One of our favourite designs is our Ebb Tide pattern. It’s a shadow weave that reminds us of the rivulets of water winding their way across the sand when the tide goes out. We’ve used it for scarves, shawls and baby blankets, and for a long time we’ve wanted to weave throws with it too. But scaling the design up to that size on our pedal powered looms is a major technical challenge. We’ve been scratching our heads for years about how to do it, and finally we’ve cracked it. Here’s how …

In a pickle with pick repeats

This might get a bit technical, but we’ll try to keep it simple. Our looms are Griffith Rapier Handlooms, built by Griffith Textiles near Newcastle. They were originally designed for weaving Harris Tweed – something we can’t do because we’re not based in the Outer Hebrides – but they’ve been serving us faithfully here on Skye for many years.

Each of our looms is set up to weave patterns with a 16-pick weft repeat maximum. In plain language, that means after every 16 weft threads going across (the ‘picks’), the same lifting sequence of warp frames repeats. This has nothing to do with colour, but with the structure of the cloth – how the threads cross and interlace. For example, a herringbone pattern looks intricate but is actually only a 4-pick repeat.

Our Ebb Tide pattern has a 16-pick repeat and works beautifully for lighter fabrics. But using the same 16-pick structure for a throw or blanket would have made the fabric too tight and stiff, not soft and flowing as it should be. To fix this, we decided to double up the weft threads and weave a hopsack variation of the pattern. That meant the repeat had to expand to 32 picks – but our looms were only ever built to handle 16 at most.

Doing without a dobbie

For years, we’ve been puzzling over how to get around this limitation. Many modern looms, even handlooms, use an electronic system called a dobbie to lift the frames in different sequences. But we love that our looms are pedal-powered, driven entirely by our feet – no electronics, just mechanics.

In our case, the pattern is controlled by a tappet chain – a loop of shaped metal pieces (tappets) that lift or leave down the warp frames in a set order. For a simple 4-pick herringbone, for example, the chain would tell the loom to lift frames 1 and 2, then 2 and 3, then 3 and 4, then 4 and 1 – and back to the start.

To weave the 32-pick Ebb Tide throws, we needed a chain eight times longer than a herringbone repeat. So, we built an extension to carry the extra weight and added more tappets and fittings. Craig, a very kind and resourceful local high school teacher, redesigned the part that guides the chain through the mechanism and 3D printed a new version for us. It can now carry the much heavier chain – and works beautifully.

On a roll

After all that effort, the modified loom runs perfectly. We’ve already woven several rolls of the new Ebb Tide throws, and the first ones (in grey and white) are already in the shop – and flying off the shelves! We’re now working on a blue and grey version too.

Whether or not you’ve followed every bit of this technical story, we hope you enjoy the results. These throws aren’t just beautiful – they’re also woven from 100% local Isle of Skye wool, making them something we’re truly proud of.

Get a closer look at the process in our short video below. And see the finished product in the Throws & Blankets section of our online shop.

Weaving Ebb Tide Throws

Colour is all around us, and it’s easy to take for granted. But when it comes to weaving, there’s a lot more to colour than you might think. Our new Skye Wool Bell & Ling Tweed is a great example of how colours, and the way they are created, can shape the entire look and feel of a fabric.

Creating colours

We often get our Skye Wool colours custom dyed to achieve the exact effect we want. We work closely with specialist yarn dyers in the Scottish Borders and Yorkshire, who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their craft. They dye for some of the world’s biggest fashion houses but fortunately they’re also happy to work with small artisan producers like us.

When it comes to dyeing wool there are essentially two methods: in the fleece, before spinning; or on the cone, after the yarn has been spun. We use both types depending on the effect we’re looking for.

The new Bell & Ling Tweed is a great example as it combines both methods. For this design we set out to re-create a typical Skye summer hill scene:  two species of heather, Bell and Ling, intermingled amidst deep green leaves.

Cone dyeing

We had the purple Bell and Ling heather colours specially dyed for us using the cone dyeing method. To begin with I took lots of photos of the two types of heather. I then sampled the different colours on the computer and sent them to the dyers to reproduce the two chosen shades on yarn.

Getting the yarn colour right isn’t easy as different base materials (e.g. paper or wool) have a big impact on the final appearance. Light conditions have an effect as well. It takes a lot of skill to weigh up everything and achieve the best possible result. We usually need a couple of samples – a small amount of spun and dyed yarn – before we’re there. Once we’re agreed then the dyers make up a dye vat and immerse the required quantity of yarn in it on special cones. When it’s dyed the yarn is rinsed and wound onto regular yarn cones. And importantly, the dyers will keep our unique colour ‘recipe’ for any future orders.

For our Bell & Ling Tweed we added another layer of colour complexity by twisting together the bright and pale purple yarns. Bell and Ling heathers often grow closely together, and we wanted to re-create that ‘intermingled’ effect by combining the colours before weaving.

‘In the fleece’ dyeing

The green yarn in our Bell & Ling Tweed, representing the leaves of the heather, was dyed for us ‘in the fleece’. For this method the fleeces are first scoured, which teases them apart into smaller tufts of wool. These are then dyed.

The tufts of wool can all be dyed one colour, but more often several colours are used and then the fibres are blended to create the overall desired effect, as we did here.

To start off with I sent the spinners a mood board to show the effect I was trying to achieve. They mixed up colours in different proportions to give me a range of samples showing the colour blends.

After a bit of back and forth we took the necessary leap of faith and settled on a recipe made up of five different colours. The exact combination is secret (even to us!) but as an illustration, 300kg of green yarn might comprise 100kg dark green, 100kg blue green, 50kg light green, 25kg pale red and 25kg tan.

Blending these fibres essentially involves blowing them around in a big chamber to mix them up. This mixture is then fed into the carding machine where the colours get properly blended and equalised. While the final blending creates a more uniform look, the different colour components are still visible in close-up. This gives the final fabric more depth and a three-dimensional feel.

We were thrilled with how these yarns turned out and think the finished tweed perfectly captures the heathery scene. The wool for this tweed is all from local Skye sheep and we liked to think of them wandering the heather covered hill while we were weaving it. It is perfect for garments, curtains, soft furnishings, and upholstery – or anywhere you’d like a hint of Skye’s summer hills in bloom.

We liked this yarn so much we also made it into a ‘plain’ green tweed (though it’s far from plain), called Heathland Tweed.

A word on natural dyes

We’re sometimes asked whether we use natural dyes. The answer is yes, we do! We’ve worked with Skye-based natural dye company Shilasdair and have really enjoyed using their colours for specific projects. We’re planning to do more of this in the future.

However, for the scale we typically work at – dyeing yarn for whole bolts of fabric – natural dyeing isn’t currently feasible. For those larger volumes we work with larger British dyers, who follow the strictest environmental standards. This commitment to environmental responsibility is essential in all dyeing processes, whether natural or synthetic.

Colour is just one of the elements of our tweed design and production journey. You can find out all about all the various processes in our Sheep to Tweed story. To get a closer look at all our tweeds and order samples visit our online shop.

We love making products with local island wool. We’ve shared a few stories about the start of the process – shearing the sheep – and lots about the weaving side of things. So we thought it’s time to shine a light on what happens in the middle: getting from Skye fleece to Skye Wool yarn.

The local sheep are clipped (sheared) in June or July. You can find out more about that in our Summer Clip blog. We use a mixture of white wool from Cheviot sheep, and brown which mainly comes from Hebrideans, Black Cheviot, Zwartbles or Ryeland.

The first step is to collect the fleeces, or people drop them off with us. We buy from more than 30 local crofters and farmers from all around the island. It can involve quite few scenic trips with the trailer, best done on a fine day …

The fleeces then have to be graded. This involves carefully examining each fleece to select the best wool to be spun into our special yarn. Last year we invested in a spacious new shed so we can grade and store all our local fleeces on the croft. It’s big but still fills up fast!

