Important Announcement: D.C. Dalgliesh Ltd

[Paul Henry]

I really have to ask and I ask out of interest and not for any other reason.

Do people really and how often, do they take that much bother over choosing the precise colours for their kilts? Particularly with established tartans?

Alright I can see if its a brand new, to the world, tartan has just been born, then care on choosing the right shades of colours might be an issue, but anything more?

From a production run point of view and the cost point of view, this sort of minute detail must have a huge inpact on the end price. I suspect that price is about to rise rather a lot in the near future.

Jock , yes there are some that agonise over precise colours, less so here in the UK. I think it is part of the "matchy matchy" concerns, which matters much less here.

It constantly surprises me that that so much time is taken with posts about what hose/shirt/tie etc to wear and whether it is right or wrong.

Of course a kilt or tartan is a considerable investment and needs to be right, and perahps needs to be what we think we are getting in terms of colour as well.Sometimes I think a slightly more relaxed approach would be a good thing.
Weaving and colour choices are not an exact science, there are many variables and I for one generally think of this as a good thing, a chance to own something unique, and it's something that happens much less with a huge commerical concern, I like the individuality.

The important thing about DC Dalgleish is that they have been able to weave any colourway in just about any design that they are asked too, I, and my customers have benefited from their good works , and if they don't survive, there will be an enormous void. so thank you Nick, for what you are doing and all good wishes for the future

[bonnie heather]

D.C.Dalgliesh is indeed a National Treasure for Scotland and people all around the world who love and want beautiful tartan woven in the time honored way.

As others have said, it would be a tragic loss to no longer be able to have unusual tartan woven in small amounts. It's also sad to think that weaving tartan fabric with a good-looking traditional natural flat selvedge might become a lost art.

This month I'm making several kilts with D.C.Dalgliesh tartan fabric and it is so beautifully made and such a joy to work with.

Nick, thank you so much for all you're doing. I'll do my best to help spread the word about this very precious mill.

[Nick Fiddes]

I really have to ask and I ask out of interest and not for any other reason.

Do people really and how often, do they take that much bother over choosing the precise colours for their kilts? Particularly with established tartans?

Alright I can see if its a brand new, to the world, tartan has just been born, then care on choosing the right shades of colours might be an issue, but anything more?

From a production run point of view and the cost point of view, this sort of minute detail must have a huge inpact on the end price. I suspect that price is about to rise rather a lot in the near future.

I'd say you've answered your own question. Many people, rightly in my view, accept that tartans have always been of variable shades, and that's part of the joy. But others, rightly in my view, care very much about precise shades, for their own very good reasons.

Our job is to strive for consistency and clarity, and we'll be doing our best to put systems in place to achieve that. But once a routine system exists, there's no reason it should add unreasonably to costs. It's special non-routine work that really costs.

So my expectation is that we might charge a reasonable fee for thread samples, much as we do for swatches of stock tartans, but then make this refundable against an eventual order. Small hanks of the kind AKScott suggests is very much what I'd have in mind.

But otherwise whilst I've already said that prices will almost certainly have to rise, I don't at this point believe that such a rise will have to be enormous. At least I really hope not. But first we have to do the sums.

[KD Burke]

For what it's worth, there is now a banner link to DC Dalgliesh from the St. Andrew's Society of Jacksonville website. I've forwarded Dr. Fiddes' remarks to our Board of Managers with a recommendation that it be shared with our membership.

[Nick Fiddes]

For what it's worth, there is now a banner link to DC Dalgliesh from the St. Andrew's Society of Jacksonville website. I've forwarded Dr. Fiddes' remarks to our Board of Managers with a recommendation that it be shared with our membership.

It's worth a lot to us. Many thanks! :-)

[Barb T]

D.C. Dalgliesh is a treasure, and those of us who make kilts and prefer their tartan over any other are truly grateful that you and Adele have stepped up to make the company viable.

