Plaid Brooches

[Liam]

With a penanular broach you don’t have to pearce the fabric. Gather the fabric and stuff it between the needle and the broach with the needle aligned with the opening of the broach, then rotate the broach.

I have to admit a fondness for a penannular for that application. Down side is the pin must be eased through the fabric and can leave a rather large hole behind. That's why I installed and left it in place, just as I do with my kilt pins.

[Tobus]

Tobus, the so-called 'laird's plaid' isn't worn with a brooch. There are some historic examples of it having been, but that made the plaid unusable so was probably more costume.

Well, I was curious about what difference there was between a day plaid and other types of plaids. I had asked about it in the thread I linked to in my first post here, but got no responses. I see historical examples of plaids being worn wrapped once around the chest and back over the shoulder, both with pins and without pins. This seems easy enough to maintain with no pin or brooch.

But there is an old illustration of ways to unfold it and wrap it totally around both shoulders and torso in place of an overcoat, and it requires a brooch to pin it closed at the front. My interest in a brooch is mainly for these methods of using it as a functional garment for warmth, since there's not really a suitable overcoat for wearing with a kilt. Or, as I said, for letting my wife use it when she gets cold (pinned as a big shawl, cloak, or similar).

What did you mean when you said it "made the plaid unusable"?

[Katia]

With a penanular broach you don’t have to pearce the fabric. Gather the fabric and stuff it between the needle and the broach with the needle aligned with the opening of the broach, then rotate the broach.

I've wondered if this might be a possibility... would probably depend on whether the fabric was thin enough for it all to go through.

I'm in the market for a new plaid brooch for one of my dance costumes, unfortunately; my jewelry was all lost in my move and I doubt it will be found. I'm pretty sure my brooch was with it, so I'll need a new one (if I ever get to go back to dance class, and hence do dance competitions, again). So this post is quite timely for me. I'll just need to be careful on size; I don't want a tiny brooch meant for a woman to pin on a shirt or jacket, but a 3+" regular plaid brooch will also be too big for me.

(Recently I saw the cutest brooch shaped like a Highland Cow and laughed at the thought of using that; after all, the dress code only says "a Scottish brooch." Doesn't say it has to be knotwork/thistle/cross/Luckenbooth and can't be a Scottish cow! LOL. My teacher would tell me I can't wear it and that judges wouldn't like it, though I doubt that from a distance a judge would even be able to tell what it was... when I first started dancing and was only doing performances and didn't have a brooch yet, I just used a small snowflake pin as it probably looked like Celtic knotwork from far away.)

[MNlad]

With a penanular broach you don’t have to pearce the fabric.

That is true, except I had a case of too much fabric or not enough brooch. Bunching all the fabric around the shaft of the penannular I chose to use caused the plaid to hang unnaturally.

[ThistleDown]

Well, I was curious about what difference there was between a day plaid and other types of plaids. I had asked about it in the thread I linked to in my first post here, but got no responses. I see historical examples of plaids being worn wrapped once around the chest and back over the shoulder, both with pins and without pins. This seems easy enough to maintain with no pin or brooch.

But there is an old illustration of ways to unfold it and wrap it totally around both shoulders and torso in place of an overcoat, and it requires a brooch to pin it closed at the front. My interest in a brooch is mainly for these methods of using it as a functional garment for warmth, since there's not really a suitable overcoat for wearing with a kilt. Or, as I said, for letting my wife use it when she gets cold (pinned as a big shawl, cloak, or similar).

What did you mean when you said it "made the plaid unusable"?

As you have probably experienced, Tobus, it's a very awkward bit of kit. The so-called 'laird's plaid' is simply a blanket worn against the chill of the Highlands. I can't imagine that being needed in Texas, but perhaps. If you wrap it around yourself from shoulder to under your opposite shoulder and throw it back over the first shoulder, a simple bodkin through the two layers may hold them together without attaching them to your jacket. That's rarely done, in my experience. There are two problems with it, the first being the new hole created every time you need it for its function as a wrap, and the second, I suppose, is what to do with the bodkin between times. Easier to let the weight of the fabric keep it in place.

The usual way is simply folding the material lengthwise, sometimes doubling it, and draping it over your shoulder. A couple of examples:




Obviously a bit awkward because you must hug it to your body to keep it from slipping down your arm, but that's the way it's done. No pin. I suspect that the reason its called a laird's plaid today is that the gentlemen wearing them are usually just standing about without a lick of physical work to do

The usefulness is obvious in this 1920 picture of two Highland gentlemen:



In the following picture Charlie Maclean is wearing a laird's plaid. The other is in military dress, in which case the plaid has little true function.