Wool grading is a lengthy but essential process. We’re looking for wool that has a soft handle and good ‘crimp’ to it. Crimp is the fibre’s natural waviness which makes the wool springy and creates pockets of air, great for warmth. The best wool tends to come from the sheep’s side shoulders and the top of the hind legs. The white wool we buy comes from one-year-old sheep, called hoggs, and the brown wool comes from both hoggs and older ewes. The younger the sheep, the better the fleece – so less needs to be removed.

We’ve been learning this ‘on the job’ and getting quicker at it every year, which is good because we’ve steadily increased the amount of wool we’re buying. It’s hard work but I love getting ‘hands on’ with the wool.

We grade out everything that’s not good enough quality.  We remove the ‘kempy’ wool – brittle, coarse, hollow fibre usually located at the lower hind legs (britches). We take out wool that’s heavily coloured with marking paint or tangled with heather, grass or other vegetation. We also remove the belly wool which has short fibres and can be discoloured, and the grotty bits (technical name, ‘daggings’) around the sheep’s bottom. Nice.

None of this goes to waste, mind you. It’s a brilliant mulch on the veg patch. We’re also experimenting with getting some thick, hard-wearing yarn spun for us for use in floor mats.

When we’ve finished grading it’s time to start packing the wool – another long job. We graded over 2000 kilos of wool last year, resulting in a total of 20 bags. No wonder Roger looks happy when it’s done.

The next step is to send the graded fleeces off for washing (also called scouring), carding (separating into individual fibres) and spinning into yarn. We can’t do this locally for the quantities we need so we send it off to a spinning mill in Yorkshire. They do a great job.

Four months or so later the Skye Wool yarn arrives back in Skye, ready for weaving. It’s always an exciting moment! We create four natural shades of by blending white and brown wool in different proportions: all white, all brown, 85/15 white/brown to get a light grey, and 60/40 to get a mid-grey. This gives us a lot of potential for patterns even before getting any of the yarn dyed. Then it’s time to get weaving…

Want to see what we create with this yarn? Have a look at our current Skye Wool products in the online shop and find out more about Skye Wool.

See more in our Fleece to Yarn video

This month’s blog takes a look at a traditional tweed process that is an important part of Scotland’s cultural heritage: waulking.

Waulking (in Gaelic luadh) is an age-old method of hand-finishing newly woven tweed to thicken and soften it. In the Highlands & Islands this work was traditionally done by groups of women, working around a communal table or other flat surface while singing rhythmic ‘waulking songs’ (òrain luaidh). This activity survived in parts of the Hebrides – including in the Minginish peninsula on Skye – until the mid-20th century. Today, though, it is all done by machines.

Many waulking songs have been passed down through the generations, and you can often hear them performed by contemporary Gaelic musicians. Some passionate enthusiasts are taking things further. Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, the Inverclyde Waulking Group, is a remarkable group of women based on the west coast of Scotland. They believe it’s important not only to preserve these songs but to ‘work’ them to bring them alive.

The group gives regular performances combining singing with waulking demonstrations. A good dose of improvisation and gossip are an important part of the mix too. Very occasionally they will ‘work’ a proper raw tweed, which is where we come in. More on that later – but first, what is waulking exactly?

The waulking process

When woollen tweed is fresh off the loom, the weave is quite loose and the fabric can be stiff and rough. The purpose of waulking (or fulling) is to make it softer, thicker and more airtight.

The cloth is first soaked in a liquid called maistir to help set the dye and soften the cloth. Traditionally this would have been stale urine – but Sgioba Luaidh assure us that warm water mixed with ammonia does the job for them!

The wet cloth is then spread around a communal table for waulking. Women sitting around the table pass the cloth around while rhythmically beating it. The songs help keep the rhythm going. There are different songs for different parts of the process. The cloth is always moved clockwise, as anti-clockwise is considered bad luck. Each woman pulls the tweed towards her and then passes it slightly to the left before pushing it back, thumping the cloth on the table at the same time. 

The process takes around three hours, so it’s not surprising that music and gossip is an important element. As co-founder of Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, Frances Dunlop, says: “The whole process was – is – very therapeutic. In the songs you can express your every emotion; the hypnotic thumping of the cloth on the table helps to release all your tensions and frustrations; in the company of your friends you can have a good gossip, and talk over problems. It’s great ‘female bonding’!”

Once the cloth has shrunk by about 20% and the texture feels thick enough, it is time to wash and rinse it.

It’s then squeezed out before going back to the table to be rolled up on to a board. The women work the tweed as they roll to ensure it is straight. This part of the process is accompanied by another set of songs. After one day rolled around the board it is rolled again the other way to ensure it lies flat. Then the tweed is dried properly.

Waulking at Auchindrain Township

We’ve been lucky to collaborate twice with Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, and hope to do more in the future. The most recent was last year at Auchindrain Township in Argyll, where the pictures above were taken. With its restored longhouses, outbuildings and visitor centre this historic farming township is a beautifully preserved evocation of 19th century Highland life.

Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh agreed to hand-finish a 10 metre length of our Skye Wool tweed. I was lucky to join in the process, though I admit not for the full three hours. I also excused myself from the singing! It was a very special experience. Working alongside these amazing women in a hands-on process that truly involves all the senses, I felt a powerful connection to the past.  

Have a look at our video to see the journey from raw tweed to finished roll.

Our previous collaboration was a few years ago when the group gave a waulking demonstration with one of our first ever lengths of Skye Wool. Our short film of that event is one of our most popular videos – watch it on YouTube.

Our hand-waulked tweeds

For obvious reasons it’s not practical to hand-finish the bulk of our tweeds today. Today this job is done for us by Schofield Dyers and Finishers in the Scottish Borders. You can find out about the process in the ‘sheep to tweed’ section of our website.

So the small lengths of hand-waulked tweed that resulted from our two collaborations with Sgioba Luiadh Inbhirchluaidh really are special. We knew we had to use them to create something exceptional – but what?

We struck on the idea of using them to make hand-fasting ribbons.  Hand-fasting is a traditional Celtic ritual that symbolises a couple’s commitment to each other and is now a popular addition to many Scottish wedding and civil partnership ceremonies. Imbued with tradition, and very limited edition, our hand-waulked tweed seems the perfect way to ‘tie the knot’.

We’ve created two versions of the handfasting ribbon – the Green Herringbone version you can see here, and a Natural Diamond Twill version using the tweed from our earlier collaboration.

If you’d like to hear some traditional waulking songs have a browse through Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches, a rich online resource dedicated to audio recordings of Scotland’s cultural heritage. And to find out more about waulking,  Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh’s website is a great place to start. Even better, check out their forthcoming events to watch Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh in action!

“But what do you do in winter?!” That’s a question we often get asked by our visitors during the summer months. And the middle of January seems a good time to try and answer it!

Winter can be challenging here as anywhere, but there are plenty of compensations. It’s actually Roger’s favourite season – he was definitely designed for northern climes. Being surrounded by sea we don’t get as much snow as the Scottish mainland but things do generally ice up for a week or two each year. This can be a bit tricky when it comes to manoeuvring up and down our drive.

Of course the winter is when the mountain scenery really comes into its own. Seeing the first snows on the Cuillins is always a wonderful moment. As we love getting into the hills we always keep an eye on the weather and try to make most of the sunshine. Being the quieter season in terms of visitors means we have a bit more flexibility to go for it when we see a weather window and the perfect patch of snow. 

Short days mean long nights – not so great for walking, but brilliant for getting on with the weaving. The workshop can be quite the hive of activity after dark. Photographer Andrew Tobin captured this perfectly when he visited us recently for his book ‘Skye At Night’. Here’s a peek at some of his photos, to be published next year.

