Gem State Box Pleated

[McElmurry]

I calculate 300 threads in the count making it about 7.5" - 8" sett size depending on the weave. STR states that it is a modification of Black Watch too so all things being equal, I'd say this should box pleat well to either the centred double red line or the pairs of double red lines with somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2.5" wide pleats. PM me if you like, McElmurry. I can send some jpg's your way.

X

I think I have discovered the source of my confusion. The Tartan Ferret color bar does not match the thread count.



B24 R4 B4 R4 B4 G20 W24 T6 W24 G20 B22 R4 B4 R4 B22 G20 W24 T6 W24 G20 B4 R4 B4 R4

The middle of the triple red stripe should be the beginning of the repeat but the blue 24 appears to be missing. Based on the bar I thought they continued the thread count as a mirror image which creates the triple red stripe. So is the bar correct or is there a blue 24 missing from the bar?

[Paul Henry]

I've been trying to find the Gem state tartan, and it took a little searching to work that that it is actually the Idaho District one ( I'm not an American!)
this is the thread count from The Scottish Register of Tartans:
Threadcount: B24R4B4R4B4G20W24T6W24G20B22R4B4R4B22G20W24T6W24G2 0B4R4B4R4

just as a comparison!

[McElmurry]

I've been tryin to find the Gem state tartan, and it took a little searching to work that that it is actually the Idaho District one ( I'm not an American!)
this is the thread count from The Scottish Register of Tartans:
Threadcount: B24R4B4R4B4G20W24T6W24G20B22R4B4R4B22G20W24T6W24G2 0B4R4B4R4

just as a comparison!

I apologies for not using the official tartan name “Idaho Centennial” or “Idaho District.” I shouldn’t speak in riddles when I am asking for help. I am sorry for waisting your time.

The two threadcounts match but the bar doesn’t match the threadcount...unless it is permissible to repeat the threadcount as a mirror image.

[xman]

The two threadcounts match but the bar doesn’t match the threadcount...unless it is permissible to repeat the threadcount as a mirror image.

heh, I didn't really look that hard at the colour bar so I didn't notice. I read the thread count and 'saw' the tartan from that.

[RockyR]

Depends on the weight.

16oz Strome from LochCarron runs about 50 threads per inch. 16oz House of Edgar runs about 50 threads per inch. I don't have anything else here to measure. I would expect lighter weight cloth to have more (thinner) threads per inch.

I was just fringing material and had a bit left over so I did an experiment...

I cut EXACTLY 1 inch and counted the threads as I fringed the weft. HOE's 13 oz cloth had 47 threads in exactly 1 inch of material. I'd expect HOE or Lochacrron's 16 oz to have about 38 to 40 threads at most per inch.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The color strip, as you show it, seems to have an error in it. Did it come from the STA web site? If so, I'd email Brian Wilton just to make him aware. There are some bugs in how tartans from their Index get transferred to the web site. I've discovered some tartans where the color strip is correct, but the larger image is wrong, and vice versa.

The Idaho tartan is simply a Black Watch variation. Normally if I am making a 4 yard box pleated kilt from any Black Watch variant tartan I'll pleat to whatever stripe is on the half-sett (which in the BW tartan is the black stripe on the green; for Gordon it would be the yellow line; for Lamont/Forbes the white line, etc).

However, in this case, that would be the brown stripe on the white background. If you want to pleat to show the red on blue, that can be done, but every other pleat would be different. One pleat with have the single pair of red lines, and the next would have the double pair. That could make a nice looking kilt -- there are no rules that say all the pleats must be the same! :-)

You might be able to have the kilt truly pleated to the stripe (let's say every pleat has the single pair of red lines on it), if the sett size were sufficiently small. Whether or not this is possible really has a lot to do with thread count.

We can scratch our heads and try to guess at the sett size based on the thread count recorded with the STA, but that does not necessarily have any bearing on the actual cloth. I could send that thread count in to the weavers with instructions to "weave with a 7/5" repeat," or "weave with a 12" repeat" and they would simply adjust the thread count accordingly to achieve the desired sett size.

Do you have any cloth in hand in this tartan? If you are thinking of commissioning a special weave, you can simply state the desired sett repeat.

[McElmurry]

The color strip, as you show it, seems to have an error in it. Did it come from the STA web site? If so, I'd email Brian Wilton just to make him aware. There are some bugs in how tartans from their Index get transferred to the web site. I've discovered some tartans where the color strip is correct, but the larger image is wrong, and vice versa.

The color strip shown above came from the STA site. I have sent a comment to them addressed to Brian Wilton.

Do you have any cloth in hand in this tartan? If you are thinking of commissioning a special weave, you can simply state the desired sett repeat.

I do not have a swatch but I am working on getting one.

Thanks to everyone for all the help. I am very new at this.