Quote Originally Posted by Brian K View Post
David,

I can't speak from personal experience as I can't afford stock cloth right now, let alone custom, but it has been my understanding that more than 6 colors is highly unusual, so maybe you haven't run into that problem. Indeed, one of the Anderson Clan societies' website made a big deal that their tartan has six colors and needed at one time to be woven on special looms.

In any event another member of this forum who is a friend of mine told me she was having one of her designs woven and it had seven colors. She said she might as well have used a custom color as the upcharge was that great. She's still getting the cloth, but the price is high.

Regards,

Brian
I think this is one of those cases where you've been passed bad gouge by the Andersons (along the lines of the number of colors in a tartan indicating the social standing of the wearer). The Carolina tarta has six colors (r, k, w, y, g, a) and there was no additional charge for the number of colors used and no "special looms" involved.

Was your other friend, perchance, using Scotweb's "tartan designer" computer program? If so, they may have some specific pricing requirements that I am unaware of that do not reflect more usual custom-weaving orders.

David