As weavers we can’t write a blog about the winter without mentioning the best bit: it’s a chance to wrap up in woolly warmth. Our local sheep know a thing or two about keeping cosy in the cold and we love dreaming up new ways of using the gorgeous warm fleeces they provide us with every year. Have a look at our Skye Wool page to see how we work with local farmers to make the most of this natural and renewable resource.

If you’re tempted by a winter visit to Scotland have a read of this Visit Scotland article for some hints and tips. Andrew Tobin’s book will be published in 2025 with the profits going to Skye Mountain Rescue. Find out more on the Skye At Night website.

Tartan patterns are often about telling the story of a place. And more often than not it’s topographical features that inspire the designs. So here is our visual story of where we live: the Glendale Tartan.

We’ve been wanting to design a local tartan for a while. We finally started working on the design this spring and it’s been very exciting to see it come to life in its woven form. We’ve used the pattern to weave scarves in two colourways to begin with: Glendale Summer and Glendale Winter. But I’m sure the pattern will re-emerge in other variations and products before too long.

Design inspiration 

The starting point was the environment around us that we are immersed in every day: the glen. We first thought about how to define its visual features. We agreed on five key elements: the Hamara river, fertile fields next to the river, the two roads lined by houses either side of the glen, the hill beyond them, and the sea.

Of course there’s a lot more to Glendale than this short list – most importantly, its people and its fascinating history. We decided to focus on the visuals, though, because anyone coming into the glen is stopped in their tracks (often literally) by the amazing view you get coming over the brae.

Viewed from above, the glen looks pretty symmetrical. (You can check this out by climbing Macleod’s Tables; or you could just look at Google Earth!) There’s the Hamara river along the centre of the glen and fields either side of it, lined by the Fasach and Homisdale roads, and above that the rougher hill grounds. Towards the north-west Glendale borders onto the sea, or more precisely Loch Pooltiel.

I started putting these elements into a little drawing.

I then translated these ideas into something we can weave. I did this first on paper and then using a computer weaving software we work with.

Seasonal variations

We decided to weave a summer and a winter version of the pattern. While the glen and the hills look very green with heather in the summer, in winter the green fades and the yellowish-brown hills become more dominant. The two pictures below show what we had in mind with our colour choice. The sea is a strong presence throughout as well, so we gave it quite a lot of space in our design.

Here’s how those pictures translated to our computer weave plan.

Fast forward a few months, and here they are: Glendale Tartan Scarves in the online shop.

Watch our short video to see the scarves on the loom and find out more about the design.

It was such a pleasure to work on this design and to attempt to weave our locality into a textile. We hope the Glendale Tartan evokes a sense of this very special place.

Tartan is big news this year. A major exhibition at V&A Dundee has put tartan in the media spotlight and we recently went to check it out. Highly recommended!

All this tartan talk has also inspired us to revisit some of our own patterns of the past, and dream up some new ones as well.

More on that later … but first, what is tartan exactly?

At its most basic, tartan is a checked pattern made up of at least two contrasting colours. In weaving terms it’s normally woven in a 2/2 twill structure, with the alternating colours of warp and weft creating a grid pattern. But tartan moved beyond the loom a long time ago. From shortbread tins to wallpaper and lots more besides, tartan is the ubiquitous symbol of Scottishness.

Tartan at the V&A

The exhibition in Dundee takes ‘a radical new look’ at tartan, and it’s a fascinating visit. Its approach is to see tartan as a cultural phenomenon as much as a textile. Rather than focusing on the relationship between tartan patterns and families or clans, it looks at the wider global, cultural and political context. It examines how tartan has both become an instantly recognisable symbol of Scotland and been adopted by other causes and groups all over the world.

The exhibition unpicks tartan’s contradictions as both a cloth of the establishment and a symbol of subculture. There are some iconic items on show, including Vivienne Westwood’s bondage trousers and garments from Alexander McQueen’s controversial 1995 ‘Highland Rape’ collection, evoking the tragic history of the Highlands.

Themes such as ‘Tartan and Identify’ and ‘Tartan and Power’ cut across time and place – so you can find fragments of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s plaid alongside Bay City Rollers trousers, football scarves and Jackie Stewart’s racing helmet.

Although there are thousands of tartans in existence it seems there’s never a shortage of new patterns. And tartan is constantly being reinvented for new needs and desires. We were particularly taken by the tartan Xbox cover! It was created by kiltmaking supremos Gordon Nicholson who we have had the pleasure of collaborating with in the past.

Back in the weaving shed …

After our Dundee tartan immersion and back on the croft, it was time to get creative. We’ve started working on an exciting new Glendale tartan – more to be revealed on that soon. We also decided to revisit our Xanthoria tartan throws, making the design a bit more elaborate and compatible with two additional colour themes.

Here’s our new interpretation of an old favourite: lichen on the rocks…

… and a short video of us weaving the throws.

Our second colourway is inspired by a view of Skye’s shoreline from below the water surface. The bright green colour evokes a delicate algae called sea lettuce. It looks amazing when it sways in the water with rays of sunshine lighting it up from above.

Our third colourway adds another layer of Scottishness  – it’s inspired by the thistle. 

We hope you have enjoyed this little tartan exploration as much as we have. The V&A exhibition continues in Dundee until January 2024, and our tartan throws are due in the online shop end of July. We suggest you don’t miss either!

Sign up to our newsletter for more tartan updates.

 

Our island environment provides much of the inspiration for our weaves. Often it’s the details (particularly lichens!) that get the creative juices flowing. But our latest designs are inspired by Skye at a somewhat larger scale.

Neist Point Scarves

Our local beauty spot, Neist Point, provided the inspiration for this new range of scarves. The dramatic headland here is made up of distinctive Dolerite rocks, with vertical columns criss-crossed with horizontal fissures.

We love the graphic lines of these rocks and thought they would translate rather well to a geometric block pattern scarf. We really enjoyed weaving them.

We really like the grey of the rock but thought we would branch out into a few other colours as well.

If you like the look of these you can browse all our scarves in the online shop.

Pooltiel Sunset Throws

Even closer to home, one of our other recent weaves is inspired by sunsets in our local bay.

For a couple of weeks in spring and autumn the sun sets directly over Loch Pooltiel, the bay we look over from our croft. If the weather’s right we can see gorgeous colours in the sky and sea loch – caught perfectly in this photo by our neighbours at The West Nest.

Here’s a look at them in the warping wheel and on the loom.

We’re delighted with the final throws, evoking one of our favourite views.

We hope you can imagine the peaceful scene as you snuggle under.

We’ve been talking about putting together a fabric archive for quite a while. OK, ten years! So this winter we finally sorted through our miscellaneous collection of swatches and put them in a couple of books. Leafing through them all was a bit like looking through old photographs, with the added dimension of touch and texture.

We got a few new ideas from looking through our woolly past. We’ve also been reminiscing about the many stories behind our weaves. They might be linked to the landscape, or something personal, or sometimes a technical challenge we set ourselves. So for this blog we thought we’d pick out a few of our favourites from a decade of design.

Hyla Check 

This throw has a rather personal story. It’s based on an old blanket that once belonged to Roger’s father, Hyla. He’d kept it since his schooldays in the 1930s and Roger found it gathering dust in a cupboard. We loved the pattern so set about working out how to re-create it.

When we installed our new loom in 2017 we decided to weave this throw on it first. It felt a a very fitting inauguration.

Misty Macleod 

The history of the Macleods on Skye goes back nearly eight centuries. Just a few miles away from us is the clan seat, Dunvegan Castle, Scotland’s oldest continually inhabited castle. When we heard about a Macleod clan gathering there in 2014 we thought it was a good time to weave our version of the traditional MacLeod Dress Tartan. We really like the pattern, but decided to weave a muted, or ‘misty’, version of the original bright yellow, red and black tartan.

