Used to be that tartan came with the "face" or good side marked for the reasons that Matt mentioned. I've even gotten single-width tartan that has the kilting selvedge marked (although that's typically easier to distinguish!). As Matt said, now both faces are pretty much equally good. There's only one mill that I get tartan from that still marks the good side and consistently folds the good side in (as most nice single-sided cloth used to be sold in fabric stores), but even they only do it for custom weaves.

I agree with Matt. The traditional way of making a kilt is twill line right to left top to bottom, but it's something that no one's ever going to notice. And there's no structural reason for it. In terms of things to be unhappy about in a kilt, it's _way_ down at the bottom of the list!!

Barb