Matthew A. C. Newsome

At the Foothills Highland Games

2007-11-03T17:51:00.000-05:00

I've just returned from the 7th Annual Foothills Highland Games in Hendersonville, NC. These are a very nice mid-sized Games that I have been neglecting to attend of late! I was at their inaugural Games in the year 2000, but since that time I've managed to have other commitments every year on that weekend. This year I was finally able to go, so took the chance.

The Scottish Tartans Museum has always had an information booth there, manned by some of our good volunteers. This year we had museum trustees Walter Taylor and Carl McSween, as well as volunteers Al Bullman and Chuck Coburn. With myself that made for five of us -- more than enough to cover the tartan information table and allow time for each of us to walk around, see the sights, and spend time chit chatting with old friends. And the best part is I was back home by supper time!

So here are some pics from the Games. First, yours truly.

It was a cool day. When we arrived at the Games site at 9:00am, I believe it was just above freezing. It warmed up during the day, but the wind picked up, making it feel very cold at times. I took the opportunity to wear my Harris Tweed kilt suit. It kept me nice and warm, though I admit that I had to keep the jacket on all day! I'm wearing my hinged-cantle sporran that I've posted about in this blog before, only I have had the bag completely replaced by one hand crafted by Adron L. Britt of Ferguson Britt sporrans. (More on that in another post). The walking stick I'm holding isn't mine. It was made by Mark Harden, Baron of Cowdenknowes, who has recently taken up stick making! It's a nice model with a bison horn crook and, if I recall correctly, a hazel wood shaft. I'm just holding it for him in this photo. Speaking of Mark...

Here is the Baron himself, wearing his Harden family tartan, and holding another of his walking sticks. Mark was the "chief of the games" at this year's Foothills Highland Games. He and his family appear to have had a great time. Mark is also a member of the Society of Scottish Armigers, and gave a talk on Scottish heraldry. I spoke to him about coming and giving a similar talk at next year's Taste of Scotland festival in Franklin, NC.

The above photo is of Adron L. Britt (left) and Bob Marin (right). Neither of these two characters really need an introduction, but Adron is the maker of the fine Ferguson Britt line of sporrans we are now proud to carry in the Museum's gift shop, and Bob is a kiltmaker (retired) and kilt historian, who taught yours truly how to make kilts. Adron is wearing the Burnett tartan in a feilidh mor and Bob is wearing a plaid in the Marin tartan, a waistcoat in the Campbell, and (though you cannot see it in this photo) a box pleated kilt in the "R. W.'s Fancy" tartan (his personal tartan). (By the way, those are Mark Harden's hands to the right grasping the single malt and pointing commands).

Lastly, a group shot. From left to right: James A. Bullman (my co-author on the Compendium of District Tartans), wearing a fine tweed Inverness cape (that he could have sold nine times over today!), and a 5 yard Kinguisse pleated Roxburgh tartan kilt that you cannot see; Bruce Ball, a friend of Bob Martin's who designed his own Ball tartan and made his own kilt; Marjorie Warren, of Thistle Studio, a very talented tartan handweaver; and yours truly.

I had a great day, spent some good times with friends, and managed to leave only buying a cup of coffee, a meat pie, and two heather plants that will soon be in my garden!

Computer problems

2007-10-29T11:44:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like the Newsome family computer may have to be put down. It seems to have developed a terminal illness a few days ago. It's in the shop now and we are more than likely going to have to get a new hard drive. I will likely be without it for the next few days.

This means that I'm having to check my personal e-mail from work, and my available time to do that during the day is intermitant. I'm trying to get urgent correspondance taken care of, but if you have emailed me over the past few days and have not yet received a reply, that is why. Please be patient. I'll endeavor to get caught up on my correspondance in a few days, when hopefully we will be back on line at Casa Newsome.

UPDATE: 11/02/07
Our computer is back up and running with a brand new hard drive and loads of extra memory, so all would seem to be well (other than having to spend last night reinstalling everything, rather than making kilts as I should have been!). Now to get to those backlogged emails.....

Report from Stone Mountain

2007-10-22T18:19:00.001-05:00

As promised, a post with kilt pics! We have returned from the 35th Annual Stone Mountain Highland Games, a little road weary but none the worse for wear. It was another banner year for the museum. We were able to assist many people in finding a tartan, answered many Highland dress questions, and had a successful sales weekend for the gift shop, as well.

We had many people comment on the quality of our merchandise, telling us that we had the nicest offerings of the varied vendors at the Games. This is always nice to hear! I have endeavored to have the name of the Scottish Tartans Museum associated with quality Highland wear, so it is nice to know that folks notice.

We were so busy on Saturday that I quite literally only left our tent twice (both for reasons of, shall we say, necessity). Sunday was a little less hectic, and I did take the opportunity to walk around a bit Sunday morning and see some of the sights. I got to chat a bit with Larry Long (famous on this blog for his unusual kilt, featured here); Flora MacDonald Gammon and John Dall; the good folks with the Scottish Spinning and Weaving Society (Marge Warren and Betty Johnson); Rennie & Vicki McLeod, of Scotpress; Henry & Rebbecca Scott, of Purple Heather Pottery; the crew of Caledonian Fine Arts, and others. I took my wee son Alister out for a walk and he got more attention than anything. Of course I don't mind being outshone by my offspring!

On Saturday, I did get a chance to talk a bit with Tom Mungall, owner of the Scottish Attire mailing list. He introduced me to his son, Jamie, and later during the day I got to meet a friend of his, and fellow Scottish Country dancer, whose name I cannot recall but who was wearing an Elliott tartan. (He commented on the fact that I was sporting an Armstrong crest shirt, and that we were fellow border reivers). I also ran into a few other Scottish Attire list members, such as Pam Brownlee and Jim Lovelace.

I also met several X-Markers (from http://www.xmarksthescot.com/), including Jim Lovelace (Cawdorian), John Miller (shiner), Turpin Ballard, and several others I just can't recall at the moment. Between talking to everyone, measuring for kilts, and answering questions, Saturday was rather a blur! Sorry I wasn't able to make it for the X-Marks photo shoot -- and I understand that there was quite a dinner gathering Saturday evening.

Lest I forget, I had the distinct pleasure to meet with Kathy Lare, kiltmaker from New Mexico, and her husband. Kathy is quite the elegant and well-spoken lady, and I feel privileged to have made her acquaintance. Everything that Ron MacDonald says about her is absolutely true! (Ron is another X Marks member who must have a dozen of Kathy's kilts -- his photo is on her web site).

Then there were all the friends, familiar faces, and regular patrons that we enjoy seeing each year at Stone Mountain, whose names are too numerous to mention.

Even though the museum tent was a very busy place the whole weekend, we were able to handle it all smoothly thanks to our wonderful help. So thanks to our museum staff, which -- aside from myself -- consists of Ronan MacGregor and Kathy Akins; our spouses who volunteer to help us for the weekend, Joannie, Mary, and Jim; and especially those volunteers who help out even though they are not married to us, Chuck Coburn, Ryan Ross and Bisel McWilliams. We couldn't do it without you (or wouldn't want to, anyway!).

Enough chat -- here are the pictures! Regrettably, I did not have the presence of mind to snap shots of many of the fine folks I met. So you'll have to put up with mainly photos of myself and some of my crew.

Here is a shot of the front of our museum tent. We had some shirt and hat racks out front. At certain times during the day the crowd was so thick I could barely see these racks from the tent! Right inside we showcased some lovely sporrans from the Ferguson Britt collection (including a Japanese Fallow deer, and several skunk, beaver, and raccoon fur creations). These were very much admired. The left side of the tent was dedicated to free tartan searches and answering questions on Scottish history and Highland dress.

This photo of myself with my wife, Joannie, and son, Alister, was from Saturday. Alister was a big hit at the Games. Our other kids all stayed home with the grandparents, but Alister is too young yet to be that far from his mom (and main food source!). He was an angel all weekend.

