A promise fulfilled! Years in the making - and finally finished

In the garden today - the blossom that became synonymous with sewing her wedding dress is in full bloom this weekend.

I think she may like it

As you may realise, if you have previously read my blog, I had been guddling around making different toiles of pleated skirts for Helen, using plain fabric or checked fabric (but not the real tartan) for a while (a long while!) and Helen hadn’t really liked any of them - or at least wanted to make changes. I had originally wanted to use a pattern but came to realise that modifying a pattern to fit the pleat depth I wanted in the pleated skirt was much more work than working the traditional way of setting out the size of pleats you wanted in the fabric.

So, last week, I bit the bullet. I had just sent another toile which was too big in size 12. I don't have a decent photo of it on Helen. The previous one had been in my view a bit neat in the size 12 - both big 4 patterns.

Simplicity

Too small imo in the 12

I had been looking at modifying the pattern but eventually decided against this. I’ve tried 5 different commercial patterns, I think … Helen told me that she wants all of the skirts, she can’t decide. So I had to decide for her. She brought all the toiles I've ever sent her home with her this weekend. She didn't want to get rid of them for sentimental reasons but I've encouraged her to leave them and say goodbye as they performed their function.

We didn't like a circular skirt with tartan

It was too big, anyway

This one ended up too big - and she didn't like the deep contour waistband

Helen said she really liked just about the first toile I made except it was too long and too big. I had done that on my own without a pattern. A full pleated skirt. See blog post here - from December 2015!

She does wear this skirt and has kept it. I offered to take in and shorten but she decided against that. She's keeping it.

So I decided to make a short full  pleated skirt by just folding the pleats how I wanted and using the proper tartan. Normal 1.25" waistband. Although the tartan was very expensive as we got it specially woven and we had to buy 30 metres to boot, it isn’t doing anything by lying in storage, is it? I said to David that I wanted to make a skirt and if it didn’t work out, so be it - we still had many metres left. I have previously blogged about the tartan's story. Here is one post

I looked at the real tartan. I asked the mill which wove it (Lochcarron of Scotland) what pre-treatment it might require before being cut - answer none but dry clean it later. The tartan has been lying rolled in a bolt for many years and it was off grain as it lay but I think that was due to the storage. I think that some better pressing and steaming might have helped that more than I did.

I took a piece of fabric and folded it in a number of ways to see the effect and gave Helen a choice. In a man’s kilt, the end result is such that you are looking at a recreation of a full pattern repeat over several pleats.  - but this means that the pleats are narrow and numerous. Helen didn’t want her skirt as heavy (and bulky) as that so our pleats are simply folded to get a pleasing effect.

The mill had also said that they use the selvedge for the hem edge and told me how to identify the right from the wrong side - both questions I had asked. On Instagram, I had asked about the hemming treatment and most suggested using the selvedge. So that’s what I did.

This meant of course that the fabric was cut cross grain. The skirt is so short, that not even half the width of the fabric was used. I needed about 3 metres in length.

I asked Helen to resend me her measurements so I would be working to the correct size. These measurements were 3 cms less than she had told me previously - no wonder the last skirt was too big! So 68cms.

The first part went very well. I worked out that I needed 17 pleats to meet Helen’s hip measurement plus a 1 cm ease allowance ( as per Aldrich’s Metric Pattern Cutting) - total 100cms. Last time, I got into difficulty with the zip but didn’t worry too much as that was a toile. Aldrich didn’t give me any help but there was a little help to be had from my other tome by Helen Joseph Armstrong - sadly I misunderstood the instructions. There were a couple of issues - firstly, they didn't specify right or wrong side of fabric, though that may not have mattered - but more significantly, the terminology they used literally changed from one page to the next (and was different from Aldrich’s terminology). I tried a few different lengths. To cut a long story short, when I came to sew the skirt in the round (there was only one seam, left side, where the zip goes), the seam and zip were visible rather than being hidden in the folds of the leading pleat as they should have been.

Pleats laid out for hip size. The other side is very green - very different. Sadly, this skirt is not reversible because of the zip though the next one might be made with the green dominant

Positively, I was now able to work out for myself what was necessary. I had insufficient fabric at one side and too much at the other. I decided to add in a piece of fabric to the short side and this worked okay. I tried to work out if it was okay before cutting the fabric but this proved a lot more difficult than it sounds! A lot of calculation and experimentation. So now there are two seams. Never mind - you can't see them.

