Looking for stories, experiences, what have you.

From combing other threads here it seems like the very best swish of all comes from cloth woven with traditional "selvedge" as ably illustrated by our own figheadair, in this paper he published: http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/Tra...e_patterns.pdf ,

Figure one reproduced here:



I have some House of Edgar yardage in my clan red with this selvedge on it, and I really like the pattern.

My Loch Carron Strome tank has the Loch Carron tuck in selvedge that looks like this from the factory:



I think the tuck in selvedge is pretty rugged stuff. These are a different piece of the same patter Loch Carron Strome.

This is a corner of my yardage that was originally fringed three sides of purling ago. Even with the weft threads taken out the selvedge stays in place for days:



And doesn't really want to come out:



I also have an inexpensive (<$200) kilt with a hem in it. This kilt I am willing to wear barefoot on the deck while grilling supper.




So I wore my wedding tank over to my fiance's house one time and within four minutes she commented that the tuck in selvedge tank has a lot lot lot better swish than the hemmed less expensive kilt.

So specifically my question to open this thread is how much durability would I be giving away (and how much more swish would my wife enjoy) moving from tuck in to traditional selvedge?


I can get my clan red in either selvedge, but among the regular and Sobieski variants the one I prefer is only available in traditional selvedge. Clan red is what my clan uses for "dress tartan", this red kilt for me would be specifically for dinner dates, church, perhaps dinner parties, that sort of thing, maybe to an office day at the hospital with no patient care. No field dressing of moose or oil changes and etc.