practical, and simple.

I think we tend to forget that hand woven fabric are far thicker and heavier than those we use today. To me the army blanket weight is exactly what I would want around me in the damp Scottish Highlands.

[Woodsheal]

I have a friend and customer here in Victoria who lives in the Great Kilt as part of what this thread has dubbed "Experimental Archeology".
He uses a piece of cloth of the weight of an army blanket because that is about what a hand loom of the age would and did produce. (His wife wove it)

Steve,

A couple of notes for your friend:
Lose the penannular brooch. They are an Iron Age/Dark Age item that fell out of use in the medieval period, long before belted plaids were worn. He should use a bodkin.

Also, surviving early plaids (I don't think any extant examples date to earlier than ca. 1700), are all described as "thin" and "hard" as opposed to thick, heavy, and blanket-like. See Dunbar's History of Highland Dress for examples of what I'm referring to. And, here's a period description of the "finer and lighter" plaids differing from the heavier tartan woven for hose and "jerkins":
http://medievalscotland.org/clothing/refs/taylor.shtml

[The Wizard of BC]

I never said that my friend was trying to recreate a history book correct look.

I said that he was living with what he has available and with what works.
They tried lighter weight fabrics and they were fine for show but when it came down to living, working, and keeping dry and warm they found the heavier weight and slightly fuzzy nap of the fabric to work the best.

To this group, who are all Anthropology and Archeology Professors, it is what works that is important. So they all know the books. Many of them can quote them from memory.

They use what the people of period would have had, and what they could have traded for. Saffron, for example, to dye their Leine was available and traded to the islands from southern Spain, but is literally worth its weight in Gold.
The Penannular Brooch is an heirloom. It's an actual one that has been passed down in the family.

Another example is their weaving of fabrics.
When weaving they don't always weave Tartan. Some times they weave Madras Plaids, sometimes stripes, sometimes Tweed. It depends on what and who they are weaving for and the mood of the weaver at the time.
Sometimes they weave lighter weight fabrics for summer and sometimes heavier weight ones for winter.

So these people, eventhough they know what is written in the books, and follow them as much as possible, find that not everything is in the book. Much of what is in the book is sometimes a strangers interpretation of what they saw, and sometimes was written long after the fact and sometimes was second or third hand verbal when it was finally written down.

So if it's cold and wet and snowy they grab what's warm and hang the description in the book. The idea is to find out what it takes to stay alive.

[Woodsheal]

Oh. I thought they were trying to get a handle on what was used historically, not what works better now. Stainless steel works better, too, but they didn't have it 300 years ago.

The fact remains that existing/surviving plaids from the period are thin, tightly woven, and fine-yarned, which match the period descriptions, as well. Sure, a nice thick modern blanket will keep you nice and toasty, but it doesn't replicate what was historically utilized in terms of tartan plaids worn belted. If the latter isn't the desired experience, then no problem. If not, then why not add water-proof, rip-stop nylon to the mix?

Here's another period mention of the "fineness" of men's plaids:
http://medievalscotland.org/clothing...tinwimen.shtml

[Woodsheal]

It's also worth mentioning that Stewart of Garth describes highlanders as wearing their plaids "doubled" or folded in half to double the thickness and increase warmth. Look closely and you can see that the plaid in this period image is so doubled:

[Am Bàrd]

There's a supposed account in 'The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands 1934' that describes how a Highland Chief around the time of the '45 would have put on a Belted Plaid - however it's using a servant and keepers for the belt. Perhaps the gentry used loops for the belt, while common clansmen wouldn't - I doubt the gentry would be found sleeping in fields in the their plaids (or perhaps their dress plaids as they might do so on campaign if better accommodation wasn't available or stealth was needed) so this might be plausible.

It's located here, near the bottom of the page:
http://books.google.com/books?id=xHA...age&q=&f=false

The same book has some interesting accounts of wear, though the author draws some very suspect conclusions throughout.

I recently cut a 4.5yd x 60" swath from a bolt of tartan that I have, for a Belted Plaid and have done some experimenting. I've tried both laying down and standing up methods, and I personally prefer the standing method as I find it much much faster. Gathering the pleats in one hand, draping, belting and arranging can all be done in just a few minutes with little practice, while laying the plaid out takes space and considerable time to pull into pleats though it does produce nicer pleats.