Before I put the zip in though, I had to reduce the waist to the correct size. I used Aldrich’s method of snugging the pleat over after it is formed. By this method, the pleat is pretty straight up from the hem to about 5” below the waist, at which point it turns towards the pleat to one side, reducing the distance between them.

I tried a couple of times and then was reasonably happy that I had got the size right. It was a little too big for MIssy, Helen's body double created for her wedding nearly 3 years ago now (waist 66 cms) as I could pinch an inch and I was concerned it could be too big for Helen. Of course there is a difference between a real live human and a model in any case.

Helen was here for the Easter weekend and I had said that I’d have the skirt to a point where she’d try on and I’d adjust if necessary, then add the waistband.  I even had the waistband prepared - cut on the straight of grain.

It was going to be a little difficult or rather time consuming to reduce the pleats further - but YAY! it  wasn’t necessary. The skirt fitted - near enough.

I gave Helen the choice of green or black top stitching - she chose green - and I topstitched each pleat through all layers, except the leading pleat, which was decoratively top stitched.

I then added the waistband, slightly easing in the skirt. I trimmed and graded the internal seam allowances really well. When I had made the waistband, stitching right side of band to right side of skirt, I turned over and secured by stitching in the ditch from the front, using the green thread.

It was looking good!

I wanted to get the skirt finished for Helen going home todyt, so when I had problems trying to put in a buttonhole, I decided to forego that. I have bought a new thing for my machine which is supposed to help with this issue which I assume is due to the thickness and unevenness at the edge of the fabric  but I haven’t used it yet and this wasn’t the time to try!

The skirt is lovely. There are a couple of issues - the leading pleat doesn’t lie nicely so I am going to add some poppets down the edge (I tried hooks and eyes but didn’t like the effect). Secondly, the skirt is up a bit at the back. Helen has a very flat stomach but has more fullness at the rear. Next time I could take that into account. Interestingly, it was something that Lyn, my sewing tutor, brought up when I was looking at patterns for pleated skirts - back and front were the same.

So despite a couple of relatively minor setbacks this last week, I finally have the skirt that Helen requested 10 years ago (at least). This was before I sewed and originally we were going to get a skirt made up.

I enjoyed the process. There is actually very little machine sewing - a lot of careful measuring, hand basting, pressing. I found it therapeutic. It only took a week.

Today, I sewed some poppets along the leading pleat edge to help it lie flatter  and then sewed a label into the skirt. This was one of the ones Helen gave me a while back - I haven’t used them much as they are rather big but it worked fine here.

A long time ago....

Those of you who have read my blog in the past will be aware that I have been trying to make a tartan skirt/ kilt for Helen, my youngest daughter, for yonks, using the family tartan we had specially woven; many many many yards of it (yes, that many!) We have two weights of the tartan - a heavy one woven many years ago (some of it made into a kilt for David) and a medium weight one woven two or three years ago or more specifically thinking about Helen's skirt. Yes, she requested it that long ago! Actually, it was even longer ago as she requested this using the heavyweight tartan before I started sewing, when we going to get it made. I can't quite remember. It took us a long time to decide that the heavyweight tartan was too heavy and to elect to get a medium weight cloth woven. The story of the tartan is here and in earlier blog posts.  Here, for example

The tartan

In the past, I have had two main attempts at tartan skirt toiles, using plaid fabric but not the real deal. It was slightly problematic as Helen wasn’t then, and still isn’t, exactly sure of the style she wants. She is clearer than she was though. She now wants ‘a cute pleated mini skirt’ in the family tartan.

The first toile was a fully pleated skirt. Narrow waistband. Pleats stitched down part way. Very classical. It was knee length and so was far too long for Helen’s taste, but it was designed to see if she’d like the style. 

Christmas 2015!! I didn't realise it was that long ago!

I didn't use a pattern, as that was the advice I got from books and in person from those who might know. At the time, I got the impression she didn’t like it but I think on reflection that was to do with the length; I thought I could just have made it shorter. She told me this week that the issues were that it wasn’t a mini skirt but also that it made her look very hippy on the side opposite the zip as it didn’t lie flat and the pleats seem to twist around (I thought it was too big at the waist when I saw her wear it previously but that was a while ago). She says she does like it, and it fits well at the waist, so she’s tempted to go for a shorter version of that. I didn't use a pattern, struggled a bit and wasn't at all happy with the zip closure, by far the weakest part. Helen held a Burn’s Supper in her flat at the weekend (yes, early!) and wore it then so her thoughts on the skirt are current.

