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  1. #1
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    A weavers thread

    I know for a fact that we have at least two people on this forum who weave tartan. In fact, I've met one of them, and she's weaving up 10 yards of Dutch MacKay for Piper George, which I will turn into a kilt for him, sooner or later. So, since she's shy and hasn't introduced herself, I'm just gonna pull her out of the shadows, myself...

    Rabble, meet Warp and Woof!

    Now, I'm gonna shut up and hope that this thread takes off for the edification of all. For starters, what kind of loom do you have?

  2. #2
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    I have been pondering this myself, as I am still unable to figure out how, exactly, you weave a tartan. What you would need for equipment and such.

  3. #3
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    Southern Breeze is offline Oops, it seems this member needs to update their email address
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    I had a couple questions back in '06 on the difference between hand woven and machine woven tartans.
    http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/t...ght=hand+woven
    I'm naturally curious about the subject as well.

  4. #4
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    To weave tartan, you need what you need to weave any twill fabric... a four-harness or four-shaft (two different terms for the same thing) loom. You need wool yarn... Harrisville makes a fantastic selection.

    My suggestion to beginning weavers is to start by mastering plain weave, using a rigid heddle loom. This sort of loom won't give you what you need to weave twill, having (usually) only two harnesses, but it will give you a reasonably inexpensive window into weaving, and teach you whether you have any interest in proceeding to more complicated weaving techniques, for a relatively small investment.

  5. #5
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    Wallace Catanach, Kiltmaker

    A day without killting is like a day without sunshine.

  6. #6
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    I have a friend who is currently weaving a Duncan tartan for me to make a kilt out of. Next will be the U.S. Army Special Forces tartan!
    Haxtonhouse
    The Fish Whisperer®
    ___________________________________________
    That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by haxtonhouse View Post
    I have a friend who is currently weaving a Duncan tartan for me to make a kilt out of. Next will be the U.S. Army Special Forces tartan!
    I wish I had the room for weaving, it always looked like fun.

  8. #8
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    Looms go from tiny to really enormous in size across the whole range.

    The idea of tartan making is simple enough, the warp threads are usually arranged in pairs of the same colour, so you always have two of even the least amongst them. By doubling or halving the number of all of them you change the size of the sett.

    When hand weaving you could go down to a single thread of a colour to reduce a huge sett size to something manageable, but that is because you can do that on a hand loom. The industrial monsters can only reduce down to two as they work the weft as pairs of threads.

    You arrange the warp threads in the correct order for the tartan, (swear, arrange them in the CORRECT order for the tartan) count them all three times to be certain, then you weave the weft colours in the same order and the same number of threads - assuming it is a symmetrical pattern, of course.

    The pattern is separate from the weaving technique, so you could get a little loom where the threads are lifted or depressed singly, to make the simplest sort of cloth, or for a small project you can create a twill weave lifting the threads by hand.

    Twill weaving raises and lowers the warp threads in pairs, and the selection of the pairs moves across the warp, so you need multiple shafts to pull the different pairs into place. That is what forms the diagonal lines in the finished cloth. I always have to check the convention for the way the diagonals run - though this can't be adhered to where the looms or the finishing make the 'right' side the wrong side.

    I have material where the 'right' side has been brushed, so to get a hard faced cloth and the diagonals correct I have to cut it across the warp and use the inside turned 90 degrees to the normal way of kilt making. It did get me some cheap cloth and kilts.

    Hand loom weavers had a reputation as step dancers as they worked the mechanism of the shafts with their feet.

    Anne the Pleater

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