Of course, as we know, it's all about the kilt. I'm wearing a four yard box pleated kilt in the Armstrong tartan, red kilt hose (I knew I'd be seeing Tom, who didn't disappoint by wearing his own red hose), matching red garters, my beaver fur sporran, one of the new crest shirts from the museum, and a hand knit broad bonnet.

I think red hose look nicest with tartans like the Armstrong, that are primarily blue & green, but with a minor red element that the hose can really pull out. I think with a predominantly red kilt, the red hose risk being too much.

This is Chuck Coburn (left) wearing the Cockburn tartan in a four yard box pleated kilt, and Jim Akins (right) wearing his brand new Confederate Memorial tartan, in an 8 yard knife pleated kilt made by Barb Tewksbury, author of The Art of Kiltmaking.

Here are Chuck and myself on Sunday. My wife, who didn't tell me my tie was crooked, took the picture. I'm in another four yard box pleated kilt, in the St. Columba tartan. I'm wearing it with a light weigh Lochcarron Argyle jacket, tattersal shirt, blue tie (notice the matching garters), and my brand new shepherd's check hose that my wife just finished knitting for me. (The medal I'm wearing is my Guild of Tartan Scholars medal, in case you are wondering).

Chuck is in a blue Harris Tweed kilt that I made for him (also a four yard box pleat). Here's a rear shot to show the pleats.

I'm really thrilled with these hose! They took my wife quite some time to knit, and she was using a new pattern from a book she recently acquired. She finished them just in time for the Games (literally on the drive down). I'm quite pleased with the color and design (I chose a natural cream shade and a dark brown). I had several compliments on them throughout the day, and not a few enquiries about where one could get a pair, or how much my wife would charge to make them (I had to marry her -- get your own talented wife!). :-) Joking aside, she made these for me as a labor of love. When asked how much she would charge to make a pair for someone else, her price quote was "a million bajillion dollars." So start saving your coin -- or learn to knit!

Sunday is always the hardest day, just in terms of stress. We are exhausted from Saturday to begin with. My wife and I got up early to make it to a 7:00 am Mass before heading back onto the field. Then it is all day at the Games, just like on Saturday. Only instead of heading out to dinner after the field closes, we must pack up our tent and drive three hours home. Someone suggested I could retire from this line of work and find another job -- not on your life! :-)

The museum was closed today, as well, for unpacking, re-stocking, and inventory. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will resume normal hours of operation (10 to 5, Mon-Sat). For those of you who may have come by to see us in Franklin over the weekend, we are sorry we missed you. And for those of you who saw us at the Games, we'll see you next year!

Heading Down to Stone Mountain

2007-10-18T20:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it has been some time since I posted anything new here. So my readers do not feel neglected I thought I'd jot this wee note before heading down to the 35th annual Stone Mountain Highland Games in Atlanta, GA, tomorrow morning. This is the largest Games we (the museum staff and crew) attend during the year, and one of only two that we bring gift shop merchandise to vend at (the other being the Greenville Games in SC).

Normally when we attend this type of event we set up an information booth where we look up tartans, answer questions about Highland Dress, and of course promote the museum. At Stone Mountain we do all of that, of course, but we also provide a selection of items from our gift shop. It's a great sales weekend for us, and the revenues from this event really help to keep the museum funded throughout the winter months, when the tourists are not out in as great a number.

Speaking of tourists, they come to the mountains in force in October! Which is one reason I have been so busy lately. We have had one full day after another at the museum lately. The greater number of visitors we see this time of year, together with preparing to go to Stone Mountain, has me "seeing red!"

Just kidding! The above photo is the result of the Lasik surgery I just had one week ago today. The red you see in my eyes is the result of bruising from the procedure. It's a normal thing that will fade in about another week. I can't even feel it, but I sure do get the comments from our museum guests! I think I might wear my sunglasses down at Stone Mountain so as to not scare the small children. :-)

Seriously, though, the Lasik surgery is amazing. I went from something on the order of 20/1000 vision to 20/20 or better in a matter of seconds. The evening of the surgery I was checking email, watching tv, and even sewing a bit on a kilt. This is one piece of modern technology that really delivers the promised results and I am fantastically happy with my decision. I heartily recommend it to anyone considering it. It actually corrected my vision, as opposed to simply relieving the symptoms of my poor eye sight, which is what my contacts and glasses did. So I'm a happy customer!

Enough about that. We've also been busy at the Newsome household with our newborn son, Alister, who is seven weeks old. Obligatory cute baby picture below.

What with things at the museum being so busy, and things at home being busy as well, you'll have to forgive me if I'm not quite as attentive to my emails and blog posts. Things should quiet down some after the weekend, though. Be aware that the Museum will be closed Friday-Monday this weekend (we take Monday as an unpacking/inventory day), so emails won't be answered till after that time.

And if anyone has sent me an email and is still waiting for a response, please be patient and I'll try and get all my correspondence caught up with after the weekend. In the meantime, anyone going down to Stone Mountain for the Games, please come visit us at the Scottish Tartans Museum tent and say hi!

When I get back, I promise, my next blog post will have a kilt and/or tartan in it!

Hand Knit hose (work in progress)

2007-09-13T06:16:00.000-05:00

So, my wife is a knitter of many years, and though she has some experience making socks (including a nice pair made from wool we purchased on our honeymoon in Scotland that I love wearing during the winter), she has never made a pair of kilt hose. Until now!

She has several books she is referencing, including Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose & Knickerbocker Stockings, by Veronica Gainford (originally published in 1978, reprinted 2006); Knitting Scottish Kilt Hose & Hiking Socks, by Joanne Gibson Hinmon (2000); and Cables Untangled: An Explanation of Cable Knitting, by Melissa Leapman. This last book is not a kilt hose book, but it has lots of great cable patterns that can be incorporated easily into hose.

She recently completed her first pair for me, in a beautiful shade of loden green, with a cable knit pattern from the aformentioned book. I love them and think they are great -- however, they are her first attempt and she sees every flaw, so out of charity to her I won't post the pictures. The pair she is working on now are from the Gainford book, and are in a design called "small shepherd's check." (There is also a pattern for a large shepherd's check, which would essentially be the diced hose we are all familiar with -- maybe my next pair!).

For this pair I selected a nice off white color called "natural heather" and a brown called "mink brown." I think the combination is very earthy and will go well with many of my kilts. As a proud husband, I thought I'd show a photo of her work in progress, along with a quote from the Dowager Lady Gainford.

"A certain young man came to stay in Scotland for some shooting and a highland ball. He arrived wearing machine made stockings with plain ribbed tops. So shocking was this to his host's family, that two daughters of the house got to work immediately with wool and needles, and within twenty four hours had made him a pair with good design, so that he could appear properly dressed. Nothing else would have been thought decent or correct. What the young man thought on this occasion is not revealed." -- from her 1978 forward, relating a story told her by one of the knitters whose pattern appeared in the book.

New Beaver Sporran

2007-09-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

The above lovely critter is my new sporran from the Ferguson Britt collection. It was hand made by L. Adron Britt, master sporran maker. Some of you who have attended some of the Highland Games here in the American southeast may have seen some of his creations.

We are now carrying his line of sporrans through the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop. Click here to see his sporrans. The introduction of his line represents a continuation of our efforts to showcase the finest examples of quality Highland dress. In this case we are especially proud not only to carry the work of a semi-local artisan, but also to make available to our clients the best that hand crafted tradition has to offer. Adron's leatherworking skill is apparent to anyone who has the good fortune to handle one of his unique creations.

The sporran above I just had to have for myself! The fur is beaver from Quebec, which is naturally dark in color (almost black). It is paired here with black deer hide for the all-leather cantle and black elk braids. I've dealt with sporrans in many different furs, including rabbit, seal, badger, fox and muskrat. But I have to say that nothing in my experience compares to the softness of beaver.

When I bought this sporran my initial thought was that it would be reserved mostly for formal occasions. But I've found myself wearing it casually quite often. It helps had a certain "flair" to my standard daily kilt wearing. Maybe it's because it's the newest sporran in my collection... or maybe it's the irresistible feel of the beaver fur. But I find myself reaching for this one most often in the mornings getting dressed.