Of course the name is also a reference to Skye’s ‘Misty Isle’ moniker – and the cloudy conditions that are not uncommon on our nearby hills, the Macleod’s Tables.

Coral Beaches

Further up Loch Dunvegan, beyond the castle, is another local landmark: the Coral Beaches. From a distance the stunning white ‘sands’ look almost tropical. But get up close and you see that the beaches are actually made up of tiny pieces of coral-like material in different colours. It’s not in fact coral but a type of dried and bleached algae, known as maerl.

In this weave we wanted to recreated the multitude of colours found in the ‘coral’ sands. We originally used the design for baby blankets. We’re thinking of weaving it again this year, so watch this space …

A love of lichen

If you’re familiar with our textile designs and inspiration it will come as no surprise that we wanted to include a bit more lichen in here! One of my favourites is the vibrant yellow of Xanthoria parietina, which we find growing on rocks around our shores and on the hills. We had yarn specially dyed to match the colour. We love using this with natural grey Skye Wool which sets the yellow off beautifully.

Another favourite is a design we called Asymmetric Lichen Throws. These were inspired by ochre coloured lichens in the Cuillin hills.

And if you love lichens too, have a look at our Learning about Lichens blog.

Technical challenges

These next throws were a first for us in many ways. Not only were they our first Skye Wool throws but they were also the first complex weave we created on the new loom.

The design made good use of the new loom’s eight frames – we couldn’t have created it on our original loom – and comprised a wavy pattern within a check.

Bauhaus to Brodgar

It’s hard to stop when picking favourites as there have been so many over the years! But we’ll sign off with just two more particular highlights.

The year 2019 marked the centenary of the Bauhaus and it was great to see the work of the textiles workshop highlighted in several events and exhibitions. We had great fun playing around with geometric patterns and textures to create our own Bauhaus inspired designs. You can read about them in our blog.

A couple of years later we travelled a lot further back in time for our Brodgar scarves. These were inspired by a Neolithic stone from Orkney. The incised zigzags might be ancient but their geometric patterns don’t seem a million miles away from the Bauhaus several thousand years later. You can read about the design genesis in another blog.

It’s been great fun looking back over past designs and very satisfying to start building an archive. But we’re never short of inspiration so looking forward to the next decade and beyond!

It’s hard to believe it’s ten years since we first set up our pedal powered loom on Skye. We may not be quite as fresh-faced as we were then, but looking through old photos we’re amazed at how much has happened over the past decade. There have been lots of infrastructure and weaving developments of course, but what’s been most important has been the people we’ve worked with and the connections we’ve made through our weaving. We feel so lucky to be doing what we do, and to be part of a supportive community of neighbours, colleagues, suppliers – and of course customers.

It’s impossible to summarise the past ten years in a blog, but we’ve dug out a few pictures from the archive to give a flavour.

Early days

We bought our loom in 2011 on the Isle of Lewis, where it had been used to weave Harris Tweed. At that point we were still living at Ardalanish Farm, on the Isle of Mull, but had already decided to move to Skye. Our colleagues at Isle of Mull Weavers were a fantastic support in getting us going and we wove our first three rolls of fabric in their scenic bothy on a hilltop above the farm.

Besides getting to grips with the loom, the most important thing we did in this first winter was to build our warping wheel. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support, knowledge and ingenuity of our friend and mentor Bob Ryan. Bob and Roger started with the metal wheels off an old tractor grass rake and added a miscellaneous collection of mostly repurposed components. Next to the loom, the warping wheel is the essential piece of equipment for a double-width weaver. We still love working with ours ten years on, not least because it reminds us of Bob.

Arrival in Skye

It was February 2012 when we moved from Mull to Skye, setting up a permanent base in Roger’s family croft house.

Our first task: build a shed, and install a loom.

We soon started weaving and it was very exciting to sell our first products in the craft fairs at Armadale Castle and Glendale Village Hall.

Meanwhile we were making improvements in the technical department. At first we would wind our cones using an adapted electric drill. Acquiring a proper cone winder in our first year was a great leap forward. It came from a mill that closed down in Halifax. It took a bit of brainpower to fit together.

Collaborations and connections

After starting with fairly straightforward checked blankets and scarves, our designs swiftly got more ambitious. We soon got involved in our first collaboration with local creatives, working with jeweller Heather McDermott and photographer Phil Gorton on our Periwinkle Shawls. You can read about the project in an early blog. Another early collaboration was the ‘Hunting for Lost Crafts’ exhibition at Inverness Museum & Art Gallery. We worked with natural dye company Shilasdair to create a tweed inspired by Scotland’s herring fishing tradition, which was then made into a jacket for the exhibition. We wrote a blog about that too.

As a small company we particularly appreciate being part of a wider community with shared enthusiasms. It was lovely to welcome the passionate and knowledgeable editors of Scandinavian weaving magazine VÄV to the workshop in 2015. The visit even resulted in our first front cover feature!

Team and technical upgrades

While staying small scale and artisan we are always trying to improve the technical side of our business. In 2015 we installed a new creel in the warping shed, assisted again by the ever-helpful Bob Ryan.

In 2017 we purchased a second loom, brand new this time. It was a major investment but has enabled us to give our creativity free rein by producing more ambitious weaving structures.

By now our team was expanding, though we choose to remain a very small business. Paul joined us in 2015 and continues to impress with his pedal power prowess and eagle eye for spotting trouble. Angie has contributed her zestful energy and sewing skills since 2017.  At different times we’ve also loved working with Alexander, Diana, Christine and Danielle. Our suppliers and business clients are an important part of the mix too. Visits to the loom manufacturers and our finishers Schofields have turned into interesting road trips.

Local tradition

It was 2016 when we took the first steps in our long-held ambition to weave with local wool. Working with local farmers we took part in our first clip (shearing) that summer and received the yarn back later that year. It was an exciting moment when we sent our very first Skye Wool Tweed off to the finishers. We are so proud that Skye Wool now makes up a significant part of our product range.

We have always been fascinated by Skye’s weaving heritage so in 2018 we were thrilled to take part in an exhibition about the island’s ‘lost’ weaving heritage. As part of the programme at Minginish Village Hall, Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh (Inverclyde Waulking Group) gave a demonstration of waulking (part of the finishing process) using some of our local tweed, accompanied by traditional Gaelic song. We later welcomed them to Glendale to see the finished cloth. You can read more about the ‘Lamb to Loom’ exhibition in our blog.

Continuing the exhibition theme, in 2019 we were pleased to take part in the ‘Textile Art from Skye’ exhibition in Portree. We enjoyed collaborating with others who are passionate about weaving and share our sense of connection to the landscape. You can read interviews with all those who took part in our blog.

Ten years on …

Who would have guessed that just a year later we were all in lockdown, Skye had closed to visitors and we were sewing scrubs for our local NHS. The past few years have been challenging for everyone and we are grateful to everyone who has helped see us through tough times.

Fast forward to 2022 and we are still warping, winding, pedalling, sewing and much more beside, with lots of new creative ideas in the pipeline. Looking forward to the next ten years!

Watch our 10 Years video on YouTube

Although our designs are usually inspired by Skye, we sometimes go a bit further afield. So for our latest range of scarves we’ve been travelling (metaphorically) over the sea to Orkney – and way back in time.

It all started with a trip to Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland a couple of years ago. Wandering around the Neolithic collections I was transfixed by a carved stone. It had incised patterns of zigzags and chevrons between sets of parallel lines. I immediately thought of weaving (it’s never far away from my mind!) and I visually filed it away for future reference.

This winter as I was playing around with some pointed twill on the sample loom, I realised that I had found the perfect weave structure for ‘my’ stone. Wanting to know more, I contacted the National Museum and their super-helpful Senior Curator, Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark, filled me in. It turns out that the ‘Brodgar Stone’, as it is known, was found in the Ness of Brodgar on Orkney in 1925. At the time it was believed to be part of a Bronze Age burial cist, but since then archaeologists have found out that it is much older.

