what happens to imperfect tartan?

[piperdbh]

Suppose a weaver produces a piece of tartan and something goes wrong in the weaving. For instance, a wrong color is used or a thread snags and makes a "pucker" in the fabric or somebody's coffee gets spilled on the fabric. What happens to that piece of fabric? Is it thrown in the garbage or sold as second-quality or used to mop the floor or what? I would assume policy would vary from weaver to weaver, but what do you suppose happens to imperfect tartan?

[KiltedKnome]

I remember several years ago one of the runs of Xmarks tartan came from the finisher with rips in the selvedge. I believe Fraser & Kirkbright (weaving company) put it up for sale in the "remnants" section for reduced price.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Here is a photo of what happens at Lochcarron when a bolt of tartan was woven with an erroneous orange thread in the warp in place of a green.

The thread gets replaced, by hand, in the darning room (so-called because the workers are heard to mutter the phrase "darn it!" each time a new length of cloth is brought in).

Here's the entire length laid across the darning table.


Lest you think that's just Lochcarron, every mill I visited in Scotland, large or small, had a similar quality-control and correction procedure. Here is where House of Edgar cloth is inspected (STA Director Brian Wilton checking out the view).


And errors mended by hand.


I don't know for a fact what happens to cloth that simply cannot be fixed, but I suspect it is either discarded, used for scrap, or sent home with some employee for home use. I doubt very much it is sold, even at a discount, because most mills I know would shudder at the thought of cloth being sold under their name that was not up to their quality standards.

[xman]

THAT'S craftsmanship. Thanks Matt.

[walkerk]

Suppose a weaver produces a piece of tartan and something goes wrong in the weaving.

You get this: http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=3C5T

[MacMillan's son]

You get this: http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=3C5T

So that's where those come from!!

I would imagine that if the imperfection is not over the entire piece or every sett, that they could sell it for swatches too. At $5-$10 a piece they'd make a lot more money than if the material was perfect!

[figheadair]

Pieces that cannot be remaindered, protected designs for example, are usually piece dyed black and sold off as solid cloth.

[Jack Daw]

Color-blind people need not apply.

[piperdbh]

You get this: http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=3C5T

That's a problem in the sewing, not in the weaving.

[kc8ufv]

That's a problem in the sewing, not in the weaving.

And, I still think the first words of the description are quite true. "A remarkable and rare find" - Remarkable because of all the remarks people will make, and rare because it will be rare to find someone willing to wear it.