The Ferguson Britt collection features many different styles of sporrans, all historically inspired. Some are all leather, some incorporate fur. This one is called the Glengyle, and can be had with or without fur -- and he has some nice furs to offer right now, including some unusual varieties such as bobcat, and even (for a limited time) Japanese fallow deer! Most of them sell in the same price range as one expects in a high quality dress sporran. But unlike most commercially available dress sporrans, one can instantly tell that these were made by an artists, and not spat out by a factory.

Below are some thumbnail images showing different shots of my new sporran. I keep saying to people that you just have to see these in person to appreciate the quality of them, so these close-up shots are my attempt to convey that. If this post sounds like a Ferguson Britt commercial, it is! I'm just really impressed with the quality of this item, and when I find something as nice as this I want to pass it on to the rest of the Highland dress community.

The back is made from deer hide.

The cantle is all-leather. I forget how many layers he said are in it, but it is thick! Very solid, and the elk hide braid detail is especially nice.

The inside is lined with elk suede.

And the pouch itself is more than ample. I normally carry my wallet, work keys, home/car keys, cell phone, and spare change with ease. When I need to add my checkbook (with it's thick leather cover), it easily fits in, as well.

All in all, I recommend any sporran from this line to someone who wants something unique, historically inspired, suitable for casual or formal wear, historic or modern, and who can appreciate true hand crafted quality (which is getting harder and harder to find these days!).

One of my kilts on Ebay!

2007-09-06T07:07:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not the seller. But this is a kilt that I have made for someone in the past, which someone informed me is being auctioned off at Ebay.

It's a MacDonald modern, box pelated kilt, made from Lochcarron's 16 oz strome cloth. 42" waist and 23" length. The "buy it now" price is $250.

Base cost for most of my box pleated kilts is $350, so this is a good deal for anyone interested. Auction ends Sept. 10, so anyone interested follow this link.

Another Milestone

2007-08-17T20:45:00.000-05:00

This weathered Gordon box pleated beauty above, made for Turpin Ballard (proprietor of Thorfinn's Sporrans), represents another Milestone in my kiltmaking carier. It's the 200th kilt I have made! It was only September 27th of last year that I posted on this blog of my 100th kilt. At that time, I listed out all 100 tartans (and a few non-tartans) of the kilts I had made. I didn't anticipate that such a list would generate much interest, but a lot of you seem to have gotten a kick out of seeing the variety in the list (or finding where your tartan stood on the list, I suppose).

So, in keeping with that tradition, here is the second "century" of my kilts. As was the case with the first 100, the great majority of these have been box pleated kilts made from heavy weight cloth. There were a few five yard knife pleated kilts and a couple of lady's skirts thrown into the mix, but most of these were four yard box pleaters.

101. Galbraith ancient
102. Hay hunting ancient
103. MacDonald modern
104. Scott hunting ancient
105. Paisley ancient
106. County Kerry
107. Lamont weathered
108. MacKenzie modern
109. Red Gordon weathered
110. Gunn ancient
111. German National
112. Lovat Blue tweed
113. Charcoal tweed
114. Dunlop modern
115. MacNeil modern
116. Ferguson ancient
117. Federal Memorial
118. Rob Roy (movie tartan)
119. Grant Hunting ancient
120. Grant Hunting ancient
121. Grant Hunting ancient
122. Grant Hunting ancient
123. Peeper
124. MacKinnon Hunting ancient
125. MacPherson Hunting (Harris Tweed)
126. German National
127. Carolina modern
128. MacKenzie modern
129. Fitzgibbon
130. Cuming Hunting modern
131. Hunting Stewart, regimental
132. Sackett
133. Irvine ancient
134. X Marks the Scot
135. Hunting Brodie weathered
136. Black Watch, regimental
137. MacGregor modern
138. Drummond of Perth modern
139. Maxwell modern
140. Lovat Blue Harris Tweed
141. Fraser of Lovat
142. Henderson weathered
143. MacDonald weathered
144. Carnegie ancient
145. Moncrieff ancient
146. Ross Hunting weathered
147. Maxwell modern
148. Ulster (brown)
149. MacCormick
150. MacCormick
151. Lamont ancient
152. Hamilton modern
153. Hamilton modern
154. MacDonald of Glencoe
155. Bryce
156. MacGregor weathered
157. Harris Tweed (blue, green & tan check)
158. Harris Tweed (lovat green)
159. Iowa
160. MacLaren ancient
161. Fitzsimmons
162. Harris Tweed (blue, green & brown check)
163. US Bicentennial (US St. Andrews)
164. Austin/Keith ancient
165. County Fermanaugh
166. Sutherland modern
167. Isle of Skye
168. MacDonald of Clanranald ancient
169. Lamont modern
170. MacFarlane hunting modern
171. MacLean of Duart modern
172. Campbell ancient
173. Saffron
174. Lamont ancient
175. Blue Alba
176. Boyd modern
177. Watson ancient
178. Watson ancient
179. Matheson modern
180. Watson ancient
181. Watson ancient
182. Davidson modern
183. MacKenzie, regimental
184. MacDonald of the Isles hunting, modern
185. MacDonald modern
186. MacGregor ancient
187. County Limerick
188. MacKenzie modern
189. Ulster (brown)
190. MacGregor ancient
191. Smith modern
192. MacIan/MacDonald of Ardnamurchan modern
193. Duke of Rothesay Hunting
194. Stuart of Bute
195. Greene
196. X Marks the Scot
197. Henderson muted
198. brown Harris Tweed
199. blue Harris Tweed
200. Gordon weathered!

Update on a National Register

2007-07-10T05:50:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been over a month since my last post here! All I can say is that I've been busy making kilts for folks, so that's a good thing if you have ordered a kilt from me -- a bad thing if you enjoy reading my blog! Seeing as my kilt clients pay me more than my blog readers, you'll forgive me for not being that attentive to this little corner of the internet of late...

In any case, I felt the need to post about the latest update on the proposed national tartan register in Scotland. The Scotsman newspaper has an article on the subject in today's edition:
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1072292007

It seems that things are moving forward, and I was pleased to see the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) getting good mention. (They also make mention of "a smaller list ... in Dunkeld" which I assume is this one.) STA director of operations, Brian Wilton, is quoted extensively.

Many are under the impression that one of these other tartan databases is the "official" one, but the reality is that these two, and all prior to them, are private entities with no government sanction whatsoever. The purpose behind having a government register is really to give some clarity to the situation that currently exists with multiple tartan recording bodies. It may not put an end to them all, but at least once would be able to say, this one is the recognized National Register, and any others are not.

However, I always thought it would be somewhat daft of the Scottish government to attempt to create a new register altogether. Why reinvent the wheel? Unless neither of the two current recording bodies are doing a competant job (here we are talking about the STA and the Scottish Tartans World Register -- the Scottish Tartans Society ceased to maintain their Register some seven years ago), there is no need to create a third. My feelings have been that the government would be better served selecting one of the existing bodies and giving it their "blessing" as the official National Register.

And I think the International Tartan Index, maintained by the STA, is the obvious choice. Why do I say that? It has nothing to do with favoritism or personal opinion, just pramatism. The ITI currently contains over 4500 unique tartan designs. (Some may note that new tartans are being assigned numbers upwards of 7000 -- this is because when a tartan is removed from the ITI for whatever reason, be it a record that is in error or a duplicate entry, that number is not reissued; hence the oft-cited lower number of 4500 tartans, give or take). The STWR claims on their web site to have some 2600. So the ITI is the more complete of the two databases.

Also, the ITI would seem to be the industry standard. In my line of work at the museum, I am in contact with most major tartan producers in Scotland, and the bulk of them record their new tartans designs with the STA, and rely upon the STA for tartan information. If the government wants to sanction a tartan register, you want it to be one that the folks that make tartan actually use.