The Ness of Brodgar is in fact a major Neolithic settlement. The first activities there have now been dated back to more than 5000 years ago. Excavations at the site began in 2003 and are ongoing. It’s one of Europe’s most exciting archaeological sites and the deeper the archaeologists dig, the more complex the site turns out to be. There is evidence of human activity here over a period of at least 1200 years, and over 30 structures have now been uncovered. The spot where the Brodgar Stone was found turns out to be not a burial cist but a large stone building (‘Structure 8’), constructed c. 3000 BC.

The Brodgar Stone’s incised patterns are typical of late Neolithic rock art in Orkney, with straight lines, chevrons, zigzags and crosses. Over 900 stones with similar decorations have been found at the Ness of Brodgar site. The meaning of the symbols – if any – is unclear, but it’s understood that stones were often decorated in several stages over a long period. This made me think of graffiti being added to a wall over time and somehow made me feel closer to our ancestors.

I was also interested to learn that the Neolithic period was full of colour. We tend to think of the ancient past in monochrome but there is evidence at the Ness of Brodgar of the use of colours such as ochre and haematite, an iron oxide.

Back on the sample loom, I set about trying to translate the stone’s patterns into weave. I had great fun experimenting with different pointed twill variations that would work well on our 8 shaft loom. Pointed twill is a structure that creates diagonal lines in the same way as regular twill, but as the twill threading is reversed after a number of warp threads the weaver can create chevrons and zigzags.

The final weave, which we are using to create scarves, has five parallel lines of different geometric patterns running along its length. For colours we decided to have one ‘stone coloured’ and three other more colourful variations. While not aiming to copy the Brodgar Stone exactly I hope the pattern might evoke something of this magical and mysterious place.

If you’re interested in the fascinating developments at the Ness of Brodgar site you can follow their blog and find our more on their website. There’s a good little video too. Sadly I’ve not seen the Ness of Brodgar excavations myself as I visited Orkney just before the discoveries. There were still plenty of other ancient sites to explore there though; I loved the way the ancient stones and monuments sit among the living landscape. I very much hope to return before too long.

Meanwhile, the scarves have turned out beautifully and you can now buy your own bit of Neolithic neckwear in our online shop.

We talk a lot about the inspiration for our weaves and the creative design process behind them. But we wouldn’t get anywhere without the cogs, chains, wheels and winders that make everything happen. So we thought it’s time to let some of our technical challenges – and fixes – take centre stage.

When we started out we built some of our own equipment which was certainly a good way to know it inside-out. We’re especially proud of our warping wheel, which we made from an old tractor rake and various other bits and pieces. It’s still going strong.

When our equipment’s not hand-made it’s often got an interesting back story. Our creel was salvaged from an old spinners in Yorkshire (replacing our original hand-made one). We bought our first loom second-hand on Lewis; and our button-holer is a 50-year-old classic. (A Reece 101 for any button-holer fanatics out there!)

We’re always thinking about how we can improve. It was a big day when we upgraded our cone-winding system from a hand-held drill to a proper winding machine. And we have Roger’s cousin Phil to thank for devising a bespoke motor to take some of the back strain out of warping.

But most of our upgrades are small scale and somewhat improvised. Roger likes to say our attitude is like that of the British cycling team – going for the incremental improvements or ‘marginal gains’ that can together make a big difference. Well, it certainly worked for them.

People often ask us how much time we spend maintaining our equipment. We keep the chains oiled but otherwise there is surprisingly little day to day maintenance. But what does take time (and brainpower) is fixing the things that go wrong.

If you’re a weaver you’ll know how temperamental looms can be – whether at hand loom level or industrial scale. In a big mill you’d have someone called a loom tuner whose job it is to look after the equipment and fix problems. But here, it’s down to us.

Paul and I are pretty good at spotting and diagnosing a problem, but it’s Roger who is our real Mr Fixit. So I’ll hand over to him for this bit:

Roger says: “Often problems are quite hard to diagnose – especially when the weaving is going full tilt. So I often film it and slow it down to work out what’s going on. Often, the part we need doesn’t actually exist, so I have to create it myself.

“I spend a lot of time fiddling around in the workshop. I think it’s something I must have inherited from my Dad, who spent countless hours in the shed here and would never give up. Sadly he’s not with us any more but I treasure his many ‘bodged’ items around the place.

“Pretty much every day there’s a something unexpected to get your head around. It might be threads not picking up, an alarm not going off or, like the other day, weird clunking noises emanating from the loom. But I do like a technical challenge and it certainly keeps things interesting.”

We also sometimes get asked about our biggest disasters. We’ve had pedals fall off before which isn’t great, but probably the worst thing is when the rapier comes flying out of the warp. We used to call it a ‘shark attack’. If you’ve seen how the rapier tears its way through the warp threads you’ll know why. Fortunately we’ve found a way to stop that happening now.

It has to be said though, we don’t make life easy for ourselves, or our equipment. Our two looms were designed for weaving simple widths of Harris tweed, but we like to push them further. We’ve modified them so they can do longer pick repeats and we’ve also added lots of extra lenos (the threads that secure the edges) so that we can weave several scarves across the loom.

We also love experimenting with new weave structures. We’d like to continue to increase the complexity of our weaves this year. We’ll need bit of improvisation and no doubt we’ll meet lots more technical challenges along the way – but it will be fun trying.

If you’d like to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes follow the Sheep to Tweed story on our website.

It’s Question Time at Skye Weavers!

One of the nicest things about having visitors to the workshop is the chance to chat and answer people’s questions. We’ve not been able to do that so much this year, so for this month’s blog we thought we’d share our answers to some of the questions we often get asked.

Have you got a wool or weaving question? Post us a comment on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and we’ll do our best to answer.

How many miles do you pedal a day – and does it make you fit?
We reckon about 20 miles (32 km) a day – no hills, no wind, no rain. It takes about a mile of cycling to weave a metre of tweed, and on a good day we can weave up to 20 metres of tweed or about 10 throws. Sadly though, it’s not sufficiently aerobic to really enhance our fitness levels – not like cycling up our brae anyway!

Is all your wool from Skye?
We’re really proud of our Skye Wool range, which is made entirely from local fleeces, and this makes up about 40% of our product range. Different types of yarn are suited to different types of product, however. The sheep here (mostly Cheviots) are experts at surviving the cold, and their yarn is perfect for warm throws and hard-wearing tweeds. For garments worn next to the skin, such as scarves, we often use lambswool from other breeds of sheep; and for items such as baby blankets we use ultra-soft Merino.

How many sheep does it take to make a throw or blanket?
Rather neatly, it pretty much equates to one sheep per blanket. A Cheviot fleece weighs about 2-3 kg. About 40% of this gets lost through grading and processing, leaving about 1.5 kg of yarn per sheep – the approximate weight of a blanket.

Is there a history of weaving on Skye?
Traditionally, people all over the Scottish islands would have woven woollen fabric at home for their own use. There was no commercial weaving on Skye, however, until after the First World War, when Harris weavers were invited to set up a weaving community in Portnalong. ‘Port-na-Skye’ tweed, as it was called, lasted until the 1970s and it’s a fascinating story. There was also a spinning and weaving mill in Portree until the 1970s, and other weavers at work in Kilmuir and Portree at that time. You can read about ‘Skye’s forgotten weavers’ in our blog.

How do you compare to Harris Tweed?
Like most Harris Tweed weavers we use pedal powered Griffith looms – in fact we bought our first loom second-hand from a former Harris Tweed weaver. We couldn’t call our products Harris Tweed though as it is a strictly protected cloth (identified by its ‘Orb’ trademark), meaning that all processes have to happen in the Outer Hebrides. Most Harris Tweed weavers are self-employed but they tend to work for one of the three spinning mills on Lewis and Harris, to agreed designs. However there are some independent weavers who create their own designs and sell direct, like us. The joy of running our own business is that we can basically do whatever we like! We particularly enjoy challenging our looms (and ourselves) to create inventive weaves and different products such as scarves and throws.