The second toile was a shorter circular skirt - at that time, she hadn’t settled on pleats. I used a commercial pattern. This just wasn't what she had in mind.

I have this pattern:

This has many good elements but Helen doesn't want a yoke like this and it's probably too long. Maybe it's still doable

Originally, she was against the idea of a proper kilt (or maybe that was us as kilts aren’t for girls in theory and by tradition at least) - but isn’t now. She has said too that she’d be happy with box pleats (but not like the pattern I showed her as she found that one frumpy). 

No to this

Modern Simplicity pattern; I don't have this pattern and I couldn't get any of the older ones.
I could buy this one but kilts are usually made directly on the fabric

She has recently bought a skirt from Pretty Little Things that she likes. I've seen a photo but not the real thing. It's fully pleated.

Helen tried on and liked a skirt from Jack Wills; she took photos of her trying on the size 10 (UK), a perfect fit, but didn’t buy it. I decided to buy it but unfortunately could only get a 12 so it will be going back after a bit of examination! It’s not on the website. I tried the 12 on Missy, the dressmaking model adapted to Helen's size (see here)  and it just slipped down below the waist onto the hip.

We're going to have a chat on the phone, but I think I’m clearer. I have already said to Helen that our tartan is a heavy wool and pleats will inevitably make it bulkier - and therefore make her look hippier. I also said that I thought the kilt-type closure is potentially better for fitting.

I have a pattern for a short full pleated skirt. 

It’s slightly long but could be shortened by the 2” required. A bigger issue is that although it is shown in tartan, the tartan repeat (the spacing of the checks) is not the same as ours. Therefore, I can’t really follow the pattern, though it might give me a better idea of how to proceed. When I made the previous full pleated version, I didn’t use a pattern and wasn't sure how to finish off. I had one long piece sewn together at one side, the zip side - maybe that’s why the skirt twists on wearing?

A big issue with pleating tartan for a woman is waist shaping. When I made the full pleated version, I carefully increased the depth of each and every pleat towards the top to try to achieve the reduction in width without compromising the pattern match. This took a long time and involved lots of calculations.

My preference is for a version of the Jack Wills kilted skirt. This has the kilt wrap at the front but there are two pleats each side of the plain wrap. The side seam is smooth for about 2” each side of the seam. No zip of course. The back then has two pleats plus a dart at each side, but the centre is smooth.

The JW skirt is pretty good but isn’t exactly matched - so perhaps that issue is less relevant to Helen than the overall ‘feel’ of the garment. Having the side seams free of pleats and using the darts will help with the shaping. Having just the two pleats allows me a far greater flexibility. The pleats can be 'any' width to fit in so I can match the pattern to the set size. In the full pleated version, the pleats had to match all the way around. A lot of calculation and experimentation and careful measurement. Of course, each tartan is different, so those calculations are worthless now.

Another issue is that I’d like the selvedge to form the bottom of the skirt as a hem would be bulky. This is traditional in kilts. I need to examine the tartan to see if this is possible. I won’t be doing that, though, until I am well into the process of pattern making and toileing.

I think I’ve decided what I want to do, unless Helen has a strong opinion to the contrary. I don’t think she does as she said ‘whatever is easiest’. I don’t have a pattern, so this may not be the easiest route, but think I can manage to create one. I hope I can manage. I asked for advice in sewing bee - and there are complexities I hadn't considered, mainly to do with shaping.  The RTW skirt has a curved hem and waistband. I tried to make a kind of pattern but it was difficult, even with help and the conclusion is that I'd be better doing straight from the fabric. I'd make up a toile of course. I have some pieces of plaid that will work for that. Just for the shape and rough size, not the pattern matching.

Any thoughts?

Developing a Fabric - the story of our tartan silk (Including guest post by DH)

I'm starting this post in August 2015 but don't expect to post in its entirety until 2016. I'll be saving it for my own benefit and it's easier to put in my steps as I go along.

Beginning:

My husband is a McClure. The McClures were largely based in the south west of Scotland. The clan was a precept of the McLeod clan - this effectively means that the smaller clan got protection from the larger in return for support in battle etc. Or so we believe. The small clan is a separate clan,  with its own tartan.

