"Hard" tartan

**Orvis** · 20th March 12, 04:02 PM

Whoops! Typos are noticed just after the message has been put "out there!"

Where it says "spinning them into a very tight "hard" worsted cloth" I meant to say "spinning them into a very tight "hard" worsted yarns"

**TheBrus** · 20th March 12, 04:41 PM

Thanks for the interesting presentation. I learned a lot. Is hard tartan what older regimental kilts are made from? I know that they're made from very heavy cloth, but I also noticed that the texture is different. I wasn't sure what accounted for that.

**mookien** · 20th March 12, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by TheBrus

Thanks for the interesting presentation. I learned a lot. Is hard tartan what older regimental kilts are made from? I know that they're made from very heavy cloth, but I also noticed that the texture is different. I wasn't sure what accounted for that.

Good question.

Also, The House of Edgar offers a half dozen "Regimental Tartans" that have more "texture" than other tartans. Are those "less finished" in the same sense, but perhaps to a lesser extent, than the "hard tartan" cloth?

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 21st March 12, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by mookien

Good question.

Also, The House of Edgar offers a half dozen "Regimental Tartans" that have more "texture" than other tartans. Are those "less finished" in the same sense, but perhaps to a lesser extent, than the "hard tartan" cloth?

No, those tartans are all finished, as usual. They are woven from different types of yarns - I believe some saxony yarns - to give a softer and more full texture. See my previous post.

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 21st March 12, 05:12 AM

Originally Posted by TheBrus

Thanks for the interesting presentation. I learned a lot. Is hard tartan what older regimental kilts are made from? I know that they're made from very heavy cloth, but I also noticed that the texture is different. I wasn't sure what accounted for that.

Well, that all depends on what you mean by "older." :-) If you look at regimental kilts from the 1790s, for example, then yes they would have been made from hard tartan.

However, I suspect you mean early 20th century, perhaps, and this would not be the case. The heavy cloth used for regimental kilts has been referred to as "horse blanket weight," and I believe was made using a mixture of worsted and saxony yarns. (The worsted in the warp, and saxony in the weft, if I recall). Peter MacDonald would have more information on this than would I.

But the regimental cloth actually has a softer hand to it than this unfinished hard tartan would.