Lastly, to the best of my knowledge the STWR is operated by a single couple. And though they may be doing a wonderful job, it's just the two of them. And none of us will be around forever. Whereas the STA is operated by a board of governers made up of a cross-section of those both in the tartan industry and in tartan academia, with a membership body existing in the UK, USA, and elsewhere. It would seem that they have the structure in place to ensure continued existance well into the future.

All of this is simply my opinion, for what it's worth. I wonder if any Scottish MPs read my blog?

I will end by just commention on how painful it is to read the comments people feel the need to post on The Scotsman's web site any time they run an article on tartan. It just goes to show that ignorance is still rampant regarding this subject. The first comment I read posted after the article this morning stated that the Court of the Lord Lyon was the official government register of tartan. Of course this is not the case, as you can read on the Lord Lyon's web site.

However, you cannot blame the person for their ignorance. I recently found a book on tartan published in 2005 that still made the claim that in order for a tartan to be "real" it must be recorded by Lord Lyon, and that you could be charged with a 25 pound fine if you are caught in Scotland wearing an "unofficial" tartan -- seriously!

With any luck, having a National Register may put at least some of this nonsense to rest.

Gatlinburg Games & New Sgian Dubh

2007-05-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I attended the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Highland Games. These are some of my favorite. A nice, mid-sized games with friendly people, and since I've been going there for about ten years staight, I know the layout and the area pretty well. Good to see familiar faces. Also good to see some of my kilts getting good use. I ran into two gentlemen sporting kilts I had made for them over this past year. The one pictured below is in the Moffat tartan. (That's Pat McCabe behind him, star of my "Sharp Dressed Man" blog post).

This next picture shows the Buchanan Old tartan, weathered colors. I really like this one. I think if I were a Buchanan this would be the tartan of choice for me! Both of these two kilts are box pleated, as you can see, and made from Lochcarron's 16 oz Strome cloth.

Also while there I ran into Donnie Shearer of www.TheMadPiper.com. Donnie does some excellent work with blades, including some restoration work on a couple of peices in the Scottish Tartans Museum. I was hoping to see him so that he could take a look at an old Victorian by-knife that I bought from an antiques dealer about a year ago. It was being sold as a sgian dubh, and apparantly someone had decided at some point to use it for that purpose. A by-knife is part of the knife and fork set that is part of the sheath on some dress dirks. This one was by itself, and was housed in a leather sheath that really seemed too large for it.

I bought it to use as an interesting sgian dubh, and have worn it for that purpose a few times over the past year. However, the sheath nearly swallows the knife whole, only showing the top part of the handle, and is very bulky in my sock. I thought I'd have Donnie craft a smaller, simple, black leather sheath that would encase just the blade and make the knife more comfortable to wear.

So I showed the by-knife to Donnie and asked him if he could make a sheath for it. "No," he said, "I'll make you a whole new sgian dubh!" As it turns out, Donnie has a nineteenth century dirk that is missing the by-knife and this is just the perfect thing to complete that set. So, in exchange for this by-knife, he's making me a new sgian dubh, a reproduction of one that he refurbished for the museum a while back (pictured below). This one has a bery generously sized handle (compared to modern sgians dubh), and is carved blackwood. It dates from the late 1800s or early 1900s (before WWI). (The gentleman in the photo, by the way, is the original owner of the sgian dubh, as far as we know).

So all in all a great weekend. The weather was perfect, lots of kilts, lots of tartans, good pipe bands, and I may be getting a nice new sgian dubh to boot!

Tartan Day at the Tartan Museum

2007-04-09T06:37:00.000-05:00

This past Friday, April 6, was National Tartan Day. We celebrated it at the Scottish Tartans Museum in our customary fashion with an Open House. Free admission all day, guided tours, and a complimentary luncheon of hand made Scottish foods offered by members of the Friends of the Scottish Tartans Museum.

Here are just a few pictures of the day's activities. Below is Jim Akins helping himself to a snack. Jim will be familiar to those of you who visit the museum on Saturdays. He and his wife Kathie are our "weekend warriors." Jim is wearing a box pleated kilt in the Gordon tartan, which I made for him from an old regimental piper's plaid.

We had lots of kilties visiting from out of town. Below are Ryan Ross and Bisel MacWilliams. These young guys always help us out at the Stone Mountain Highland Games in Atlanta each year. Obviously they decided to dress up in their finest Scottish formal wear for Tartan Day... or not! You can't accuse these guys of taking themselves too seriously. Ryan is wearing the New York City tartan, by the way (box pleated kilt that I made for him) and Bisel is in the ancient Gunn tartan, a kilt he bought from the museum years ago.

Next is a shot of the gift shop, where we had the food tables spread out. Enjoying themselves are a couple of kilties from the X Marks the Scot forum who drove up from SC for the day. John (better known on the forum as MacWages) is wearing a newly completed Carolina tartan kilt that he made himself. He brought with him the infamous "Dreadbelly" whom forum members will instantly recognize. After meeting him, I can truly say he is a mystery wrapped in an enigma, wearing sunglasses! :-)

Wayne Millar (of the Clan Bell Society) also joined us for the day and was even drafted into service as a volunteer tour guide. Thanks, Wayne! I included this picture to show off his new US Army kilt, which he ordered from us last summer. It looks especially sharp pleated to the yellow line, as you can see in this side-shot.

Last but not least, here is a shot of yours truly. I wore my Carolina kilt with my hew Harris Tweed jacket and vest (yes, it was cold enough for it!) - click to make the wee image bigger!

Balmoral Kilt Hose

2007-03-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

I thought some of you might appreciate a closer look at the Balmoral kilt hose I mentioned in my last post. These are a really great way to add a bit of uniqueness to any Highland outfit, and depending upon the color selection, can serve just as well for both casual and formal occasions.

For those interested, we are now offering these through the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop. They retail for $135. I know for some this is a bit pricey, but remember that each pair is custom made, and the tops of these are entirely hand knit. And these are still priced well below the going rate for custom Argyle knit hose. In fact, these are a great "in-between" hose -- not as formal or costly as the full Argyle, but above and beyond just the plain solid hose.

Here is how it works. You select your own combination of up to 5 colors (the body of the sock, the two colors of the basket weave, and the two colors of the stripes at the base of the fold-over). You can select from any of the seventeen colors available in the Lewis hose we also sell. We will also need to know your shoe size, of course. Your hose will then be specially made for you (please allow several weeks!).

I'm wearing my pair here with a set of traditional garter ties, which are recommended as they come in the same color selection. However, standard garters would work just as well.

Just like the Lewis hose, the Balmoral hose are made from a 50% Merino wool (extra soft!), 50% Acrylic blend that is both comfortable as well as easy to care for. I wash mine with my other kilt hose in the machine in cold water on the gentle cycle, and allow to air dry. Also like the Lewis hose, these are made extra strong at the toe and heel for an extra long life.

To order yours, you can call the museum's gift shop at (828)524-7472, or just order on line. They are listed about mid-way down our kilt hose page.

Web Site Back Up & New Goodies

2007-03-29T18:16:00.000-05:00

Those of you who tried to access my web site (or this blog) late yesterday or the first part of today will have noticed that the site was down. Since you are reading this now, obviously everything is back up just fine. The issue, it seems, was one of bandwidth. It seems that the traffic on my site had exceeded my monthly bandwidth allotment.

This has happened to me only once before, about a year ago or so, and I simply bought more bandwidth to fix the problem. I thought at the time that I was purchasing enough to handle whatever traffic my wee little site might generate. I guess I was wrong!

Without getting into specific traffic stats, albanach.org and its dependant sites (such as kilts.albanach.org and this blog at blog.albanach.org) have been slowly but steadily growing in popularity. Over the course of the past year, my monthly average bandwidth use has more or less doubled. However, for some reason that I have yet to figure out, this past month has been a different story. My bandwidth for March increased by a factor of ten! It was such a dramatic rise that I thought for sure it must be some kind of glitch, or maybe a hacker had gotten in and sabotaged my site!