Over the years,  however,  while the patterns for the McClure tartan still existed, DH was not aware of that as he had not found any information about them and it was impossible to buy the tartan - or at least he could not find a source and could not find a anyone who was aware of the existence of the tartan. While DH was young, he could only find links to McLeod tartans when searching on his name in available tartan reference books. There was McLeod of Harris and McLeod of Lewis,  dress,  hunting,  ancient and modern tartans. He clearly would have preferred a McClure tartan but had been led to believe that such didn't exist by other local McClures. A teacher at school with the McClure name wore a kilt made from McLeod tartan and said that was the one that was meant to be worn. DH didn't take this any further at that stage.

Fast forward a number of years.

My husband had never had a kilt. One reason was the expense of the kilt outfit. The other was that he had no real desire or incentive to get a kilt. For years,  I had been trying to persuade him to get a kilt. I wasn't keen on him getting one in McLeod tartan as I didn't like it. We decided to look at various options as we were now firmly in the Internet age; visits to tartan shops with clan tartan reference books weren't successful.

We did a lot of online searching,  coming up short in most tartan websites. However, we eventually found mention of and a picture of his own clan tartan! There were two tartans with green and red/orange being the main colours with additional blue, white and black - the green is the dominant colour in the hunting tartan,   and the red/orange is dominant in the dress tartan.

We can't remember all the details - this was in 2003 - but our reference source led to us contacting Lochcarron mills. This mill was prepared to access the online pattern information we had found and use this to set up a special weave. This was very expensive, since apart from anything else,  there was a minimum weave amount. We had the option of different weights of tartan and chose the heavyweight, in double width. Later, the mill made up a kilt from the tartan. A traditional kilt takes nine yards of single width tartan - hence the saying 'the whole nine yards'. We have a fair bit if this heavyweight tartan left.

Zoom forward another few years.

Our youngest daughter requested a skirt for herself made from the tartan.

More time passed

Our youngest daughter asked a few more times.

Eventually, we got in touch with the mill again. It was still operating.  After discussion,  they were able to custom weave the same hunting tartan we'd had before in a medium weight tartan (light weight was also available) - subject to the minimum order of 30 metres. They still had the details on record.

I still haven't made that skirt....

Meantime, this same daughter got engaged. She requested integration of our tartan into the wedding (corsages etc) - and her fiance requested a waistcoat to be made with our tartan at the back. Officially we were still thinking of the wool tartan.

I thought it would be nice to have printed silk or cotton as I thought that medium weight wool would be very heavy for the back of a waistcoat. I was a bit concerned with ordering from US sources because of import duty which is hefty and also because of time delays in posting samples.

The first few sources I chased up were no use.

Then Kate of Fabrikated (Fit and Flare)  gave me a couple of leads. One didn't work out as they largely supply silk scarfs. They suggested another source.

The other source from Kate looked very promising and I sent off for silk and cotton samples and colour samples in these mediums.

The instructions and guidance from them is excellent. Currently,  however,  we are stuck as DH's Colormunki isn't working. This is needed to calibrate the colour on the computer monitor screen, so we can be sure that when we order what we see it's an think it should be. We have scanned direct from tartan,  copied the tartan and we also have the original printout from 2003, complete with weaving instructions and colours used,  unfortunately using a different system.

I like the look of the silk satin weave and like the look of the colours on it. I think this would make a great back to A's waistcoat (he'll be wearing morning suit by the way) and also sashes, corsages etc.

Hopefully, we will be able to move on to the next step soon.

That was started last year. I have since made the waistcoat (blogged here).

Helen and Anthony at the reception; waistcoat front

Waistcoat back showing tartan silk

Many have asked for further details about the fabric printing and I asked David to write up a 'guest' blog post for inclusion here. So here we go:

The McClure tartan by David McClure

My wife has already given a brief history of how the printed silk back for the waistcoat worn by my new son-in law, Anthony, was created. This is my account which in no way contradicts Anne’s version and really adds only a few asides, personal thoughts and minor technical details.

As Anne pointed out we both laboured under the impression that my ‘family’ tartan was that of the Clan McLeod. I had no real problem with this since one of my best friends at school was a firmly established member of this clan, being related to Dame Flora McLeod.

