Fabric widths, double or single

Most domestic fabrics are produced and sold at a width of around 60″ or 1.4m, give or take a little. You'll find the exact width (approximately) for all our fabrics on their Full Details or Information sections. Most of our fabrics are about that width too.

But the tartan industry often likes to do things a bit differently. So we need to explain about our weaving traditions. For traditional kiltmaking (a mainstay of the tartan industry) kilting tartans were generally woven on narrower looms at about 30″ or 70cm.

We still operate these looms, called Hattersley looms, at DC Dalgliesh, because for reasons we'll explain more fully in the weaving section of this site, this produces the very best tartans for kilts. These narrower fabrics were therefore traditionally referred to as 'single width', as they'd make a single kilt.

Accordingly, looms that produced tartans at the width that is now the wider market standard, of 60″ or 1.4m, were traditionally referred to as 'double width'. So yes, we still use this terminology to this day.

Why does this matter?

The main reason you need to pay attention to whether a fabric is single width or not (which will usually only be if it's a special custom weave for you, by the way) is that we sell fabrics by linear length. Therefore, to make the same product from it, you'd need around twice the fabric in single width as in double width.

This means prices can also be a little deceptive if you're not careful. (We try not to deceive you, but it's hard to explain this clearly and simply.) To compare like with like, you'll need to double the price of single width fabric to see how it relates to double width. So our superb hand-woven traditional tartans woven on single width Hattersley looms may not be quite the amazing bargain they seemed at first sight. (But they're still fantastic value, considering all the loving craftsmanship that goes into them.)

We try to keep it simple

Mostly you won't actually need to know all this, unless you're buying raw fabrics. Our clever tech team has worked out how to price even custom-made products like kilts and skirts using the correct length at whatever width a fabric is produced at. So for an eight yard kilt in double width fabric, we only charge you for four yards!

But if you wish to see only fabrics of a particular width (e.g. when making a long ladies skirt you might prefer to use a double width fabric) you can filter fabric widths in our Fabric Finder. (This can of course be combined with other filters too.)

And if all this is just a tad confusing still, don't hesitate to ask our customer service team. That's what we're here for.