Some readers will remember that I began working with a weaver in Scotland on a lightweight tweed project this past spring. That's because standard widths of traditional Shetland and Cheviot tweeds rarely weight less than 14 ounces (400 grams) and make up into jackets that are a bit warm for the shoulder seasons, and for California generally.
The lighter cloth that is sometimes promoted in tweed's place, like Porter & Harding's Glorious Twelfth and Hardy's Worsted Alsport, is worsted posing as tweed and, though the quality of Glorious Twelfth in particular is excellent, it's not the real thing.
The real thing differs from worsted in that the cloth is woven by one man in his home using natural yarn that's spun and dyed in Scotland, in lengths that will make five jackets and no more. It's got more texture and the weave is more open, so it wears significantly cooler than its weight would indicate. That weight is light to begin with, at 10.5 ounces (300 grams), so the result is a cloth for spring and fall jacketings (it's not meant for trousers).
All that said, the brown and green Shetland herringbone in the photo (the colors are more vibrant in reality) is on its way to becoming odd jackets for another reader and me. The swatch looks great against gabardine odd trousers in shades of olive and tan and that's how I plan to wear the jacket.
There are a couple jacket-sized five metre (single width) lengths left - if you'd like one please send me an email.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Lightweight Tweed Update
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8 comments:
I have a Ralph Lauren jacket made out of 100% silk cream-and-tan herringbone tweed. It wears cooler than it feels because of that open weave. Have you experimented with anything like that for a summer tweed jacket?
Nice cloth.
How much do you know about the yarn? Is it a Cheviot? Woolen or worsted? Single or ply?
The yarn is a ply Shetland and like all tweed a woolen.
Seneca, the silk jackets I've worn have been too warm for summers (except perhaps in cool climates). That's unfortunate as silk's lustre makes it great for sunny days.
An ironic problem! The rest of the world struggles to find anything above 14oz, let alone a good solid 18oz+.
Will, I am confused by your statement "like all tweed a woolen". It is possible to get worsted tweed garments.
If I may venture a reply, woolen yarn is part of the definition of tweed.
It is indeed possible to weave a broken twill which would look somewhat like this cloth from worsted yarn, but it wouldn't properly be a tweed. In general terms it would wear less warmly than tweed, would be more durable and perhaps more lustrous.
Tartans are worsted. Tweeds are woolen.
Thanks Brian. Putting it another way, there are worsteds with patterns similar to tweed patterns a la Glorious Twelfth, but they are still worsteds. Tweed is a woolen.
Thanks Brian and Will. That accords with my understanding of the wool type used for tweed but it is confusing that references are made to "worsted tweed", as I have seen in places. I shall put such references down to the lack of knowledge of others!
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