McLeod tartan. Image source: Lochcarron of Scotland – www.lochcarron.co.uk

However the tartan was a very vibrant pattern with a strong bright yellow component which Anne found not entirely to her taste. Initially we decided that we would not pursue any incorporation of this particular tartan into any garments which she constructed, but just to make sure that we were not missing any alternatives I carried out a fairly exhaustive search using what are now very familiar tools namely the internet and Google.

I found a link to what appeared to be a very authoritative site with well referenced sources which indicated that there might be an authentic McClure tartan. Eventually I traced images of a Dress and Hunting pattern for a tartan listed as the McClure tartan. Unfortunately this was several years ago, the initial search trail has long since gone cold and, as is the way with these things, become a bit blurred. In other words I cannot remember where I have filed the web addresses and images of the tartan found originally. However I did determine to try to obtain a real sample of the cloth and possibly even consider having a kilt made with the ‘Hunting’ version of the tartan.

First a small aside which might cast some light on my early assumptions that no tartan other than that of McLeod was available to me.

As with many Scottish clan names the meaning of the name can be traced to possible Scottish or Irish Gaelic origins and the clan ‘home territory’ can be linked to some part of Scotland. The McClure name is apparently found in greatest density in the south west of Scotland. This was the area which I considered home being a native of what was Ayrshire. In fact in my years at secondary school there were four McClures all of similar age. We were, in our own way, the strongest ‘mini clan’ in the year. There is however no clan chief or clan stronghold.

Apart from the group of four McClures in my year we had one other noteworthy McClure in the school, namely the PE teacher, affectionately known as ‘Stiffy’. Unfortunately this teacher had also come to believe that the McClure name was inextricably linked to the McLeod tartan and since we are referring to the period 1963 to 1969 during which time the internet and Google were not readily available, this was accepted as fact. I wonder if he still wears his McLeod tartan kilt?

However back to the present. Having established that I could claim a tartan as my own rather than one borrowed from someone else, I set about finding a supplier of the cloth. This was not too difficult since there are not too many tartan weavers left in Scotland. Unfortunately none of them had any stocks of the McClure tartan and in fact most of them did not even recognise the pattern. There was one well established firm who were able to locate the source of information which I had identified as an authentic record of the pattern and who would also weave the tartan to order, namely Lochcarron of Scotland. Not only would they weave the tartan but they were also kilt makers and could advise on the quality of cloth required, the amount and make the kilt.

The company sent a detailed print of the pattern with specifications of the colours of threads used; this print showed a full ‘cell’ of the tartan pattern which would, of course, be repeated in a regular fashion.

Source sheet for McClure ‘Hunting pattern’ tartan. From Lochcarron of Scotland.

Having placed the order I was contacted by the company and invited to inspect the weave on the loom. This, I thought, was more of a favour and a courtesy than any indication that I was going to be able to verify that they were producing the correct item. However, as I was to discover later, and have now come to understand, this was indeed a vital part of the process. I was delighted to be able to visit the mill and see the tartan in production and dutifully took along a bottle of single malt with which I toasted the birth of my tartan. In due course the bale of tartan was completed and the kilt produced.

Anne may already have reproduced this image in her blog but I include it here because it gives some substance to my possibly protracted tale:

Kilt in the McClure tartan modelled by me! Photo by Joanne McClure.

Apart from a request from Helen for a plaid skirt using the tartan, incorporating the tartan into garments associated with Helen’s wedding was seen as a particularly attractive possibility. Having a panel of the tartan as part of Anthony’s waistcoat was one way of achieving this and would allow for a very interesting ‘reveal’ at an appropriate point in the ceremony if the opportunity arose. The only flaw in this plan was the nature of the tartan, namely heavyweight wool cloth. Not exactly ideal for a June 4^th wedding, even if the wearer of the garment was acclimatised to southern English temperatures and the wedding was to be in sunny Newcastle upon Tyne. The obvious solution was to have the tartan reproduced in a lighter weight material e.g. silk. After all printing on silk was a well established process and there would be no problem finding a company who could carry out this task

 Right?

Well not exactly. Although in a global community, where the need is for industrial quantities of product and the timescale is measured in months or years, this is probably a relatively easy undertaking, a small piece, sourced locally as a one off, did not prove so easy. Eventually we heard of Lacuna Press and read several very encouraging reports of the experience of others who had used their services. Initial contact, by email, directed us toward their web site and their extensive, detailed and very informative help files. These files guided us through the process of creating an image file of the pattern to be printed onto the fabric. In addition a range of different fabrics can be used and a test sample is offered as a 1 meter wide 10cm section. The cost of this test print is then offset against the cost of any final order.

