Solution for an ugly tuck-in selvedge

[Barb T]

Since you are presently working with this specific material, could you please tell me the width of the sett ( so I can check my understanding & measurement; And: is an symetric taratan [as I think} or an asymetrical tartan)?
thanks
jhockin

It's the Ancient MacNaughton, and the sett is roughly 10". Although at first glance, it looks like the sett ought to be from one narrow blue/black/blue stripe to the next, adjacent blocks with these stripes are actually different. The "A" center stripe below is bordered on both sides by red then blue, and the "B" center stripe is bordered on both sides by red then green. So the full sett is measured between the two "A" center stripes. And it is a symmetric tartan - you can fold the tartan on either the A stripe or the B stripe, and it's identical in either direction.



And, just as an aside since I've posted stuff before on ABAC tartans such as the Black Watch, the MacNaughton is *not* an ABAC tartan.

[RockyR]

And, just as an aside since I've posted stuff before on ABAC tartans such as the Black Watch, the MacNaughton is *not* and ABAC tartan, because the black stripes are not pivots.

I always considered this one an ABAC tartan and am pretty sure that the black stripes are pivots. I chacked the STA's thread count and show it as "K4B4SL52B26K26HG50SL52B4K4" (for those who don't know, 'K' is black). It shows a K on both ends which I believe would make that the pivot.

What is the reason that it's not an ABAC tartan? I'm not trying to be rude, I am honestly curious b/c I know you're very knowledgable in these things...

[Barb T]

I always considered this one an ABAC tartan and am pretty sure that the black stripes are pivots. I chacked the STA's thread count and show it as "K4B4SL52B26K26HG50SL52B4K4" (for those who don't know, 'K' is black). It shows a K on both ends which I believe would make that the pivot.

What is the reason that it's not an ABAC tartan? I'm not trying to be rude, I am honestly curious b/c I know you're very knowledgable in these things...

In order to be a pivot, the colors need to be identical in sequence and width on each side of the pivot. So, let's take one of the wide black stripes for example.

In the MacNaughton, you see the following:

red blue black green red

For the wide black to be a pivot, it would have to be

red blue black blue red

OR

red green black green red

And the two "greens" or the two "blues" would have to be the same width.

Another way of thinking about it is to imagine the wide black stripe as the center stripe of the apron. The two halves of the apron wouldn't look like mirror images. So, the wide black is not a pivot.

Here's a more obvious example. In the Bell tartan below, neither the narrow black stripe nor the wide black stripe is a pivot (and either is analogous to the black in the MacNaughton). The triple yellow is a pivot, as is the red bordered by green. But they are the only pivots.