Katia referred to dance costumes -- the key there is 'costume'. Dancers wear a fly plaid, a length of light-weight length of tartan gathered at the shoulder and pinned to the jacket. The fly plaid has no function. The same is true of the fly plaid some men -- mainly in North America -- wear with more formal dress.

Liam's example of a penanular brooch still requires that you bore holes in the fabric.

The following pic taken at an Oban Games a long time ago, shows the lairds plaid being worn in several different manners.

[Tobus]

As you have probably experienced, Tobus, it's a very awkward bit of kit. The so-called 'laird's plaid' is simply a blanket worn against the chill of the Highlands. I can't imagine that being needed in Texas, but perhaps. If you wrap it around yourself from shoulder to under your opposite shoulder and throw it back over the first shoulder, a simple bodkin through the two layers may hold them together without attaching them to your jacket. That's rarely done, in my experience. There are two problems with it, the first being the new hole created every time you need it for its function as a wrap, and the second, I suppose, is what to do with the bodkin between times. Easier to let the weight of the fabric keep it in place.

The usual way is simply folding the material lengthwise, sometimes doubling it, and draping it over your shoulder.

Obviously a bit awkward because you must hug it to your body to keep it from slipping down your arm, but that's the way it's done. No pin. I suspect that the reason its called a laird's plaid today is that the gentlemen wearing them are usually just standing about without a lick of physical work to do

I'm sure Texas doesn't get as cold as the Highlands, but our winter temps in my town get down to around 10F (-12C) with cold front winds blowing as high as 60 miles per hour (97 km/hr). I'm typically not kilted in that kind of weather, but we have a Highland Games here in early April where the weather can always be a toss-up. Some years it's 80F/27C and sunny, other years it's below freezing, blustery and wet. We Texans tend to bundle up in the cold. That's why I made this plaid: for the rare occasion when I'm thinking of just staying home because it's too cold to wear just a kilt and jacket.

Yes, I'm aware of the usual ways to wear a day plaid, as I showed in the thread about making it. (Posted again below for reference.) My only need for a brooch/pin is for more complete wrapping and draping lower around my body, where there's not enough weight of cloth over my shoulders to keep it up.

I wouldn't dream of pinning it to my jacket. Just pinning the material to itself to hold it closed. You mentioned a simple bodkin, but I must admit I'm unfamiliar with that term. Google tells me it's a sewing needle, but I don't think that's what you're referring to. Can you elaborate?

I suppose I could use one of my safety-pin style blanket pins like I use for kilt pins, but that seems a little too utilitarian. I'm hoping to find an actual plaid brooch that could serve the purpose for all the different ways of wearing it, when needed.

[ThistleDown]

Looks very good on you, Tobus. Well done!

If you refer to the image of the late Frances Farquharson of Invercauld you'll see how women of today usually wear the plaid, although this was her own and not his. I don't know any male who wear the plaid as a shawl with any sort of pin, but that's not saying it's not done as a bit of affectation.

Apparently you are not worried about holes in the fabric; if that's true then the penanular suggested by Liam is probably a good solution. Or, a simple silver or brass ring through which you pull some of both the under layer and the upper to make a sort of 'rose' through which you poke a bodkin -- a sharp, pointed needle of silver or brass, such that both ends lie over the ring. Usually the bodkin has one sharp end and one formed into loop, a flattened bit of the metal, or a knob. Makes it easier to withdraw. The penanular is just such a fastener with the bodkin captured. I would think this makes the 'rose' pretty clumpy, though.



My wife wears one in wood as a closer for a loosely knitted wool shawl:

[Tomo]

I have been looking into a couple of alternatives to the mass produced kit pins - and trying to steer clear of shiny bling. My two current pins are stag horn and turned ebony. I was looking at hand-forged penannular brooches and vintage luckenbooths and scottish agate brooches - some of the larger one might also be used as a smaller plaid brooch e.g.

[Father Bill]

The penannular brooches (sp?) fascinate me - not that I particularly want one, but more because I haven't understood the description of how to attach them so that they don't just open up and fall off.

Does anyone here have a series of pictures or a video showing how they are applied?

Thanks in advance!

Bill+

[Tobus]

The penannular brooches (sp?) fascinate me - not that I particularly want one, but more because I haven't understood the description of how to attach them so that they don't just open up and fall off.

Liam briefly described it above, but here's a video that shows putting one on. The trick is to have enough fabric bunched/gathered so that it puts pressure on the brooch and pin once it's closed. The pin goes behind the fabric with the ring going over the fabric, and the opening of the ring is in line with the pin. Then the pin is pulled up through the opening, and the ring is turned 90 degrees, locking the fabric between the pin and the ring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0tuwEPYIZw

This, of course, only works for material that's bunched up in a wad and can be passed through.