Harris Tweed Tartans

[KD Burke]

We've found a weaver there who is able to weave us ANY tartan as Harris Tweed.

I'm certain I'm not alone in wondering at the expense of such a wonderful project. While I'm certain it would be substantially more than a custom weave from Dalgleish's, If it's within my means, I could easily be persuaded!

Nick, any possibility of a "ballpark" figure? I have a large jar of loose coins that need a purpose!

[Nick Fiddes]

Nick, any possibility of a "ballpark" figure? I have a large jar of loose coins that need a purpose!

As I mentioned the other day on another thread (http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-update-59374/ - do take a look at the video if you've not noticed it yet!) I do apologise for my premature annunciation. After further discussion with the weavers we've agreed that it makes best sense all round to postpone the launch of this facility until this summer.

Then we'll be able to display a definitive range of yarns for more accurate colour selection. We all feel this will provide a more reliable and satisfactory service all round, not least based on their own previous experience with tartan purchasers who can be fairly particular about their desired shades, and this will greatly reduce the need for complex negotiation. We hope to have the necessary data in July so will be getting it live asap thereafter.

As for price, that's not settled yet, but in ballpark terms I'd anticipate it will be suprisingly reasonable... particularly once you've watched the video and seen all the work that goes into it... :-) Probably much the same price level as any other woven to order wool. Hope that helps meanwhile.

[Jock Scot]

Nick, I hope you don't mind me asking this and I know from experience that Harris Tweed has a bit of a job in being too precise on the cloth weight. With that said, how are you going to sell and compartmentalise the weight of cloth? Heavy? Medium? Light? Roughly and that is probably the fairest way of saying it, how heavy is heavy, for example? Is there a choice of tartan cloth weights? As you well know, for me on the wild and windy West coast of Scotland might prefer a real heavy weight cloth, whilst some one from Australia may well need some thing much lighter? If it is too soon to answer these questions I quite understand, but enquiring minds are beginning to wonder.

If I may say so, I think this is a wonderful idea and I hope the weavers grasp this opportunity with both hands.

[Nick Fiddes]

My understanding at this point is that the cloth is normally produced at a single traditional weight, which is roughly 16oz - basically that of a heavy weight kilt. I gather there are some ideas in development about the possibility of producing alternative fabrics. But if you've seen the video you'll probably appreciate why this would be far from trivial, so I wouldn't hold your breath. And in any case my own feeling is that this would be a traditional product and we should therefore keep it simple and offer it in the traditional way.

[Jock Scot]

My understanding at this point is that the cloth is normally produced at a single traditional weight, which is roughly 16oz - basically that of a heavy weight kilt. I gather there are some ideas in development about the possibility of producing alternative fabrics. But if you've seen the video you'll probably appreciate why this would be far from trivial, so I wouldn't hold your breath. And in any case my own feeling is that this would be a traditional product and we should therefore keep it simple and offer it in the traditional way.

Thank you Nick. Your answer is exactly as I had expected. Moving to alternative fabrics would be tantamount to heresy in my book!

[figheadair]

This is a welcome venture that will do wonders for supporting the Harris Tweed industry. It does though raise an interesting question about what is the difference between tartan and tweed. In the early C19th Wilsons of Bannockburn also sole ain coloured tartan; i.e one or solid coloured.

Given that one can weave a pattern, or otherwise, on both types of cloth I've always made the distinction that 'true' tartan is woven from solid coloured yarn whereas tweed is woven from a mixtured yarn. Thus, the original Balmoral was in fact a tweed and not a tartan. Ditto the Elcho/Hodden Grey.

[Nick Fiddes]

I think you're right figheadair. I've discussed this with a few people recently. And basically the consensus seems to be that the significant difference is that tartans are mostly (now) woven from dyed yarns, whereas tweeds (including tartan tweeds) are made from yarns whose colours are achieved by blending dyed fleece. History is important and interesting. But that seems to fairly describe how it's understood now.

[HeathBar]

The forum members that had gathered at Glasgow, Ky were discussing this and wondering how it was coming along. Then today I was thinking about it on the way home, instead of having material woven for a kilt, how about tweed tartan for jackets. The MacPhersons have something similar to this. I don't know if it is Harris Tweed or not. But could it be woven in a smaller sett in either darker or lighter shades than the tartan would be normally? Any thoughts? Anyone?

[Nick Fiddes]

I'd initially hoped that we could make the new Harris Tweed tartan range available almost immediately. But after further discussion with the weavers, we agreed that it would be in everyone's best interests to do the job as well as possible with a long term view...

What this means in practice is a couple of major technical tasks. One will be to photograph the actual stock yarns, similar to the images of the cones of coloured threads we already show in our Tartan Designer for DIY tartan designs. This is the major source of delay, since the mill is producing a full new set of yarns this summer, so we need to wait until these are ready before we can proceed.

Once we have these, we can not only allow people to design their own Harris Tweed tartans with a good expectation of reasonable shade fidelity, but also then produce a complete new set of computer-generated images for all 'official' recorded tartans, using the most suitable actual thread shades (at least as close as possible to reality as possible, given the inevitable variability in sampling colours). So we'll end up with images that are much closer to what-you-see-is-what-you-get. That's the theory at least.

Hopefully this also answers the second part of your question too. You should be able to adjust shades and sett sizes to your heart's content. As you will know, the tartan is defined by the pattern of the sett, and in most cases it's perfectly legitimate and normal to create it in different shades and sizes according to taste and intended use. So we want to make this as easy and reliable as we can.

Watch this space! I can't give an exact ETA at this point, not least as there is another very large internal technical project we're reaching the latter stages of that really needs to be put to bed first. But I'm optimistic that it will be ready to roll by the autumn.