Is everything made in Skye?
It’s really important to us that we keep things local and rooted in Skye. Everything is designed, woven and sewn here in our workshop on the croft, with the exception of our tweed caps. Hat-making is a specialist process so these are made for us by long established British manufacturers Olney Headwear, using our tweed.

Where else do you sell your products?
We like to have a direct relationship with our customers and primarily sell direct to the public. In a normal year about 80% of our sales are through our small shop on the croft (though of course that has been very different this year), with the rest online. We do also occasionally do special commissions for Skye’s boutique hotels such as The Bosville, Monkstadt House and Marmalade. You can even find us in London, adorning the luxury bedrooms of One Aldwych. But while we love working with these creative clients, we strictly limit these collaborations as we don’t want to overwhelm our small business.

What inspires your designs?
We’re lucky to live in a stunningly beautiful part of the world, providing an inspirational backdrop to everything we do. The landscapes and seascapes are magnificent of course but actually it’s often the small details – such as lichens, heathers, pebbles and moss – that provide the most direct starting point for our weaves. I take a lot of photographs too, and these provide a valuable reference point when we’re planning a new design. If you’d like to know more have a look at our recent blog about the design process.

How did you get started?
We didn’t originally intend to be weavers – it was something we came across by one of life’s wonderful turns. We met while working at Ardalanish, an organic farm on the Isle of Mull. The farm set up a weaving mill to use the fleeces of their Hebridean sheep, and we both became fascinated by the weaving process and excited about the potential of using local resources to make a sustainable product. I also fell in love with textiles and making things, particularly with wool. We later decided to move up to Roger’s family home on Skye, and set up our own business. By that point we had come across pedal-powered looms and knew we wanted to work with them. And now we’re looking forward to the 10th anniversary of Skye Weavers next year!

What’s it like living on Skye?
We feel so lucky to be living here, doing something we love doing – though running a small business has its share of stresses too! Roger says his favourite aspects are: ‘Winter, light and peacefulness’. For me it’s the hugely varied landscape and endless opportunities for outside activities – swimming, cycling and walking. We also feel very fortunate to be part of a friendly and welcoming community. If you’re a city-lover, Skye is probably not for you, but we wouldn’t change it for the world!

People often ask us how we come up with our designs. I’ve been putting off trying to answer this question! But it’s time to go behind the scenes and take a peek inside our heads.

There are two main components of a weaving design: the weave structure and the yarn colour. The weave structure is the interlacement of warp (vertical threads) and weft (horizontal threads). Depending on the structure, the warp or weft threads may be more dominant, or they may be visible in equal proportions. It’s possible to achieve lovely effects even with just two colours. Our Skye Wool Grey and Peat Throw is a good example.

There are lots of other variables: the density of the warp and weft and the thickness and type of yarn for example. We use only woollen yarns but even then there’s a huge variety: worsted spun vs woollen spun; different types of wool from different sheep breeds; how much twist there is on the yarn; and whether or not the yarn is plied (individual strands twisted together).

But before we start designing the first question is: What’s it for? Throws need to be thick and warm; tweed has to be hard wearing; shawls require a lovely soft drape; and scarves want to be nice and soft. These considerations are uppermost when we choose our weave structure and yarn.

Even then there are plenty of design choices to make. Sometimes we like to keep it simple and let the yarn speak for itself – as in our grey Skye Wool throws, woven from pure, undyed local wool. At other times we want to challenge ourselves. Our 8 shaft loom allows us to create some unusual weave structures. We love herringbone but also want to throw something different into the mix – creating fabric that is both traditionally Scottish but also very specific to us. Our Plaited Twill and Diamond Tweed are two of these more complex structures.

The question of overall design is more difficult to pin down. Everyone has their own design approach. Some people create mood boards, or scan ‘trend watch’ forecasts for the next hot look. For us it’s more about looking at what’s around us. I’m always taking photographs of Skye landscapes and nature, and these are often the starting point for a design. Sometimes it’s the colour combinations, sometimes the patterns and textures – particularly in close-up details.

We are also inspired by our materials, particularly the natural colours we get from local wool. But to be honest we haven’t got a very organised design approach; we just spend a lot of time looking at things, making sketches and thinking about possibilities. Fortunately the act of pedalling away on the loom seems to create a stream of ideas!

From design to weave

When we’ve decided the basics we need to develop the design and then work out to how to weave it. While most designs can be worked out on squared paper, we also use a computer program which makes it very easy to see the effect of changing one component.

We also have a small table loom where we can weave samples and decide which works best.

Design in action

A good illustration of the design process I’ve just described is our new wedding shawl. We knew we wanted the shawl to be light, lacy and textured, but with our looms we’re limited to a 16 pick repeat. We chose ‘huck lace’ as the weave structure as it provides varied patterns and textures even on a small number of shafts.

I started by weaving a huck lace sample blanket on the table loom, using every possible pattern variation that our big loom could manage. We’re limited to two different textures on our looms so we decided which two we liked best and then experimented with different ways of distributing them across the width of the shawl.

Here I’m weaving the huck lace sample for the wedding shawl.

Once we’d settled on the design it was time to work out the detail of how to weave it.

That means things like how many warp threads (‘ends’) per shawl; how many ends per texture; the heddling set-up (which ends get threaded onto which shaft); how many cones to wind for warping, and so on. That whole process will have to be the subject of another blog, but you can find out a bit about it in the Story section of our website.

Then finally, it’s time to get weaving!

If you’d like to know more about designing fabrics have a look at my favourite book on the subject, Designing Woven Fabrics by Janet Phillips. I went on one of her courses a couple of years ago and loved it! It was great to take some time out to experiment and try new techniques.

Now, what shall we design next?!

Lichens are one of our favourite sources of inspiration. The clean air here means they’re in great abundance in the Highlands & Islands. I love photographing them and though I have hundreds of pictures I can never resist taking another one – especially when it comes to the striking yellow Xanthoria parietina.

This lichen inspired two of our latest throws, just arrived in the shop. We had a yarn dyed specially to match the colour.

Many different varieties have made their way into our weavings over the years. This one was inspired by ochre-coloured lichens in the Cuillin Hills.

A couple of years ago I decided I wanted to know more about the biology of these fascinating organisms. So I signed up for an introductory lichen identification day at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. One of the first things I learnt is that it’s actually very hard to identify many lichens! You often have to look close up under a microscope or even use chemical testing.

We covered a lot in the day and some of the information was quite overwhelming, but here’s my handy checklist of Things I Learnt About Lichen:

What is lichen? It’s a fungus living in a symbiotic relationship with an algae and/or cyanobacteria. Most of what we see when we look at a lichen is the fungus.

How does it grow? The fungus ‘farms’ algae: it protects the algae from UV light and gives it a place to live, then ‘harvests’ the sugars that the algae produces by photosynthesis. Fungi don’t photosynthesise themselves, so this symbiotic relationship is their way of getting energy.

What types of lichen are there? Lichens have a number of different growth forms. The most basic ones are fruticose (with algae all around), foliose (leaf-like) and crustose (very closely attached to a stone or rock). But as is the case with anything to do with lichens, it’s not straightforward and there are many cross-over types.

What’s behind the names? Most lichens only have Latin names, but there are quite a few with common names, especially those that have a medical or a practical use. For example, Lungwort was used to treat lung disease, and Dog Lichen was a cure for dog bites – and also looks like dog’s teeth underneath. Crottle or Crotal is one we’re very familiar with as weavers – it refers to a number of lichens used for dyeing wool, which was common in Scotland in the past though it’s now not allowed commercially. The word comes from the Gaelic word for lichen.