But, no, I was assured by those who know more about this stuff than I do that such was not the case. I really am getting that much more traffic. So for a few extra pennies a month I've upgraded to a new hosting plan that will hopefully be able to handle the volume of traffic this site has been getting. By the way, thank all of you who have enjoyed my site and chosen to share it with others!

And, just so there is something kilt related in this post, I thought I'd share with you some photos of my latest kilt goodies.

Here I am sporting my brand new Harris Tweed kilt jacket and vest, that you read about in a previous post. I couldn't be happier with this purchase. It fits well, and looks great with most of my tartans. Here I am wearing it with my Mull tartan kilt. I've also worn it with my Armstrong, Carolina, and MacQuarrie (Cockburn Collection, muted colors) and it looks great with each. It came in while the weather was still cool, so I got a few chances to wear it before the warm temperatures arrived. I know I'll be getting a lot of use out of it come Fall.

Also, recently, some Balmoral kilt hose I ordered came in from Hawick. These hose are fantastic! The sock itself is made the same was as our Lewis kilt hose (follow the above link), from a Merino Wool / Acrylic blend. Very soft, very comfortable, very high quality (and easy to care for). But the upper is completely hand knit in the colors of your choosing, to tone with your tartan. You design your own look. Below is a pair I designed for wear with my Carolina tartan kilt. I chose the brown hose to tie in with my brown leather accessories, and I think the effect is quite pleasing.

Lastly, below I am pictured with my partner-in-crime at the Museum, Ronan MacGregor. My hose were designed to match my Mull kilt, and Ronan selected his colors to wear with his Black MacGregor tartan (a personal variation of the MacGregor sett that he had woven for his kilt).

"International Tartans" At It Again

2007-03-23T19:04:00.000-05:00

Oh dear.... International Tartans, specifically the man behind that company (David McGill), is at it again. If you recall, he's the gentleman who brought us the North and South Carolina tartans that I wrote about in this past blog entry.

Well, I've recently been made aware of a complete redesign of his web site. (Which was desperately needed -- the old one was simply impossible to navigate). And he seems to be promoting his new tartans with full force. His new site, however lovely it looks, also serves to generate some more confusion.

For instance, the "Prayer for Tartans" that he gives on his main page he tells us was "composed by Andrew Hill, Minister of St. Mark’s, the home for Unitarians in Edinburgh." Then he tells us that it is an old Gaelic poem that dates to the mid-eighteenth century. Then he tells us it was "translated by the late John Macdonald of Kyles, North Uist." So, already I am confused. Is it a traditional 18th century Gaelic poem later translated by John Macdonald? Or was it composed by this Unitarian minister? Or what? No matter -- one can't let the facts get in the way of great poetry (and the kind that sells tartan to boot!)

For tartan is for all clans,/ For all races,/ For all nations,/ People without end,/
Everywhere! Everywhere!/ Everywhere!

Classic. But the really fun stuff is deeper in his pages. For instance, he has this page, which is oddly enough entitled "Health Warning." On it, he warns "Those who value democracy should always be on the lookout for organisations who claim be an 'authority' on tartans, or people who try to tell you what is an 'official' tartan." Now I'm not saying that tartan is not a contentious subject for some, but to claim that those who claim to be authorities on tartan are somehow endangering democracy may be overstating thing slightly... hmmm? (And how is this supposed to be hazardous to our health?)

But he goes on: "At the moment no-one, other than you as a member of the general public has any 'authority' over tartan, and there is no agreed definition for what is or is not official." Well isn't that good to know! Only you, gentle tartan wearer, have any authority over tartan. No one can tell you what is an official tartan other than you. If you think the Buchanan tartan would make a better MacGregor tartan than the ones that such dubious "authorities" as the clan chief would have you wear, go for it! When the Buchanans complain that you've stolen their tartan, tell them that you are the only authority! Viva la revolucion!

Is McGill's Protestantisation of the Tartan tradition really a call for general kilted anarchy or are his goals more specific? Read on, for he writes: "Public bodies, by adopting a tartan such as, for example a US State, are not making that tartan official or exercising any authority, they are merely making it a State symbol in the same way as they make a reptile or flower a State symbol." Aha! He's not so much talking about clan tartans as he is district tartans, specifically US State tartans. You see, some US states have been uppity enough to go and pass legislature adopting tartans on their own, with complete disregard to the ones that McGill has so generously designed for them! Shame on them! And what gives these states the idea that by merely adopting a tartan as a state symbol they somehow have the "authority" to make it the "official" state tartan?! Don't they realize that only you, the individual tartan wearer, have that authority???

Mr. McGill, please tell us more: "The Scottish Tartans Society, including its branch and museum in North Carolina, which was at one time universally recognised as the unofficial 'authority' on tartans, is now defunct." Allow me to suspend my thinly-veiled sarcasm at this point to interject some facts. Yes, the Scottish Tartans Society (STS) was at one point effectively recognized as the unofficial authority on tartans by virtue of the fact that they were the only organized, central body attempting to collect and maintain any kind of public register of tartan designs. Yes, they are now no longer operating in any meaningful way. However, their "branch museum in North Carolina" is anything but "defunct." The Scottish Tartans Museum of Franklin, NC, has for some time maintained operations quite independently of the STS and continues to do so. I know. I'm the general manager (and probably the cause of Mr. McGill's ire). We are doing quite well, despite Mr. McGill's claims to the contrary. Please come see us! Unlike International Tartans, which lists only a PO Box in Edinburgh and doesn't seem to have a physical location beyond the internet, our brick-and-mortar museum is open to the public year round, six days a week. Moving on....

The last "health warning" that McGill gives us is this: "The Scottish Tartans Authority was also established in the wake of the Scottish Tartans Society. They are a membership organisation which is effectively controlled by commercial interests. They provide the 'Scottish Tartan Index' on their website." First of all, it's called the International Tartan Index, not the "Scottish Tartan Index." If you are going to criticize someone, at least get their name right. (Of course, in the paragraph before this he praises the "Scottish World Tartans Register " which is actually called the "Scottish Tartans World Register" -- but how important can minor details such as names be?) Frankly, the criticism that the STA is "controlled by commercial interests" is getting a bit stale. I mean, yes, their membership is composed of most of the major tartan producers in the industry. But tartan is an industry. How on earth someone could try and maintain any kind of body or organization devoted to tartan and not involve the people producing it is beyond me. Historically speaking, tartan has always been an industry -- first as a textile produced in weavers' cottages on a local level, and then progressing up to larger scale production. But it has always been a commodity and so much of the "tartan lore" that we take for granted now has been industry driven. To try to completely separate "tartan academia" from "tartan industry" is absurd.

And the STA has its fair share of tartan academics among members, as well -- Peter MacDonald, author of The 1819 Key Pattern Book: 100 Original Tartans, and recognized expert on Wilsons of Bannockburn and nineteenth century tartan; Jamie Scarlett, regarded by many as the world's foremost living expert on tartan, author of numerous books on the topic; Phil Smith, long time advocate of tartan studies in the USA, and author of Tartan For Me and co-author of District Tartans. Point being, take a tour through the STA's pages and see for yourself who looks more vested in commercial interests, the STA or "International Tartans."

It is ironic that while he seems to be heavily critical of "commercial interests" McGill's web site is itself really just an on-line store. He lists all the tartans that he has designed, advertises himself as a tartan designer, and gives a price list for products you can buy in his tartans. It's all set up to sell tartans. Which is just fine. Goodness knows there is no shortage of web sites out there selling tartans. Our museum's gift shop site is one of them -- if we did not have the ability to sell tartan products, our museum could not be funded. So rather than be critical of "commercial interests" as McGill is, I have no problem with people trying to make a living from tartan cloth.

And under ordinary circumstances I'd commend Mr. McGill and give him my support! For someone to design a corpus of their own tartans, and then have those tartans produced in various goods, and make them available to the public -- well, that's quite an enterprise and it takes someone with a lot of creativity, design skills, marketing skills, and also involves significant financial risks, I imagine. So I'd say bravo to him. So why, then, do I cringe every time I hear of "International Tartans?" It is because I hold some of his methods to be, frankly, misleading at worst, and dishonest at best.

