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Woollen cloth by the metre · Selkirk

Range The range at length Drafting room The mill Ordering

Kirkbrae Mill · Ettrick Road · Selkirk

The range at length

Eight cloths, by the metre.

Every cloth below is photographed as it comes off the loom. Prices are by the metre at 150 cm finished width, minimum two metres, and every one is woven to order on the same two looms. Open any cloth in the drafting room and change it; we will weave what you change.

A folded camel scarf with a fringed end, woven in Kirkbrae Twill.

01 / 08 · 2/2 twill

Kirkbrae Twill

The mill’s working cloth, and the one the second loom is nearly always threaded for. Camel warp, oat weft: the diagonal reads at arm’s length and goes at three metres, which is the right distance for a coat to be plain. Straight draw on four shafts, treadled one, two, three, four. If you learn one draft, learn this one; half the range is this draft with a different colour order.

Weight
410 g/m² finished
Sett
22 ends/cm · 20 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, camel warp, oat weft
Finish
Milled and raised
Good for
Coats, jackets, scarves and a plain blanket
Lead time
3 to 4 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£68 a metre, minimum two
A close view of grey herringbone tweed.

02 / 08 · Broken 2/2 twill, 16-end repeat

Ettrick Herringbone

Eight ends threaded up the shafts, eight threaded down, and a break where they meet so the chevrons do not come to a point. The break is the whole difference between a herringbone and a goose eye, and it is one end. Peat on ecru reads as a grey from across the room and as two colours in the hand; the back of the cloth is the same cloth the other way round, which makes it the one we recommend for anything unlined.

Weight
460 g/m² finished
Sett
22 ends/cm · 20 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, peat warp, ecru weft
Finish
Milled and clear cut
Good for
Overcoats, jackets, a bag that will outlast the jacket
Lead time
3 to 4 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£74 a metre, minimum two
Black and white houndstooth cloth.

03 / 08 · 2/2 twill, four and four colour-and-weave

Hound

The tooth is not printed and not embroidered. It is what a 2/2 twill does when you give it four dark ends, four light ends, and the same again in the weft. Change either count and it stops being a hound; change the tie-up to tabby and it becomes a plain check. The structure is Kirkbrae. Only the yarn order is different, and the yarn order is everything.

Weight
400 g/m² finished
Sett
22 ends/cm · 20 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, peat and ecru in both directions
Finish
Milled and raised
Good for
Jacketing, skirts, one good chair
Lead time
3 to 4 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£72 a metre, minimum two
Grey herringbone cloth with a red, black and cream overcheck.

04 / 08 · Herringbone ground, madder and peat overcheck

Kirkbrae Check

The Ettrick threading with a colour order laid over it: twenty ends of slate, then madder, ecru, four of peat, ecru and madder again, in both directions. The herringbone keeps the ground busy at close range and quiet at a distance, and the overcheck does the opposite, which is why the two get on. Woven a little more open than the jacketings and raised on both faces.

Weight
440 g/m² finished
Sett
20 ends/cm · 18 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, slate ground, two ends each of madder and ecru, four of peat
Finish
Milled and raised, fringed on request
Good for
Throws, scarves, the lining of a better coat
Lead time
3 to 4 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£66 a metre, minimum two
Brown and ecru glen check with a rust overcheck.

05 / 08 · 2/2 twill, four-and-four with two-and-two, madder overcheck

Glen

Two blocks of four-and-four, four blocks of two-and-two, then a pair of madder ends to close the repeat. Thirty-four ends across and thirty-four picks down, and because the block boundaries cross each other at every combination, it never looks the same twice. Set two ends closer than the rest of the range and clear cut rather than raised, so the small checks stay legible.

Weight
400 g/m² finished
Sett
24 ends/cm · 22 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, walnut and ecru, two ends of madder in thirty-four
Finish
Clear cut
Good for
Suiting, a waistcoat, trousers that get remarked on
Lead time
4 to 5 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£78 a metre, minimum two
Blue, brown and ecru plaid flannel, draped.

06 / 08 · 2/2 twill, 56-end colour order, brushed

Minchmoor Plaid

Ten of ecru, ten of woad, a pair of walnut, ten of woad, ten of ecru, then a narrow band of peat and walnut on ecru to close it: fifty-six ends, the same again in the weft. The lightest cloth we make, and the only one that goes through the raising gig twice, so the twill line is under a nap and the plaid is soft-edged. It is the one that gets worn out.

Weight
340 g/m² finished
Sett
18 ends/cm · 17 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, woad, walnut, peat and ecru
Finish
Scoured and brushed on both faces
Good for
Shirts, linings, a light scarf, curtains for a small window
Lead time
3 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£58 a metre, minimum two
A blue and white chevron woollen throw, folded.

07 / 08 · Broken 2/2 twill, 24-end repeat

Yarrow Chevron

The Ettrick idea at blanket scale: twelve ends up, twelve down, so each chevron is a hand wide instead of a fingernail. Woad in the warp and ecru in the weft, which means the two faces of the cloth are not quite the same colour, and a blanket folded back shows both. Set open, at eighteen ends, and milled until the weave closes.

Weight
480 g/m² finished
Sett
18 ends/cm · 16 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, woad warp, ecru weft
Finish
Milled and raised, fringed on request
Good for
Blankets, a bedcover, the back of a sofa
Lead time
3 to 4 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£70 a metre, minimum two
A close view of grey basket-weave upholstery cloth.

08 / 08 · 2/2 basket weave

Hopsack

Two ends and two picks at a time, so the cloth is a small basket. The tie-up has two treadles and the treadling is one, one, two, two; there is nothing simpler on the loom, and nothing harder-wearing that we know how to make. Slate warp, ecru weft, and the heaviest thing on the beam. Rub-tested to forty thousand for the chair.

Weight
540 g/m² finished
Sett
16 ends/cm · 15 picks/cm
Width
150 cm finished, from a 160 cm reed
Shafts
4
Yarn
2/16 Nm woollen-spun lambswool, slate warp, ecru weft
Finish
Milled and clear cut
Good for
Upholstery, cushions, a jacket for people who sit a lot
Lead time
4 weeks woven to order; a week from the beam
Price
£70 a metre, minimum two