One of the great advantages of this project is having the support and insight of highly skilled colleagues.

My friend and collaborator Cecilia has recently had the opportunity to closely examine both the St Kilda tweed garments held in the National Trust for Scotland archives, and the remaining piece of St Kilda tweed preserved in the West Highland Museum in Fort William. Through careful inspection she has been able to glean valuable information about the character of the hand-spun yarn and the nature of the twill structure.

The yarn used in the cloth is entirely single ply, displaying the beautifully irregular qualities of hand spinning — variable thicknesses and a softly “hairy” surface. Earlier fibre analysis has shown fibre diameters ranging from approximately 16 to 56 microns, with an average between 28 and 32 microns.

Cecilia’s observations also confirmed something long suspected: the warp yarns appear to be spun from Boreray wool, giving a soft cream appearance, while the weft yarns are spun from Soay wool, producing the distinctive brown tones with flecks of darker colour seen in the cloth.

Because single-ply yarn is not as strong as the multi-ply worsted yarns used in modern weaving, the original weavers would almost certainly have worked with relatively low warp tension. The weft would have been beaten in gently, creating a cloth that was probably somewhat open on the loom. It is likely that this openness was later closed during the washing and fulling process.

Compared with modern weaving standards, the St Kilda tweed is far more rustic in appearance. The uneven yarn thickness and subtly variable twill pattern give the cloth a remarkable vitality and character that is rarely seen in contemporary fabrics.

To recreate something approaching the original cloth, I will therefore need to experiment extensively — adjusting warp tension, beating very softly, and working with hand-spun yarns of naturally variable thickness. My hope is to come as close as possible to the qualities of the tweed that was woven on St Kilda before the island was evacuated.

As always, the learning curve continues… but that is very much part of the adventure.