Let's look at some of the tartans he has designed. Starting in Scotland, he has produced an Ayrshire district tartan. You can see it here. He designed it in 1999, according to him, at the request of the Provost of the South Ayrshire Council. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Not until you realize that Phil Smith designed an Ayrshire district tartan in 1988 at the request of the Clans Cunnigham and Boyd (both Ayrshire clans). Look at it. Now, the tartans are not identical, but they are close enough in design that, if I were Phil Smith, I'd be more than a little upset. Both have equal portions of green and blue, separated by a darker color (black in McGill's brown in Smith's), with yellow lines on the green. In Smith's there are red lines on the blue while McGill uses purple. Like I said, not identical, but just very similar. And were I to design a tartan for a district when there was already a preexisting tartan for the same place, I'd try and make it as different as possible to avoid confusion. McGill obviously thinks otherwise.

While some of McGill's tartans are unique, in many cases he has seen fit to design tartans where one already exists. For example, he has designed a new Fife district tartan, despite the fact that the Fife (Duke of Fife) tartan has been around for nearly 130 years. He's designed a US Navy tartan, despite the fact that the Edzell tartan (designed in 1986) has been widely accepted as a tartan for the US Navy for years. He's designed a German National tartan, despite the fact that Doug Ikleman designed a German National tartan in 1995.

Technically, McGill is perfectly within his rights to design these tartans. Neither the US Navy tartan, nor the German National tartan, for instance, have ever been formally recognized by the bodies that they are supposed to represent. So McGill, or anyone else for that matter, is perfectly free to design a different tartan and call it the same thing. But when a tartan has been around for a while (for well over a century in the case of the Fife tartan!) and is widely available (both the Fife and US Navy tartans are produced by major Scottish tartan mills and supported from stock), one has to wonder if it is a prudent thing to design another tartan of the same name? Or are you just adding to the confusion?

Things get even worse when we come to the US State tartans he has designed. Some of them are for states that previously have had no tartan. For instance, Missouri. To the best of my knowledge, there is no other preexisting Missouri tartan. But McGill gives very little information about this on his site. He simply says it was "Commissioned by Bonbright Wollens of Woodland Hills, CA." One has to ask, was anyone from Missouri actually involved in the design? Did anyone from Missouri ask for it? Are any efforts being made to get the tartan recognized by the Missouri government? I suspect not. Todd Wilkinson, Public Information officer for the Scottish St. Andrew's Society of Springfield, Missouri, forwarded to me an email he received from Mr. McGill looking for someone who might be interested in using "Missouri's tartan" in their next Kirkin' of the Tartan ceremony. Interesting that the Public Information officer for the St. Andrew's Society in one of Missouri's major cities would have never have heard of "Missouri's tartan." (Just for the record, I know Todd. He's a well-informed guy, extremely active in the Scottish-American community. If Missouri had a tartan, I'd expect him to be the first to know.)

This reminded me of a confused phone call I received some time in early 2004 (if memory serves) from a woman working at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh (our state's capital). They had been displaying the Carolina tartan for years, she said, but a "man from Scotland" had recently come by and dropped off samples of material that he said was "the North Carolina tartan" and left people there horribly confused. "This tartan doesn't look anything like the Carolina tartan we are familiar with," she told me. "Is there another tartan for North Carolina that we didn't know about? Have we been wrong in showing the Carolina tartan?"

No, I assured her. The Carolina tartan was formally adopted by the State of NC in 1991 and is the correct tartan for the state. I told her I had never even heard of this other tartan, and being a museum, in North Carolina, dedicated to tartan, you'd think we would have known about it. You'd think people in the Raleigh museum would have known about it, as well.

I did a little on-line research after that and found David McGill's previous web site promoting his tartans, where he claimed to be able to issue "a Certificate of Right and Obligation in his capacity as Custodian of the designs and appoints the bearers (and wearers) of the tartans and checks Armigers," and that the North Carolina tartan was "registered… for the sons and daughters of the state…, their heirs and successors, and all those people who are granted association with the state."

My main problem with all this at the time was simply that North Carolina already had an officially recognized state tartan, the Carolina tartan, adopted in 1991. By creating and promoting this new "North Carolina" tartan, with utter disregard for the fact that North Carolina already had an official tartan, he was doing an injustice. Furthermore the language that he was using on his web site, while signifying absolutely nothing, was so high-falutin' (to use a North Carolina term!) that it made it sound as if the North Carolina tartan he designed had more status than it actually did. This was the main complaint I made in a March, 2005, article I wrote for the Scottish Banner newspaper.

The article wasn't really about McGill at all, but rather about the fact that some tartans have been officially recognized and others have not, and I used as an example the official Carolina tartan v. the unofficial North Carolina tartan towards the end of the article. In response, I received a very long, very incoherent, and (to be frank) somewhat disturbing letter from Mr. McGill, which I commented upon briefly in this blog post of June 11, 2006. I chose to ignore the letter and move on.

Well, it seems with his new updated web site, Mr. McGill is changing his tune a little. On his page promoting the North Carolina tartan, he readily admits that the Carolina tartan is the one that has been officially adopted by the state legislature. However, he claims that this tartan is "mysteriously named and even more mysteriously provenanced" (whatever that means), and he tells us that he was commissioned to design this tartan by "the late Charles of Flatbranch, NC" who was "dissatisfied with the fact" that the Carolina tartan has been adopted by the state and wanted to "provide the state with its own symbol."

In other words, someone (whose last name isn't even given) from NC didn't like the tartan that the sate legislature selected and so had another one designed to suit his own fancy. And we are supposed to buy into this why? McGill tells us why! Because his tartan "was created to strengthen the bonds of kinship between the peoples of Scotland and the State of North Carolina, and for the benefit and well-being of the people of the State of North Carolina." So you see, it's all for our benefit and well-being! It's for our health, I suppose!

McGill's tartan, he tells us, is "The tartan for all true North Carolinians." Is he honestly suggesting that those of us that don't buy into his scheme to usurp the actual state tartan are not true North Carolinians! I'd be tempted to laugh if I wasn't aware that all too many people will read his words and take them seriously.

He goes on: "Although attempts have been made to discredit it by some with a vested interest in the Carolina tartan, the North Carolina was warmly welcomed by Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and has proved to be popular with ‘Tarheels’ everywhere." Ok, maybe it's just my ego, but I can't help but think he means me here. What my "vested interest in the Carolina tartan" is I have no idea. I certainly don't own stock in it! Our museum's gift shop does have a small amount of yard goods in cotton in the Carolina tartan. But that's it, and once that's gone there are no plans to weave more. If anyone wanted a kilt, or cloth in the Carolina tartan I'd be happy to provide it, but it would have to be custom woven for them. And I'm happy to provide that service for any tartan that is requested, so long as it is not protected by copyright.

And one good example of a copyrighted tartan that I could not provide is the North Carolina tartan, that is copyrighted by McGill. If anyone wants it, it has to be purchased through him. Talk about a vested interest! In fact, I did have one visitor to our museum want this North Carolina tartan. He knew it wasn't the official tartan of the state, but he wanted it anyway. He liked it, and that's just fine. I told him I couldn't get the cloth for him, that he could only order it through Bonbright Woolens in CA (which according to the International Tartans web site at the time, was licensed to sell McGill's tartans in the USA). I was happy to make the referral. I even let him use the museum's phone to make the order!

In fact I was standing right next to him when he called and was told that the fabric was in stock and would ship in two to four weeks. A couple of months later, when he still had not received it, he called again and was told that it was out of stock and there were no plans to reweave it, so his order was cancelled. Oops!

In any case, my only "vested interest" in the Carolina tartan is educational. The people of North Carolina should know that their state does have an official tartan, formally adopted as a state symbol, and they should be proud of that. They need to know that this latter "North Carolina" tartan is simply a fashion design and has no status whatsoever with the state. These are simply the facts. It doesn't matter to me what tartan people wear, but they ought to know the facts.

