Tweed (cloth)

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Tweed (cloth)

Tweed is a rough, unfinished wool

Wool

Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells, called follicles, of animals in the Caprinae family, principally domestic sheep, but the hair of certain species of other Mammalia such as cashmere goat, llamas, rabbits and keeshonds may also be called wool....
en fabric

Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
, of a soft, open, flexible texture resembling cheviot or homespun

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is an ancient textile arts in which fiber crop, animal fiber or synthetic fiber fibers are twisted together to form yarn . For thousands of years, fiber was spun by hand using simple tools, the Spindle and distaff....
, but more closely woven

Weaving

Weaving is the textile arts in which two distinct sets of yarn, called the Warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a textile....
. It is made in either plain or twill

Twill

Twill is a type of textile weaving with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs.It is made by passing the weft thread over one or more Warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern....
weave and may have a check or herringbone

Herringbone (cloth)

Herringbone describes a distinctive V-shaped weaving pattern usually found in twill fabric. The pattern is called herringbone because it looks like the skeleton of a herring fish....
pattern. Subdued, interesting color effects (heather mixtures) are obtained by twisting together differently coloured woolen strands into a two- or three-ply yarn

Yarn

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking....
.

Tweeds are desirable for informal outerwear, being moisture-resistant and very durable.

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Encyclopedia

Tweed is a rough, unfinished wool

Wool

Textile

Spinning (textiles)

Weaving

Twill

Herringbone (cloth)

Yarn

Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom

Hunting and shooting have been practised for many centuries in the United Kingdom and are a major part of British rural culture.In the modern day, Game and deer stalking shooting is carried out in the United Kingdom, alongside deer hunting and fox hunting, although the latter have largely been made illegal and drag hunting is grow...
, in both Ireland

Ireland

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
. "Lovat" is the name given to the green used in traditional Scottish

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
tweed. In Ireland

Ireland

Magee of Donegal

Magee of Donegal is a clothing manufacturer and retailer based in Donegal, a town located in the south of County Donegal in the Province of Ulster in Ireland....
, a world-famous company based in County Donegal

County Donegal

County Donegal is a county located in the west of the Province of Ulster, in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the Province of Ulster that do not form part of Northern Ireland....
in the Province of Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
. Tweed has recently come back into fashion with many high street shops and designers adopting the material.

Tweed is also commonly found covering vintage or retro

Retro

Retro is a term used to describe, denote or classify culturally outdated or aged trends, modes, or fashions, from the overall postmodern past, but have since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again....
guitar amplifiers

Guitar amplifier

A guitar amplifier is an electronic amplifier designed to make the signal of an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar louder and modify the tone by emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain frequencies and/or by adding electronic effects....
, such as the Fender Tweed

Fender Amplifiers

Fender Musical Instrument Corporation Amplifiers have a long history. Leo Fender began building guitar amps before he started manufacturing guitars....
.

Etymology

The original name was tweel, the Scots

Scots language

Scots or Lowland Scots refers to the Germanic Variety derived from Middle English spoken in parts of Lowland Scotland, Northern Ireland and the border areas of the Republic of Ireland....
for 'twill', the cloth being woven in a twilled rather than a plain pattern. The current name came about almost by chance, according to a tale recounted in Windsor Revisited, written by HRH The Duke of Windsor

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

Edward VIII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the dominion, and Emperor of India from 20 January 1936, following the death of his father, George V of the United Kingdom, until his abdication on 11 December 1936....
. About 1830, a London merchant received a letter from a Hawick

Hawick

Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders in the south east of Scotland. It is best-known for its annual Common Riding.It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale and the largest town in the former county of Roxburghshire....
firm about some tweels. The London merchant misinterpreted the handwriting, understanding it to be a trade-name taken from the name of the River Tweed

River Tweed

There are other rivers with this name: see Tweed RiverThe River Tweed flows primarily through the Scottish Borders region of England and Scotland....
which flows through the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders , often referred to simply as the Borders, is one of 32 local government Council areas of Scotland of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the Metropolitan and non-metropolit...
textile areas. Subsequently the goods were advertised as Tweed, and the name has remained so ever since.

Tweed, also according to the Duke, was a favourite material of both his grandfather King Edward VII

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
and his father, King George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, which he created from the British branch of the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha....
.

Types of tweed

Harris Tweed

Harris Tweed , is a luxury cloth that has been Weaving by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool....
: A luxury cloth handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides

Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides, comprise an Archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. The local government area is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland....
of Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, using local wool. Formerly, Harris Tweed was also handspun and hand dye

Dye

A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an Chemical affinity to the Wiktionary:substrate to which it is being applied....
d with local natural dyes, especially lichen

Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiosis association of a fungus with a Photosynthesis partner , usually either a green algae or Cyanobacteria ....
s of the genus Parmelia
Parmelia (lichen)

Parmelia is a large genus of lichenized fungus with a global distribution, extending from the Arctic to the Antarctic continent but concentrated in temperate regions....
. Donegal tweed : A handwoven tweed manufactured in County Donegal

County Donegal

Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
. Like the Outer Hebrides, Donegal has for centuries been producing tweed from local materials. Sheep thrive in the hills and bogs of Donegal, and indigenous plants such as blackberries, fuchsia

Fuchsia

Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants, mostly shrubs and can grow long shoots, which were identified by Charles Plumier in the late-17th century, and named by Charles Plumier in 1703 after the Germany botanist Leonhart Fuchs ....
, gorse

Gorse

Gorse comprises a genus of about 20 species of evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberian Peninsula....
(whins), and moss

Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1?10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations....
provide dyes. Magee of Donegal

Magee of Donegal

Magee of Donegal is a clothing manufacturer and retailer based in Donegal, a town located in the south of County Donegal in the Province of Ulster in Ireland....
, located in Donegal Town in Ulster

Ulster

Ireland

Raw Silk

Raw Silk was a 1980s post-disco and dance music group that consisted of members Sybil Thomas, Ronald Dean Miller and Bert Reid . Their first release "Do It to the Music" has become a staple part in rare groove 1980s dance compilations....
with flecks of colour typical of woollen tweeds.