[Barb T.]

I was laying out a kilt yesterday and discovered the ugliest tuck-in selvedge I've ever seen on a piece of kilt fabric. The fabric is double width, and one selvedge is fine, but the other looked like this on what I consider to be the right side of the fabric:


For some reason, the loom didn't cut off the turned threads flush with the fabric, and the cut threads formed a 1/4" fuzzy fringe all along the length of the fabric. One solution would have been to make the kilt with the wrong side up - for those of you who don't make kilts, this isn't the end of the world, because, unlike printed fabrics, tartan looks the same on both sides. But, traditionally, kilts are made with the twill line slanting from right hip to the lower left corner of the apron, and that would have put the fuzzy selvedge on the right side of the kilt.

So, I trundled over to Walmart and bought a $5, battery-operated fabric shaver with a small head (this little cheapie one has a head only about 1 1/2" across). I put the tartan over my knee to curve the fabric and make the fringe stand up a little, and I shaved the fringe off. Didn't touch the tartan at all.

You'll see the difference below!! On the left, you'll see the shaved part. Not only is that awful fringe gone, but the black stripe that was hidden by the fringe now shows. I left some of the fringe on the right so that you could see the difference.


As I was shaving the tartan, my husband looked over and said, "I can see an XMarks post coming...."

[Hendry]

Hey, I've seen that tartan somewhere before, lol!

[runewolf]

Those things are handy for all sorts of things! My wife didn't understand why I was upset when I couldn't find mine until I showed her one of my favorite white dress shirts with several little pills on it that made me not want to wear it.

[Barb T.]

Hey, I've seen that tartan somewhere before, lol!

Yah - it is your tartan. It will look much better made into a kilt with the fringe shaved off!!!

[RockyR]

If it's Lochcarron Strome, then the 'good side' IS the twill running this direction: ////

If it's ANY OTHER kind of tartan fabric, then the twil should be going this direction: \\\

I spoke to Doug, the sales manager for Lochcarron, and he explained (in great detail) how they do their selvedge and that on their Strome (16 oz wool) fabric, the selvedge comes out backwards, but on every other line of their fabrics (Brareach, reiver, etc) and any other mill's fabric, they do it the 'regular' direction.

I've thought about using the shaver for that exact purpose... glad to see it worked! I'll have to go pick one up.

[Barb T.]

Originally Posted by RockyR

If it's Lochcarron Strome, then the 'good side' IS the twill running this direction: ////

If it's ANY OTHER kind of tartan fabric, then the twil should be going this direction: \\\

The tartan in the photo isn't Lochcarron tartan, actually, and I've never seen this kind of horrible fringe on Lochcarron tartan (although maybe some of the rest of you have).

Just as another note, Lochcarron used to weave their fabric with the right side \\\\\\. When they switched to the tuck-in selvedge, they switched twill directions on their Strome for the right side of the fabric. I actually still try to use Lochcarron fabric with the \\\\\ as the right side. Sometimes this requires working their thread joins to the other side of the fabric. And the Lochcarron selvedge is pretty good on both sides, at least in the Strome pieces that I've used in the last few years.

[Hendry]

I've passed this on to the others who purchased some of this same bolt, I believe the same manufacturer had some selvedge issues with a past run of the XMTS tartan as well.

[Barb T.]

Originally Posted by Hendry

I've passed this on to the others who purchased some of this same bolt, I believe the same manufacturer had some selvedge issues with a past run of the XMTS tartan as well.

I believe that you are correct!

[Barb T.]

Originally Posted by RockyR

I'll have to go pick one up.

Before I went out to buy mine, I Googled "fabric shavers" and found lots of different kinds. The only one I could find at our local stores, though, was a tiny, cheap, battery operated one with a really little head. I'd hate to have to take the pills off a whole sweater with it! But in retrospect, I'm glad it was the only one available, because I think the tiny head is a real advantage in shaving the selvedge fringe, because it only touches a small area of the fabric, particularly if you curve the fabric over your knee.

I have no idea how long it will last, but I don't expect to have to do this very often. FYI, it's an "Evercare" Fabric Shaver, and both our Walmart and our Target carry them in the aisle with the irons (took me awhile to locate them...).

[Alan H]

Hummm....very helpful, thanks!