Over the last 15 years, I've made about a dozen kilts for Dave, Carolyn, and me, only a few (3 band kilts) have not been made from Dalgliesh tartan. 6 of them have been Dalgliesh custom weaves that we would not have been able to get as single kilt lengths anywhere else. I would be desolated without them!

I will do what I can to promote their tartan and also order a couple of lengths that I've been putting off ordering.

[kc8ufv]

Jock , yes there are some that agonise over precise colours, less so here in the UK. I think it is part of the "matchy matchy" concerns, which matters much less here.

It constantly surprises me that that so much time is taken with posts about what hose/shirt/tie etc to wear and whether it is right or wrong.

Of course a kilt or tartan is a considerable investment and needs to be right, and perahps needs to be what we think we are getting in terms of colour as well.Sometimes I think a slightly more relaxed approach would be a good thing.
Weaving and colour choices are not an exact science, there are many variables and I for one generally think of this as a good thing, a chance to own something unique, and it's something that happens much less with a huge commerical concern, I like the individuality.

The important thing about DC Dalgleish is that they have been able to weave any colourway in just about any design that they are asked too, I, and my customers have benefited from their good works , and if they don't survive, there will be an enormous void. so thank you Nick, for what you are doing and all good wishes for the future

It depends on the intent of the tartan. Sometimes it is made to invoke a certain feeling, and needs a certain color set to do that (thinks of the Cthulu tartan that is in the works...) while most tartans don't need that.

[AKScott]

I really have to ask and I ask out of interest and not for any other reason.

Do people really and how often, do they take that much bother over choosing the precise colours for their kilts? Particularly with established tartans?

Alright I can see if its a brand new, to the world, tartan has just been born, then care on choosing the right shades of colours might be an issue, but anything more?

I went through this for my wedding. If it was just me I would have ordered clan green and then if I needed more shirts or whatever to build a few outfits, so be it.

It is _extremely_ important to us that the bridesmaids dresses not clash with the tartan in my kilt, my nearest clan cousin with a kilt in my tartan is about 1,000 miles away in Seattle, most likely.

I guess in my situation tartan is new to my world.

But same modern palette I pictured with less than five meters of yarn would be the same yarn sample to send to someone from each of Clan MacMustard, McPickle, MacCatsup and Black Watch and Royal Stewart and Hunting Stewart. I guess Isle of Skye might be one of a few exceptions.

I imagine no one is profiting five pence per transaction in the swatch trade.

And I would really like to get a feel for my options in ancient or muted, for a lot less than I spent on red and green swatches ;-)

Anyway, Nick's call. I logged in the next morning after naming the elephant on the carpet wondering if I wouldn't find myself banned.

[Graham A. Robieson]

Greetings,

My mums personal tartan was a K7 weave, I do abit of weaving myself, using traditional methods, as in table looms, as I am a volunteer weaver for the woodside weavers in Glenrothes, after reading your statement, I saw the name 'Brian Haggis' who was the guy who was supposed to have saved the tweed industry (but didn't exactly do it), as I saw a documentry about him and the harris tweed, I'm big supporter for historical methods for weaving, and theres nothing like weaving a tartan by hand.

All the best,


Graham

Another Note: I will be spreading the word, as far as I can, and I hope all good things come to keep Dalgliesh going.

[AKScott]

So my expectation is that we might charge a reasonable fee for thread samples, much as we do for swatches of stock tartans, but then make this refundable against an eventual order. Small hanks of the kind AKScott suggests is very much what I'd have in mind.

But otherwise whilst I've already said that prices will almost certainly have to rise, I don't at this point believe that such a rise will have to be enormous. At least I really hope not. But first we have to do the sums.

I can see you are going to have to charge something for the time and postage. No reason to not use the extra 2 meters of warp threads from every time you change a pattern on a loom as the raw material for thread/ yarn samples.

Just watched the video ;-)

Heck, send two meters of each color, that will save the time of cutting the scrap into quarters and still ought to be cheap to ship.