Laughably, McGill ends his write-up on the North Carolina tartan by quoting me, of all people! From the introduction to my Compendium of District Tartans, he quotes me speaking of a tartan becoming de facto "official" through "wont and usage." This is a term that is used to describe what can happen to a tartan, such as the Duke of Fife tartan, when it has been arouund for so long and in common use for so long that it is generally accepted as an official tartan, even though it may in fact have no official recognition. To apply this to a tartan newly designed in 2003, for a state that has had an officially recognized tartan since 1991, is just absurd.

Even though McGill claims that his tartan is "popular with Tarheels everywhere" I frankly have not seen the evidence of this. The confused phone call from the lady at the NC Museum of History and the single customer asking for the tartan, both of which I mentioned to you above, have been the only two people to ever ask me about this tartan in the four years since its inception. We are a tartan museum actually located in North Carolina, and we get to many of the Highland Games in our state and other Scottish events. I'm not saying that some people in NC are not using McGill's tartan. I'm just saying that if it was widely popular I'd probably know about it. The true Carolina tartan, on the other hand, is used by at least two pipe bands in the state (the Cross Creek Pipes and Drums, and the NC State Pipe Band), by at least one NC Scottish Society that I am aware of (the Catawba Valley Scottish Society), and I frequently see it worn by private individuals at various NC Scottish events. Last year the Carolina tartan was included in a book about the state published by the NC State department. If you want to speak of "wont and usage" these are all good examples.

And what about Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, whom McGill says "warmly welcomed" his new tartan? All I can say is that if you go to the Secretary of State's web site and look up the General Session of the State Assembly from 1991, you'll read this statement: "The Carolina Tartan is adopted as the official tartan of the State of North Carolina. (1991, c. 85, s. 1.)." And that's really all there is to it.

And the end of the day, this is what I make of the new International Tartans web site. McGill seems to realize and finally admit that there is no provenance for his new North Carolina tartan. So he's changed his strategy from trying to convince people that his tartan is in any way official, and now is instead attempting to do away with the very idea that a tartan can even be "official." You, he says, the tartan wearing publc, are the only ones who have any authority over tartan. And it seems obvious that he wants you to use your "authority" in support of his designs.

I'm not impressed. The Carolina tartan is an official symbol of our state, like the dogwood flower, the cardinal (our state bird), or our flag. Having this man from Edinburgh design a new tartan, question the very validity of our state tartan, and attempt to supplant it with his own, is rather like a man from Germany deciding that the edelweiss should really be the state flower of North Carolina instead of that silly dogwood! Ridiculous!

The problem is that many people will be impressed with McGill's presentation simply because he is a Scot. But being Scottish no more makes you an expert on tartan than being an American makes you an expert on baseball. The fact is, David McGill is an architecht. He may be a very qualified architecht, I have no way of knowing. But this doesn't make him an authority on tartans, Scottish accent or not.

The truth that I hope everyone reading this takes with them is this -- there is, and always has been, horrible confusion in the world of tartan-lore. The few tartan scholars that are out there work long and hard (often for little or no reward!) to try to clear up these misconceptions. But new confusion is sewn, it seems, just about every day. Ultimately the serious wearer of tartan needs to take the responsibility to do his own research. Don't beleive everything you read. Double check the facts, and find out for yourself.

And if you find someone whom you believe is engaging in a campaign of misinformation, call them on it!

No Offical Maine State Tartan

2007-03-15T06:25:00.000-05:00

The Maine tartan has been in the news recently as the result of a lawsuit brought about by the copyright holders against L. L. Bean for using it, without permission, in their line of "Americana" shirts for men. You can read about it here.

The Maine tartan was designed in 1964 by Sol Gilis, of Nova Scotia, at the request of a Mainer. Originally it was produced by the Maine Spinning Company, which has since gone out of business. Around 1987 it was revived by the Maine Tartan and Tweed Company, who obtained the copyright. And that copyright has been closely guarded. I know from personal correspondence that when Dr. Gordon Teal of Teallach, and Dr. Philip D. Smith Jr., wrote their District Tartans book in 1992 there was some issue over them being able to include a picture of the Maine tartan. And the Maine tartan is one of the only ones in the International Tartan Index that specifically states that it is included with permission of the copyright holders.

Being designed in 1964 it is definitely the oldest tartan designed for a US state. It's still being worn by the Maine St. Andrews Pipes and Drums. (You can see pictures here). And there is a good close-up image of the Maine tartan on this list of state symbols.

Which raises a question -- is the Maine tartan actually an official state symbol? Aside from a newspapaer clipping from The Glasgow Herald dated December 30, 1965, stating that it had been "duly accredited by the State of Maine," there is no evidence to suggest it was ever formally adopted.

Due to "copyright issues" surrounding the Maine tartan, in 2001 the St. Andrews Society of Maine deicded to create a new tartan for the state, which they call the Maine Dirigo tartan (click for image). Dirigo is the state motto, and means "I lead." They contacted state officials, who did some research and could come up with absolutely no record of the original Maine tartan ever being officially adopted. So a move was put forward to have the new Maine Dirigo tartan adopted as the official tartan of the state.

According to the notes for that tartan appearing in the International Tartan Index (STA), it was "adopted as the state tartan 15th January 2001 in State House, Augusta, Maine." And this is what I have assumed to be true... until this morning.

News reports about the current controversy surrounding the original Maine tartan and L. L. Bean have generated a lot of discussion about the Maine tartans. So I was doing a bit more research on line this morning, and came across this reference to the Maine Dirigo tartan on the state government's web site, regarding the 120th First Regular Session of the Maine State Legislature.

Apparantly, the motion to have the Dirigo tartan officially adopted by the state may have been brought before the legislature on January 15 of 2001, but a decision was not formally made until February 13 of that year, and that decision was "Ought Not to Pass."

This is very interesting! Needless to say, it contradicts the "recieved wisdom" about this tartan, but this is not all that unusual. There are simply too many tartans out there, and too few serious tartan researchers, to expect 100% accuracy in all the tartan information that is available. So it is hardly surprising to discover that mistakes have been made. This is exactly why the STA has this statement in the introduction to their International Tartan Index on-line:

"The huge ITI has been compiled from very many sources and its accuracy is only
as good as that provided by those sources. What this means is that despite two
years of continued research and correcting, it is most certainly not free of
inherited inaccuracies and at times, a complete lack of any recorded details at
all! We hold out great hope that you, the viewers, will contact us with
corrections or additional information on any tartans about which you have a
specialist knowledge. Your input will be added to the ongoing research that will
continue for very many years."

I've already sent Brian Wilton, of the STA, an email this morning informing him of this information, so that they can correct their own records of the tartan.

So, what this means for the State of Maine is that there are currently two tartans designed for the state, neither one of which has any official standing as far as the state is concerned. One of them is certianly much older than the other -- and its status as the oldest tartan designed for a US state gives it some historic credibility. But for someone wishing to wear a tartan for the state, the choice is really up to them!

Jonesing for a Harris Tweed kilt jacket!

2007-02-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

I just got an email from Catherine Campbell, Harris Tweed weaver, letting me know that the kilt jacket and vest she was having made for me is ready to be shipped. Along with this jacket I'm also having her send me enough cloth in the same pattern to make a kilt for myself, with the goal being a full tweed kilt suit.

Of course I selected this pattern because it tones well with some of my other tartan kilts, so I intend to get a lot of use out of this jacket & vest.

Now that I know it is on the way, I can hardly wait. It's like Christmas all over again!

(Yes, even those of us in the business can get excited about getting new "stuff"!)

Scotsman paper attacks STA for defending Scottish tradition

2007-02-13T12:37:00.000-05:00

The Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) published a very good article in their January 2007 issue of the Tartan Herald decrying the plague of cheap Asian-made acrylic "kilts" being sold to tourists along Edinburgh's Royal Mile.