All in all, it’s a totally fascinating subject. Being able to identify the more complicated lichens takes years of study, but spending a day learning more about these complex symbiotic organisms made me appreciate them even more.

If you’re been inspired by lichens too, you’ll find a few lichen-related weavings in the shop at the moment. As well as our Xanthoria throws there’s a Grey Lichen tartan wrap and Map Lichen scarf.

Just to finish off the Lichen lesson, here’s a short video of us weaving our Map Lichen scarves.

There could only be one subject for this month’s blog. We’ve all had our lives turned upside down in the last few weeks and have had to rapidly adjust to the new normal. We’ve had so many concerned emails from our lovely customers, wanting to know how we’re coping on Skye. So we thought we’d share a glimpse of life here as we enter our fourth week of lockdown.

We’re feeling incredibly lucky to be self-isolating in such a glorious landscape with plenty of space around us. We’re all social distancing of course, and limiting ourselves to short local walks and bike rides for our exercise ration. No one is complacent though – our health services here do an amazing job but are stretched at the best of times. And the impact on Skye’s tourist-reliant economy is going to be huge.

Still, resilience and resourcefulness is something we have in abundance in the island. Our local community has sprung into action to reach out to those in need. As soon as the crisis hit, local volunteers set up Skye Community Response to ensure that vulnerable people could get food and prescriptions – and they’ve been overwhelmed with offers of help. We’re looking forward to putting our sewing skills to good use through Skye Scrubs, joining other volunteers in making scrubs for Portree hospital and using patterns from the wonderful For the Love of Scrubs.

Businesses have rallied round in imaginative ways, too – from Isle of Skye Distillers making hand sanitiser to restaurants baking bread. A repurposed Local Food Links van is helping keep local producers in business while the rest of us get to enjoy locally sourced food at a safe distance. While all non-essential retail outlets have closed, our local shop and post office has been holding the fort and working round the clock to keep us supplied with all our essentials.

As elsewhere around the world, digital technology is proving a lifeline on both a personal and a business level. While we all get used to Zooming and Skyping neighbours, family and friends, new online initiatives are springing up. One of our favourites is #COVIDCeilidh, initiated by fiddle player Duncan Chisholm, where traditional musicians have been sharing tunes on social media to keep us all uplifted.

Another fantastic initiative is Isle20, a not-for-profit website listing businesses across the Scottish islands who are selling online. Started only a month ago, it now features hundreds of suppliers selling everything from gin to jewellery to online Gaelic classes. At a time when we’ve all had to close our face-to-face retail, this virtual shop window is a real boon.

We’ve also been taking the opportunity to spend more time working in the garden, cooking, baking and watching the little lambs appear in the glen. You can’t stop spring even during a pandemic, and it’s been uplifting to see the primroses peep through under the hedgerows and hear the birds going berserk in the bushes.

While this crisis has forced us all to stay local for the time being, it’s also highlighted how connected we are globally. And though we can’t meet people face to face at the moment we’ve been really touched by the many messages we’ve had from around the world. Our hearts go out to all those who are really suffering at this difficult time. Wherever you are reading this, we hope you and your loved ones stay safe and well, and we look forward to a time when we can welcome you in person once more.

Think of Scotland and what do you think of? Whisky? Bagpipes? Highland cows? We certainly have our fair share of iconic symbols, sometimes bordering on the cliché. But one stands out above them all: tartan.

Thousands of tartan designs exist, with more and more added each year to the official Scottish Register of Tartans. Some of these are clan tartans, others general tartan patterns. We don’t weave clan tartans ourselves but we have developed our own patterns – such as the Glendale Check Tweed – and this summer we decided to start working on a new one. It’s given us a great excuse to delve into tartan’s fascinating history.

Tartan’s chequered history

So what is tartan? Basically it’s a cloth that’s woven in alternating coloured bands in warp and weft, creating a checked pattern called a ‘sett’. At its most basic the pattern is just two colours, as in the Rob Roy or Buffalo check which uses just red and black. But tartans can also be very complex.

Archaeologists found Scotland’s oldest surviving tartan in Falkirk, stuffed in an old jar of Roman coins. Dating to about AD 230, it’s made from undyed wool from brown and white sheep. At this time people would also have used plant and insect dyes.

Fast forward to the 16th century and the typical Highlander costume was a ‘plaid’ – a versatile piece of patterned woollen cloth that could be used both as a garment and as bedding. This outfit became synonymous with the Highland clan warrior. After the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the British government banned the wearing of highland dress. This is often mis-interpreted as a general ban of tartan fabric, but a close reading of the 1746 Act of Proscription shows that to be incorrect. Check out Peter Eslea MacDonald’s interesting paper on this subject.

The exception to the ban of highland dress was in the military. The new British Highland Regiments helped fuel tartan’s growing popularity. This erupted into full-blown ‘tartanmania’ following King George IV’s visit to Edinburgh in 1822, when Sir Walter Scott organised a Highland-themed pageant. Books full of romantic images, too, fired people’s imaginations. These illustrations from RR McIan’s ‘The Clans of the Scottish Highlands’ sum up the general mood.

The tartan craze continued through the 19th century. Queen Victoria was a big fan: she and Prince Albert decorated their new Highland residence at Balmoral in floor to ceiling tartan. And as Scotland became a popular destination for Victorian tourists, tartan began to appear on everything from snuff boxes to shortbread tins. It was the birth of the tartan souvenir  – and where would we be without that today?

Clan tartans

The concept of a ‘clan tartan’ is actually relatively new. Traditionally, different patterns would have been popular in different areas but they weren’t necessarily specific to one clan. Commercial tartan weavers, though, found that it was a good marketing technique to give patterns a clan name. Two brothers, the ‘Sobieski Stuarts’, were also influential. Their 1842 book, ‘Vestiarium Scotium’, claimed to be a 16th century encyclopedia of clan tartans. Shame they were being somewhat economical with the truth.

Since Victorian times a whole etiquette has developed around tartan-wearing. The array of patterns can be bewildering, too. Most clan tartans have different colour palette variants: Ancient, Modern, Hunting, Dress and Weathered. The Scottish Tartans Authority has a wealth of information about the ins and outs of tartan wearing. However, we like the advice given by the Scottish Register of Tartans: ‘There are no laws about which tartan you may wear, just traditions, so choose a design that you like and wear it with pride!’

Our tartan designs

We’ve designed our new tartan for use in lightweight wraps rather than tweed fabric. We started by working on the dimensions of the stripes that form the sett, trying out lots of different options on the computer. Once we’d settled on a design, we looked through our inspiration gallery of photos we take when we’re out walking. We decided to weave the pattern in three different colourways, all of them closely connected to Skye.

We’re currently weaving the wraps and they’ll be ready for Christmas – sign up to the newsletter to know when they hit the online shop.

Meanwhile if you’re interested in the symbols of Scotland and how they came about there’s a wonderful exhibition at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland. Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland is on until 10 November – don’t miss!

This year has marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus. The groundbreaking art and design school lasted less than two decades but its influence was immense. Among the many exhibitions and events marking the centenary, it’s been particularly good to see a focus on the achievements of the textiles workshop. We’ve even been inspired to push the boundaries ourselves with our own Bauhaus-influenced design. More on that later.

We were lucky enough to visit two inspirational exhibitions as part of the centenary celebrations: Anni Albers at Tate Modern, London; and Bauhaus: Textiles & Graphics at the Chemnitz Kunstsammlungen (Art Collections) in Germany.

Anni Albers (1899-1994) was initially a reluctant weaver, and joined the textiles workshop only because it was one of the few options for women at that time. But she went on to embrace the medium enthusiastically, applying ideas from modern art to create innovative ‘pictorial weavings’, wall hangings and textiles. Moving to the USA in 1933, she taught at the experimental Black Mountain College and wrote extensively about weaving and design.

