A package from Mull

Last Friday I came home from work to find in my mail box a nicely wrapped parcel from the Isle of Mull. It could be only one thing -- the tweed cloth I had ordered from Ardalanish, the weavers from Isle of Mull specializing in organic and eco-friendly tweed cloth that I posted about earlier.

I excitedly opened the package, which included not only the cloth I had ordered, but also labels, several copies of their brochure, and a swatch book of their stock tweeds that I had requested.

I especially was happy to receive the swatches. This little book will enable me to show samples of their tweeds to individuals interested in having their kilts, jackets, etc. made from ethical fabrics. Seeing the colors and patterns on line is one thing, but holding them in your hands is quite another!

Of course the major content of the package was the cloth itself. I had ordered enough of their ethical Hebridean Tattersal to make a kilt. In the photos it looks rather black and grey -- and indeed in certain lighting this is what it seems to be. In reality, however, the cloth is really a very dark, rich brown, which comes out best in natural light. The photo below was taken under the work light (an Ott-Lite) in my sewing room.

As soon as I can find the time, I'll make a kilt from this tweed, with the idea being to photograph it for my web site so that I can begin offering this cloth as an option for my kilt clients.

The fabric is not inexpensive, to be sure. Their "ethical" cloth is a lower cost than the full organic certified. However, I'm going to try to keep the cost of the kilts as reasonable as possible. The fact that the four yard box pleated kilts I make only require half the cloth of a typical modern kilt will help a great deal. In any case, it's never a bad move to pay a bit more for quality, and "quality" is an excellent word to describe this fabric. Plus it supports the great work that Ardalanish is doing to preserve Hebridean tradition on Mull. And that's a Good Thing!

Keep your eye on my web site for further developments!