Kilt wearers, and others who are involved in the Scottish heritage community, have long decried these cheap imitations that can best be described as "costumes" rather than clothing. However, to much surprise, the STA has come under fire for their attempt to defend the tradition of real Scottish kilt making.

Those of you who are members of the STA most likely have already read the article on question, but if not, it is available here:

Tartan Herald, Jan 2007

The basic jist of the article has to do not with the comparitive merits of expensive, hand tailored, woolen kilts v. inexpensive, machine made, non-woolen kilts. The article actually had to do with "truth in advertising" and whether the merchants in question are guilty of misleading their customers.

The article included photos of the labels attached to these acrylic kilts (one is reproduced here). I, myself, have seen these same labels on cheap kilts being offered at Highland Games here in America. They claim that the kilt has been "designed in Scotland" and is made from "authentic woven material." The problem is that, while these claims are 100% true, they mean absolutely nothing. The fact that the kilt was designed in Scotland says nothing about where it was actually made (most likely Pakistan, in this instance), and while the kilt is made from "woven material" the material in question is poor-quality acrylic and not Scottish wool.

None of this would be of issue, of course, if the label correctly said, "made in Pakistan; 100% acrylic cloth." And that's the main point of the STA article. Edinburgh's Royal Mile is a big tourist attraction, and visitors to Scotland are being misled into spending their money on foreign imports rather than true products of Scotland.

Let's face it, when people buy a kilt like this, very often it is as a momento of their vacation to Scotland, and the value of the item is that it represents a unique Scottish tradition. While I, and other kilt wearers, may be able to look at a kilt like this and instantly know it is not an actual Scottish-made woolen kilt, the truth is that most people have no direct experience with kilts. I frequently talk to people who don't know if the pleats are to be worn in the back or front of the kilt, don't know what a tartan is, and don't know the different between wool, cotton, or polyester. They are not to be faulted for this, Highland Dress is just outside of their experience. And these people, on holidy in Scotland, are frequently fooled into believing that this cheap imported skirt is representative of true Scottish tradition and craftsmanship.

After the STA article came out, some of the shop owners on the Royal Mile predictably complained. No surprise there. My reaction was that if they took offense at the article, it was most likely because it struck a bit close to home.

However, the Scotsman newspaper recently ran an editorial criticizing the STA for being the "kilt police." You can read it here, but here are the pertinant parts.

The STA's biggest beef, however, seems to be with the ever-growing
popularity of lightweight kilts, which led them to claim in Monday's paper that
shopkeepers were misleading tourists by selling cut price acrylic kilts, for as
little as £19.99.
You'll not get a "real" kilt for less than £240
apparently, and therein lies the rub. How many locals, let alone tourists on a
budget, have a spare £240 to blow on a "real" kilt?
...
However, don't be misled into believing that the kilt police are driven by an
altruistic desire to save our heritage. The organisation might sound like some
historic body formed by the clan chiefs generations ago, but is actually a
fairly new collective formed in 1996 by Scotland's leading weavers and tartan
retailers ... no vested interests there then. Really, who cares what your kilt
is made of, as long as you wear it with pride.

Ok, first of all, whether the STA was formed in 1996 or in 1796 really has no bearing on the point of their article. The Scotsman author is just setting up a straw man. And yes, the STA membership is made up of some of the top tartan manufacturers and kiltmakers in the country. It is also made up of tartan scholars and academics, as well as a large body of interested individuals. And the STA watches out for the interests of its membership. Why shouldn't it? But the point to be made is that STA membership consists of many competing tartan producers. The STA here is not advocation for one company or another, but rather for the Scottish-based Highland Dress industry as a whole. And really, what Scotsman wants to see the tartan trade leave their country for the shores of some third-world nation? Recall not that long ago when the MOD was contemplating having the tartan for their regimental kilts made overseas? People were up in arms!

But the main complaint of the editorial seems to be that the STA is guilty of elitism, claiming that the only "real" kilt must be a heavyweight, hand tailored, eight yard masterpeice costing hundreds of dollars. However, this is not true! In the original STA aritcle itself, they state:

Most weavers and kiltmakers have no objection to cheap 'fun kilts' appearing on
the market, regardless of their country of origin or what they're made of.
After all, youngsters introduced to the 'kilt' through them will no doubt
graduate to the real thing one day. No... the objection is that people are
being misled into buying these cheap kilts under the impression that they're
Scottish and that the design, fabric, and workmanship are the output of
Scotland's traditional weavers and kiltmakers. That is regarded
as a travesty!

Notice how the Scotsman peice never even once mentioned this -- the main point of the STA article. Rather it attackes the STA for a position that they themselves plainly state not to hold.

Apparantly the author of the peice cannot even be bothered to read (or understand) the very article that he is commenting on. And the sad fact is that most people, not being members of the STA, will only hear about their opinion through reading garbage like this, without ever having the opportunity to find out what the STA actually said.

This author's expertise in the kilt stems from the fact that he rented one for a wedding once. And he is critcizing the STA for a position that they do not even hold. So, tell me... is it really the position of the Scotsman that cheap foreign-made acrylic kilts should be more widely available on the Scottish market? That is a position that I find very hard to defend!

Carolina Christmas

2006-12-28T15:08:00.000-05:00

Just like the plumber who stays so busy he cannot fix the leaky pipes in his own home, so too does the busy kiltmaker (in this case, me) rarely have time to make a kilt for himself. Well, my Christmas gift to myself this year was to make an exception and add another kilt to my wardrobe.

In this case, it is the Carolina tartan -- a tartan I have long wanted to wear, as a native of North Carolina. This tartan was designed in 1981 by Peter MacDonald, and formally accepted as the state tartan of North Carolina in 1991 (South Carolina followed suit in 2002). The Museum took a bulk order of this cloth for a pipe band last year, and I had some extra woven for myself. I've been looking at it gathering dust in my sewing room for many months now. So while visiting family over the Christmas weekend I decided to treat myself and finally make my Carolina kilt.

I'm wearing it here with a blue Tattersall shirt that my mother got my for Christmas from L. L. Bean (thanks, Mom!). I have always thought that Tattersall shirts look especially nice worn with a tartan kilt. I think the blue in this shirt really tones well with the light azure blue in the Carolina tartan. I've also paired it with some lovat blue kilt hose and a pair of brick red traditional garter ties.

I'm also sporting a new (to me) sporran. It's a reproduction of an eighteenth century style, with a real working hinged cantle. One of my regular clients was looking to weed out some excess from his wardrobe and, well... he made me an offer I couldn't refuse! It just arrived in the post yesterday, so got to debut my new kilt and sporran on the same day.

I'm also very excited about my new kilt pin. When I first got the Carolina tartan cloth, I thought it would be especially nice to have a special kilt pin reflective of the state's heritage. The dogwood is one of my favorite flowers, and is also the state flower of North Carolina. I did a search on line for dogwood pins and found the web site of Stuart Nye of Asheville, NC. This jeweler has been making hand wrought jewelery since 1933, and specializes, of all things, in dogwood designs! You can see a close up of the pin below.

What a perfect compliment for this kilt, which I plan on giving good use this upcoming Games season in North and South Carolina.

Been Busy

2006-12-16T15:58:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't posted here in quite some time. So I thought I'd take a few minutes this afternoon to show you what's been keeping me so busy. I've been trying to work my way through some of the backlog of kilt orders I have. Here are some of my latest projects.

These first two pictures are a four yard box pleated kilt in the Peeper tartan. This is a personal tartan that I designed for Dr. E. Quinn Peeper of Louisinanna.

Next is another four yard box pleated kilt, made for a regular client of mine, Ron Keeler of Canada. This one is made from a very heavy weight Harris Tweed in the Hunting MacPherson tartan. It only has six very wide box pleats in the back.

Lastly, here I am modeling a Hunting MacKinnon kilt I made. (I normally don't advocate the wearing of off-white hose, but in the case of this Arran sweater, I think the cream hose are a good match).