Question about flashes...

[creagdhubh]

I have always been tempted to get a kilt in that tartan. :-) It's the sett with the mist recorded color changes in a single sett repeat.

I have a great-grandmother in my family who was a Storey, which is supposed to be a sept of the Ogilvie clan, so you never know... one day you may see me in one of those!

Do it Matt! I would love to see the Ogilvie tartan being worn, as I have never actually seen it worn in person, but I have always had this odd fantasy of wanting to, hahaha!

If I wasn't such a staunch wearer of Macpherson (Chattan) tartans only, I would most definitely have a kilt made of the Ogilvie tartan - could one even have this complex sett pleated to the stripe if they so preferred?!

Cheers,

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Do it Matt! I would love to see the Ogilvie tartan being worn, as I have never actually seen it worn in person, but I have always had this odd fantasy of wanting to, hahaha!

If I wasn't such a staunch wearer of Macpherson (Chattan) tartans only, I would most definitely have a kilt made of the Ogilvie tartan - could one even have this complex sett pleated to the stripe if they so preferred?!

Cheers,

Generally when this tartan is pleated the kiltmaker has to create a pattern for it, as it would be impossible to pleat to either sett or stripe given the huge repeat size.

[creagdhubh]

Generally when this tartan is pleated the kiltmaker has to create a pattern for it, as it would be impossible to pleat to either sett or stripe given the huge repeat size.

Intriguing indeed. I've always been quite fascinated by the Ogilvie tartan - i.e., it's colour scheme, complex sett, historical apsect, etc. If someone ever commissioned an Ogilvie kilt to be made by you Matt, or if you ever decide to make one for yourself, it would be very interesting to see this process being done, step by step. Either way, photos of each particular step would be awesome - perhaps a nice topic for your blog - this is all hypothetically speaking, naturally.

Cheers,

[Woodsheal]

A 1618 description of Highland dress, by one John Taylor - a Londoner who travelled through Scotland in 1618:

"Their habite is shooes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warm stuffe of diverse colours, which they call Tartane: as for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuffe that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreathes of hay or straw, with a plead about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and lighter stuffe then their hose, with blue flat caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two knots about their necke; and thus are they attyred."

[figheadair]

Intriguing indeed. I've always been quite fascinated by the Ogilvie tartan - i.e., it's colour scheme, complex sett, historical apsect, etc. If someone ever commissioned an Ogilvie kilt to be made by you Matt, or if you ever decide to make one for yourself, it would be very interesting to see this process being done, step by step. Either way, photos of each particular step would be awesome - perhaps a nice topic for your blog - this is all hypothetically speaking, naturally.

Cheers,

We're going a bit off topic but if one was going to get the Ogilvie woven it would have to be the HSL version which is probably the oldest and certainly the most beautiful.

I'm in the early stages of a paper about the Ogilvie/Drummond of Strathallan and their connection with the original tartan used by the Royal Company of Archers.

[creagdhubh]

We're going a bit off topic but if one was going to get the Ogilvie woven it would have to be the HSL version which is probably the oldest and certainly the most beautiful.

I'm in the early stages of a paper about the Ogilvie/Drummond of Strathallan and their connection with the original tartan used by the Royal Company of Archers.

Wonderful, Peter! I would love to read your paper (when it is finished, naturally) on the issue.

Cheers,

[Steve of Lansing]

"We're going a bit off topic but if one was going to...."

I read in another thread recently, the term "floating relevance".

I'm satisfied with the answers to the questions in my original post, so feel free to take this one wherever it wants to go now, fellas!

[The Wizard of BC]

Overthinking this topic just a bit.

Garters to hold up one's hose, and keep them from bagging around the ankles, have been around a long time. Lady's and men's fashion have included hose and/or stockings long before modern elastic. If you look at drawings and paintings as far back as the 16th Century you see pantaloons breeches, plus 4's etc. paired with stockings.

What to do, what to do? The folks of those days could wait around for the invention of elastic, but baggy ankles have always been seen as less than well mannered.

There is a line in the record of Captain, Sir Francis Drake's ships stores logs for 50 pair of garter buckles. C. S. Forrester in his Hornblower series makes reference to the Naval uniform including stockings, garters and buckles. The order of the Garter and our own Clan Crests show a strap with a buckle of a type similar to those described earlier.

Ribbons, cords and ties have been used with clothing for a very long time and the use to hold up your stockings is well known. Our modern idea of flashes hanging from an elastic band is probably a fairly modern development. At least since the development of synthetic elastomers. I suppose natural rubber could have been used before. but the point I am trying to get across is that just because we, today are used to elastic with flashes hanging down does not mean that something to hold up your hose was not used before elastic.