What makes a tartan a tartan?

Each tartan has it's own individual sett and threadcount.  The sett is the pattern that is repeated over and over, across the cloth, giving the overall look of tartan.

The kilt with a close up of the thread weave.

The threadcount is the tartans' fingerprint. Each tartan has it's own individual threadcount. Although two tartans; may look very, very similar, they will have different threadcounts.  Through the different weights of cloth, the size of the sett can vary. Obviously the heavier the cloth, the bigger the sett.

The colour of the tartan makes no difference to the actual tartan. As you can see from the Farquharson swatches below, these tartans' threadcounts' and setts' are identical, but their colours are very different.

Modern	Ancient	Muted

             

There are many supplier/weavers of cloth.   M^cCalls use 2 main suppliers.   These are the House of Edgar and Lochcarron.   Each of the suppliers have their own interpretation of ancient, muted and weathered dyes, although they all follow the same basic colours, they look quite different.

House of Edgars' ancient dyes are stronger bolder dyes, in comparison to Lochcarrons, whose ancient dyes are quite soft and delicate.  House of Edgar uses muted dyes, which are mossy, earth colours, but are very warm. Their colours are burgundy and moss green, where as Lochcarron use weathered dyes, which are different tones of brown.

Their modern dyes and dress dyes are very similar. Modern dyes being strong primary colours i.e shades of reds, navy and bottle green.   Dress tartans are generally in modern dyes. Dress tartans always have a large amount of white or cream on their tartan.

Tartan is woven in 3 main weights of Worsted Wool.

Light weight 9oz-10oz:~

This is mainly used for Ladies Skirts, waistcoats, ties, children's Kilts etc.
reasons for this are,

1.The size of the set: The set is the main square or pattern that is repeated over and over again to make the tartan, the size of the set is normally smaller on this weight of material.

2.The overall weight of the material makes it lighter therefore a better weight of cloth for the items above.

Medium weight 11oz-1oz:~

We use this tartan mainly for Kilts and Military trews.

1. The size of the set are larger on this weight of cloth.
2. The weight of the cloth is ideal for kilts. The kilt hangs well in this weight but is light enough to be worn abroad.

Heavy weight 16 oz-17oz:~

We use this weight of cloth for our Hire Kilts:

1. The size of the set is normally the same as medium occasionally slightly larger.
2. The extra weight in the cloth allows the pleats on the kilt to appear fuller and the swing on the kilt is better.

The weight of cloth is also harder wearing, therefore your kilts last longer. This cloth does not require as much pressing as the cloth does not crease as easily.

Ancient Colours:~

The use of the term 'ancient' confuses many uninitiated in tartan terminology. It has nothing at all to do with the year which the tartan was first recorded. The shades used are of softish hues and represent the kind of colours obtained by the hand dyes of yesterday when tartans were woven on hand looms. Originally most of the colours were obtained from plants although some were of animal matter and minerals. Nowadays, there is little use made of natural dyes except by specialists, the ancient colours of today being synthetic.

Modern Dyes:~

During the nineteenth century, aniline dyes began to replace the older natural dyes previously used. Because of their newness, they came to be known as Modern dyes. Generally 'modern' colours have a harsher and more strident tone than the ancient.