Not Black Watch, but not too shabby

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Regarding the direction of the twill in kilts, the entire reason why the twill lines are "supposed" to run up towards the right in kilts is because that's typically the direction they run when you make the kilt with the right (face) side of the fabric out.

As has been stated, with Lochcarron's Strome (16 oz) cloth, the face of the fabric actually has the twill running in the opposite direction.

No big deal. I always make my kilts from Lochcarron cloth with the good face of the fabric out, like you are supposed to. Sure, the twill runs counter to most kilts, but so what? There is nothing magic about the direction the twill runs. What is important is that the good face of the fabric (without flaws) is on the outside of the garment.

Most of the kilts I have made have, in fact, been from Lochcarron Strome and I've never had ONE single person ask about the twill running the "wrong" way.

[HarborSpringsPiper]

THIS JUST IN...

It has the feel of a blend, and not the nicest one ( sort of like those blankets we used to get in jail )

Uh, never mind . . .

[dfmacliam]

THIS JUST IN... It has the feel of a blend, and not the nicest one ( sort of like those blankets we used to get in jail )

hence the name MacLowlife, eh?..

[turpin]

Regarding the direction of the twill in kilts, the entire reason why the twill lines are "supposed" to run up towards the right in kilts is because that's typically the direction they run when you make the kilt with the right (face) side of the fabric out.

As has been stated, with Lochcarron's Strome (16 oz) cloth, the face of the fabric actually has the twill running in the opposite direction.

No big deal. I always make my kilts from Lochcarron cloth with the good face of the fabric out, like you are supposed to. Sure, the twill runs counter to most kilts, but so what? There is nothing magic about the direction the twill runs. What is important is that the good face of the fabric (without flaws) is on the outside of the garment.

Most of the kilts I have made have, in fact, been from Lochcarron Strome and I've never had ONE single person ask about the twill running the "wrong" way.

In fact, my weathered Gordon by Matt in Strome has the twill running up to th right and the fluff side of the selvedge is on the inside. So apparently it's not a hard and fast rule. Although, it WAS from the old and rare collection, so maybe they weave that differently.

[vorpallemur]

Of all the kilts in all the world I had to run into a 16oz Lochcarron Strome - no wonder it looked slightly coarse.

No wonder the wearer looked a bit miffed - he must have paid dearly for it.

It seems rather strange though, for just that one company to create a top of the range product which looks wrong when made up - it took me a couple of minutes to work out what it was, but eventually the penny dropped, and /// does look wrong, even from a few feet away.

Which way the twill lines run in a fabric is a function of how the loom is run, and how the weaver runs the loom depends on what effect they're after. With tartans, the twill lines are expected to be distinct. that's done by arranging the warp and weft threads to be twisted in opposite directions when they're on the face of the fabric. If you've got S twist yarns, the twill lines will go one way; if Z-twist yarns, the other. I'd have to think much, much too hard to remember which is which. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that their heavy weight yarn is made of an extra ply, and thus, the opposite twist from the lighter weight yarns used in the lighter fabric. That would put the optimum direction for twill lines the other way. Very few people are going to notice; fewer still will care, and most of those will understand the reasons. The segment of people who'd think there's something wrong with a kilt because of it is very, very small.