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  1. #1
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    Surprise with the US Air Force Reserve Pipe Band Tartan

    Many, many years ago, when our daughter first started Air Force ROTC in college (she's a piper, and now actually plays for the USAF Reserver Pipe Band), I made her a US Air Force tartan kilt out of the stock fabric that Strathmore weaves and lists as US Air Force. It's only 10 oz, and I wasn't very happy with it as a kilt (although it is nice fabric). When she commissioned in the Air Force, I had a custom weave done in 16 oz at DC Dalgliesh, and I sent a swatch of the 10 oz so that they could match the sett. Here's the kilt:





    OK! So all was good until I had a client order a kilt last summer, and he wanted heavy weight USAF, so I went to the Scottish Tartans Authority and found the sett:



    The thumbnail at the Register of Scottish tartans shows the same sett:



    I did a screen shot, and sent it to Dalgliesh for a custom weave. I just about had a heart attack when I got the tartan, because it didn't match Carolyn's kilt. The shades of color were different (which isn't all that surprising), but I was stunned that the sett wasn't the same. In the photo below, the new weave is on the left, and Carolyn's weave (which matched the 10 oz tartan from Strathmore) is on the right. Those of you with sharp eyes will immediately see the difference - an extra dark blue stripe between the red and the light blue in the STA/Register version.



    Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the sett in the new weave matches the tartan listed as the US Air Force Reserve Pipe Band tartan at both STA and the Register of Scottish Tartans and that the Strathmore weave does not. I couldn't actually find a tartan in either the STA or the Register that matches the Strathmore sett. (And, BTW, my husband's AF tartan shirt is also the "wrong" sett....)

    So here's what the tartan with the Register sett looks like made up into a kilt. Very handsome, but quite different from Carolyn's:

    Last edited by Barb T; 14th November 11 at 08:26 PM.
    Kiltmaker, piper, and geologist (one of the few, the proud, with brains for rocks....
    Member, Scottish Tartans Authority
    Geology stuff (mostly) at http://people.hamilton.edu/btewksbu
    The Art of Kiltmaking at http://theartofkiltmaking.com

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