Stupid Question for the day...

[Southern Breeze]

If it's not a tartan then it's a plaid and therefore a skirt instead of a kilt.

JUST KIDDING!!! I'm still learning about this myself.

[Barb T]

True - the plaid fabric you show is not tartan. In tartan, the same stripes appear in the same order in both warp and weft. In a true tartan, you shouldn't be able to distinguish the warp direction from the weft direction in a small piece, regardless of whether the tartan is symmetric or asymmetric (if that's confusing, please holler, and I'll explain further - but basically, if it's ABCDABCD in the warp, it needs to be ABCDABCD in the weft or ABCBA in both for a symmetric tartan). If different colors or orders of stripes are used in the warp and the weft, it's just plaid fabric, not tartan. So something that's not tartan could have ABCBA in the warp and ABDBA in the weft. The deep teal stripe in the tartan pictured appears only in one direction.

Barb

[Nick]

As I understand it, a tartan is a plaid that has a specific meaning attached to it.

[UmAnOnion]

True - the plaid fabric you show is not tartan. In tartan, the same stripes appear in the same order in both warp and weft. In a true tartan, you shouldn't be able to distinguish the warp direction from the weft direction in a small piece. Could be either symmetric or asymmetric (if that's confusing, please holler, and I'll explain further - but basically, if it's ABCDABCD in the warp, it needs to be ABCDABCD in the weft or ABCBA in both for a symmetric tartan). If different colors or orders of stripes are used in the warp and the weft, it's just plaid fabric, not tartan. So something that's not tartan could have ABCBA in the warp and ABDBA in the weft. The deep teal stripe in the tartan pictured appears only in one direction.

Barb

GOTCHA!!! Thanks Barb!!!

now you wanna run the 'weft to right' thing by me again please - its cold here in NYC & I think i froze my brain....

[Ruanaidh]

now you wanna run the 'weft to right' thing by me again please - its cold here in NYC & I think i froze my brain....

The weft runs right to "weft". The warp is the lengthwise threads, under and over which the side to side threads, the weft, are woven.

[UmAnOnion]

The weft runs right to "weft". The warp is the lengthwise threads, under and over which the side to side threads, the weft, are woven.

so the threads that run PARELLEL to the selvedge are the...???

[Pleater]

so the threads that run PARELLEL to the selvedge are the...???

Warp - a kilt is worn with the fabric turned 90 degrees to the orientation it was on the loom.

The weft is vertical, as worn, horisontal as woven.

[Barb T]

A loom set up to weave tartan is really pretty. The warp threads run front to back on the loom, and the warp is as long as the piece of tartan to be woven. The warp on the loom is a set of color stripes, with the right number threads of each color to make up the sett.

When it comes time to weave the tartan, the weft threads are carried in the shuttle, which goes back and worth creating the web (the fabric). If the warp starts with 4 threads of black, for example, the first 4 throws of the shuttle will be black, giving a 4-thread cross-stripe in black. If the next 24 warp threads are red, the next 24 throws of the shuttle will carry red thread, creating a wide red cross-stripe. The thread not being used is commonly carried up the edge of the warp as a "float" so that it's ready to use again when the next stripe needs to be woven.

Some mills still weave single-width kilting tartan with a kilting selvedge on one edge and the color "floats" on the other. Since one long edge is always cut off to make a kilt with a single width piece of tartan, all the floats don't matter. Many modern mills do selvedges and turns differently, so I think I've only seen this recently with custom weaves from D.C. Dalgliesh.

Cheers!

Barb