Today we went to the tailor to get started on my birthday gift for The Boyfriend. I gave him a custom jacket so he’d have something nice to wear for all these teaching trips. After looking through a pile of fabrics, he finally settled on a Harris Tweed. It’s still woven by hand in weavers’ homes, one of the requirements to use the Harris Tweed mark.
This fabric is a classic herringbone twill in dark and light brown. It has tiny white specks from the kemp in the fleece, normally considered a fault because it won’t take dye like the rest of the fiber but apparently typical of the local sheep. I’ve seen many examples of kemp in older traditional tweeds. This is not a fine wool by any means, but it is very, very traditional and wears like iron.
So I am happy with his choice of fabric. Not so happy with the choice of leather elbow patches, a style that hasn’t been fashionable since his father was in high school. I am aghast that not only did he want them, but his friends seem to think that to do otherwise would be a grave omission. Heathens.
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