Sett Size

[Orvis]

As others have said, I look at sett size as a byproduct of cloth weight. The yarns in a 16 oz tartan are thicker than in a 13 oz, so the sett of a 16 oz will necessarily be larger than that of a 13 oz in the same tartan (see illustrations above). Reaching back into tartan history, I've noted that Wilson's & Sons had plaiding and they had kilting setts of the same tartans, and that the kilting setts seemed to be smaller. Figheadair has showed us photos of 18th c. plaids with really large setts (2-1/2 sets to a 27" width), including that tartan set of MacDougall curtains with the 20" sett. Perhaps he could enlighten us on whether there were differences in the sett sizes of kilting and plaiding cloth of the same tartan during the early days of tartan. Thank you in advance!

[figheadair]

As others have said, I look at sett size as a byproduct of cloth weight. The yarns in a 16 oz tartan are thicker than in a 13 oz, so the sett of a 16 oz will necessarily be larger than that of a 13 oz in the same tartan (see illustrations above). Reaching back into tartan history, I've noted that Wilson's & Sons had plaiding and they had kilting setts of the same tartans, and that the kilting setts seemed to be smaller. Figheadair has showed us photos of 18th c. plaids with really large setts (2-1/2 sets to a 27" width), including that tartan set of MacDougall curtains with the 20" sett. Perhaps he could enlighten us on whether there were differences in the sett sizes of kilting and plaiding cloth of the same tartan during the early days of tartan. Thank you in advance!

An interesting question and one for which there is not easy answer for three reasons (this assumes that by during the early days of tartan you mean pre-c1770 and that by kilt we are meaning feileadh beag:

1. There are relatively few extant examples from the period and portraiture of the period ranges from very good to impressionistic.

2. With the exception of the Murray of Tullibardine I don't know of any extant examples/portraits from that period that show the same sett let alone in different sizes.

3. It is not always possible to determine how a fragment of tartan was used. Many of the larger setting pieces were plaids or at least woven with that intention. Some of the small sett pieces have a herringbone selvedge which is an indicator that they were similarly intended for use as plaids but others could have been for a range of clothing including kilts (feileadh beag).

The only evidence for feileadh beag settings we have is from portraits such as those of the MacDonald Boys, James Moray, Yr of Abercairney and the like. Interestingly they generally show large setts, often with a selvedge mark which would suggest that off-set single width plaid material was being used unjoined. This makes sense as people would have been more interested in the garment from material that was available and less concerned about fitting the sett. It was probably the case that the growth of a smaller, non-plaid sett size has its origins with the military where numbers and uniformity would have been the contributing factors.