recreating tartan from memory 40 years on

[OC Richard]

It was 1975. I was in High School. I had my first practice chanter and the COP book and the Wee Donald records and I had been teaching myself how to play for around a year. My father bought me my first set of pipes for my graduation present.

But what about a kilt??

I was living in the desert, the Coachella Valley, an actual desert with roadrunners and coyotes (not cartoon ones!) and sand dunes. There was nobody around who wore kilts or any such thing.

With our good ol' West Virginia do-it-yourself attitude, I went to the local fabric shop and bought some plaid wool. I was attracted to a certain plaid because it combined tan (we were, after all, in the middle of a desert) and a strong blue (my favourite colour) along with red, black, and white lines.

My grandmother sewed the thing. We had never seen a kilt in person, but were guided by some photos. It was my first kilt!

Not only do I not know where that kilt is, I don't seem to have any photos of my wearing it.

Just now I sat down with a tartan generator programme and experimented with variations on what I can remember of that plaid. Gaudy though it is, I have a certain nostalgia for it.

Here's what I came up with. The background should be a true tan (light khaki). The other colours are pretty close to what I recall, as is the pattern. I really like it! It would be great to have this woven! I'll call it for now 'Coachella'



(EDIT: I removed the first version with the incorrect background colour)