The important stages of producing the image for printing are the colour matching and sizing of the image. Here the help files are vital and although working through these for the first time was a bit daunting, they are presented in a clear and logical manner. I used a combination of Adobe Photoshop to produce the image file and a ColorMunki calibration device to ensure that my monitor was correctly adjusted.

Here I will further lengthen my tale by including another aside. Lacuna Press stress the importance of ensuring that the monitor or screen on the computer used to view the image as it is being prepared, is correctly adjusted to show the true colours of the image. This can be achieved ‘manually’ using various methods including a set of detailed instructions in Photoshop. However by far the easiest method is to use one of the commercially available devices specifically designed to perform this function. Since I am interested in photography to the point where I have almost as much photographic kit as Anne has sewing associated items, I had, and was in the habit of using, a ColorMunki. This is a calibration device which synchronises the colour settings for monitors, printers and scanners. Unfortunately I appeared to have electrocuted my munki. I plugged it in via its USB ‘tail’ in order to calibrate the monitors of the computer I was about to use and it promptly ceased to be a ColorMunki. It was now a DeadMunki. There then swiftly followed a short period of my expressing my thoughts on all munkis and a slightly longer period during which I tried the manual calibration methods before admitting defeat and buying a new munki. I also rebuilt the USB stage of my computer just in case a fault in that area had caused the munki’s demise. The monitors were then calibrated and the task of having the tartan printed on silk recommenced.

Producing the image file was possibly the most tedious part of the whole process. I had my bale of tartan cloth which I could use for the image. A simple photo of the cloth would have been sufficient. However I wanted to have the finished item look as good as possible so I started off with a photocopy of the reference cell of the tartan provided by Lochcarron. I then selected the representative cell and proceeded to copy and merge this to create an image which would print to produce a 1 meter wide pattern. There were two main difficulties in this process. One was achieving alignment and register of the pattern and the second was the rapidly increasing size of the file as the process progressed. Fortunately Adobe Photoshop is extremely comprehensive in its provision of tools to achieve virtually any image manipulation task which can be imagined. In addition many of the tasks are possible using Photoshop’s automated features. Thus the alignment was helped immensely by the photomerge function and the file size, though increasing rapidly with each duplication and merge of the image, was no real obstacle.

In this image the representative cell has been copied and merged to produce a single strip of the required width which will be copied lengthwise to create the 1 x 1 meter print.

We decided that the full size cell of the real tartan was too large for the waistcoat and opted for a reduction to approximately one half of the original size. Lacuna Press allow some choice in the resolution of the final print and I chose the maximum 300 dpi quality meaning that for a 1 meter by 1 meter print my final image needed to be 11,811 by 11,811pixels.

This is the image which was used to produce the tartan sample on silk. Initially the file was massive but saving it at 300 dpi in Photoshop reduced it to manageable proportions.

This is a very truncated version of the process since any attempt by me to provide detailed instruction would probably be completely incomprehensible and could not possibly be better than the excellent help files available through the Lacuna Press website. However as a final comment on this stage of the process I think it is worth adding that the colours of the final print were adjusted to be muted by comparison with the original since this blended much better with the fabric of Anthony’s waistcoat.

I can now put a little twist in the tail of this tale. As I mentioned earlier my daughter Helen expressed a wish to have a plaid skirt made in the family tartan. However the fabric produced for my kilt is the heavyweight version and while it would be possible to use it for a plaid skirt, it would be better to have a lighter weight fabric. I therefore contacted Lochcarron again with a view to having a length of the tartan produced in a medium weight version. This is when I discovered that my participation in the creation of the original fabric was not simply that of a customer placing an order. Before I was able to order more of the tartan from Lochcarron, I had to establish that I had the right to use the pattern. It seems that in placing the original order I was now part of the ownership formality for that tartan. The tartan was regarded as a private tartan by the mill with only a few able to have it made for them. Not only was it my family tartan it was MY family tartan. I’m still not sure of the implications of this but I am strangely very pleased at the thought of this exclusivity. The bale of medium weight tartan now rests securely with the rest of Anne’s fabric stash where it is supremely safe since no one in his or her right mind would try to penetrate that gargantuan collection.

Finally an image of Anthony modelling the waistcoat.

Incidentally the malt used to christen the tartan was a 15 year old Dalwhinnie.