In the exhibition, we loved her abstract geometric patterns, her bold use of colour in surprising combinations, and the way she combines different textures and materials. As weavers we found it especially interesting to see how her ideas developed from sketches to finished product.

During the Bauhaus centenary year it’s been satisfying to see female artists start to get the recognition they deserve. The exhibition at Chemnitz Kunstsammlungen focused especially on the achievements of the textile workshop, largely the preserve of women, which became one of the Bauhaus’s most successful workshops. It was a privilege to get up close to wall hangings, rugs and other textiles by distinguished artists such as Benita Koch-Otte, Otti Berger and Gertrud Arndt.

Back in the workshop on Skye, we started on our own Bauhaus-inspired experiments. Working on the small sample loom we played around with different geometric patterns and textures. For us the challenge (which we enjoy!) is to not only come up with a beautiful design but to translate it into something that can be made into a physical reality on our equipment. For example, much of Anni Albers’s work is hand manipulated, whereas we need to create a pattern that can be woven on a 16 pick repeat. (Our dream is to get a dobby for our looms, which would allow much longer repeats.) That means we have to put any weave structure variations into the warp, and colour variations in the weft. Weaving these scarves was somewhat nerve-wracking because we didn’t know if our experiments would be successful: we were particularly worried about the warp tensions. However the different textures came out really strongly and we’re delighted with the result.

Here is a short video of us weaving the scarves.

There’s still lots going on for the Bauhaus Centenary – find out more on the Bauhaus100 website. If like us you’ve been inspired by Anni Albers, you’ll enjoy this short film from Tate Modern: ‘How to Weave Like Anni Albers’.

Spring is a time of new beginnings. A time to dust away winter cobwebs, open the windows – and freshen up the furnishings.

While a well-known Swedish furniture store once told us to ‘chuck out the chintz’, we don’t want to throw everything out each year. Not least because it goes against our philosophy of having things that are long lasting. So how can you give your home a makeover without costing the earth?

For this month’s blog we’re taking a peek inside two of Skye’s most stylish home interiors. We asked the creative brains behind them about their inspiration and design tips.

The Black Shed

Blair Hunter-Davies is a designer, photographer and stylist with an impressive portfolio in both interiors and fashion. We’re lucky to have collaborated with her over many years. We love her fresh, contemporary interior design style, exemplified in the architect-designed holiday house that she created on her Skye croft: The Black Shed.

How would you describe your design approach?

I love clean, cool lines and I’m a great believer in the less is more mantra. I like to stick to a palette of neutrals for the basics, but it’s important to avoid being too bland. I use accessories to inject a pop of colour and personality – and it’s a great way to keep things looking fresh.

Minimising impact on the environment is really important for me, too. The Black Shed is very ‘eco’ inspired, but in a subtle way. For the Black Shed we chose vintage furniture and even a recycled WC cistern – it’s a way of not buying new things unnecessarily. The wooden walls mean we won’t need to keep redecorating, too, making them very low maintenance. When sourcing objects I always take care to avoid plastic materials as well.

What are your top design tips?

Choose the best quality natural materials you can afford, and use them as your core ‘palette’. But don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Experiment with different colours and textures, vintage pieces, found objects – mix and match to find your own style. Seek out functional, tactile furnishings that you will enjoy and cherish for a long time.

 

The Spoons

On Skye’s north-east coast, Marie Lewis runs The Spoons – a luxury self-catering in a private wing of her loch side home. Trained as an artist and now working as a producer for Skye arts promoters SEALL, Marie brings style and creative flair to everything she does.

How would you describe your design approach?

I like to use a neutral background to showcase fabrics and artworks that reflect the textures, light and colours around us.

At The Spoons we tried to create a cosy, comfortable ‘home from home’ imbued with the essence of Skye. We wanted a light filled space where, on a good day, you can open it up and let the sunshine pour in, but likewise when it is blowing a gale you can batten down the hatches and coorie up inside by the fire. I love to mix new and vintage: it creates character and I think this gives a familiarity to a room, making you feel at home and comfortable. I want our guests to feel that the space is beautiful but not intimidating.

What are your top design tips?

I think it’s important to spend time in a room before you make any final decisions – to observe the light and colour and the changing seasons and not rush out and buy everything at once. When planning a room I tend to choose one object or painting or a sample of fabric, and I use that one thing to inform how the interior evolves.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to make your space cosy and interesting. We are avid collectors of rejected chairs and sofas that most folk would see as only fit for the bin! It’s also very special if a piece tells a story – we found some 1930s cinema chairs in a reclamation yard and it turned out they are from the cinema in Campbeltown where my dad went to watch films as a boy.

Being aware of texture and colour in choosing your fabrics and objects is really important. We chose to mix up floral Liberty fabrics with Skye Weavers and Johnstons of Elgin tweed and the result is stunning. The vibrancy of the prints and the texture of the tweeds work so well together and bring the outside in – reflecting the surrounding hillside, water and sky. 

Living on Skye, surrounded by nature it was important for us to be informed by this and so we have used the natural landscape as our source of inspiration for our palette.

 
Feeling inspired? Why not visit our online shop to see our range of home furnishings, as well as tweeds to create your own upholstery projects.

Harris Tweed is famous the world over. But did you know that Skye once had its own cottage-based weaving industry? An exhibition and events programme next week in Portnalong, near Talisker on Skye’s west coast, will tell its intriguing story. And as proud inheritors of this local tradition we’re thrilled to be involved.

‘Port-na-Skye’ – The New Harris Tweed?

Portnalong and its neighbouring townships of Fiskavaig and Fearnilea were created after World War I when the Board of Agriculture bought land to offer to people wanting to make a new life. Over 60 families moved there, most of them weavers from overcrowded townships on the Isles of Harris and Lewis. Small weaving sheds were provided on the crofts, and spinning, knitting and weaving became important sources of income for the settlers.

Port-na-Skye tweed, as it was known, was sold to passing trade and tourists who arrived by boat and later by motor car. Production methods became more sophisticated with the introduction of Hattersley Looms, and many different colours and patterns were made until the early 1970s. Although Port-na-Skye failed to enjoy the commercial success of Harris Tweed there remains a strong interest in spinning and weaving within the local community to this day.

From Lamb to Loom

 
Getting the fleece from lamb to loom was a time-consuming process for the Portnalong weavers. After shearing, the fleece would be scoured in the stream and dyed in large pans over the fire, using local plants and roots. It was then hand-carded to sort the fibres, spun into yarn on a spinning wheel and finally wound onto cones ready for weaving.

The cloth was woven on a large wooden floor loom or a smaller table-top loom, and taken by men to be washed in the stream. It was finished by the women, who sat around a large table where the soaked tweed was rhythmically thumped to shrink and soften the fabric. The finishing process, also known as ‘waulking’, was hard graft but also a great social occasion with lots of gossip and songs to keep the rhythm and lighten the work.

Living Tradition

While our singing is best avoided at Skye Weavers, we otherwise like to keep local traditions alive. Although our looms use a different mechanism to those used in Portnalong in the early 20th century, they are still powered manually, in our case by bicycle pedals. And while waulking is no longer the communal activity it was, our skilled finishers – Schofield in the Scottish Borders – are long established experts with an attention to quality that is second to none. (And we’re sure they enjoy a gossip in their spare time too.) You can follow our own tweed-making journey here.

We’re especially proud of our Skye Wool range using local fleeces. This year we have something extra special as part of the ‘Lamb to Loom’ exhibition programme: Sgioba Luaidh Inbhirchluaidh, the Inverclyde Waulking Group, will be singing waulking songs while finishing some of our Skye Wool tweed in the Minginish Village Hall. Come and watch them at work/waulk on Thursday 28 – Saturday 30 June, and join a Thursday afternoon workshop.