How is this Donegal tweed weave and colour called?

Eeyore68 · Friday January 20, 2017

Hi all,

A few years ago I bought an ivy cap from Hanna Hats, in a greyish weave. I'm curious if the weave and colour have a (semi) official name

Thanks!

Eeyore68 · Saturday January 28, 2017

Nobody at all?

The only thing Hanna Hats can tell me is that they bought the tweed as end of a roll years ago, and have not gotten it again since then.

Alistair72 · Saturday January 28, 2017

I wouldn't call that a Donegal. It's a herringbone weave. I would go with the colour it looks when you pull back a bit as the main descriptor. That's looks like a fawn/light brown with possibly a grey background.

Donegals are usually a more uniform background weave with flicks of colour.

Eeyore68 · Sunday January 29, 2017

Alistair72 said:
I wouldn't call that a Donegal. It's a herringbone weave. I would go with the colour it looks when you pull back a bit as the main descriptor. That's looks like a fawn/light brown with possibly a grey background.

Donegals are usually a more uniform background weave with flicks of colour.

Thank you ... I was misled by the label that Hanna Hats sew into their caps. Great info!

FrankieG · Sunday January 29, 2017

Alistair72 said:
I wouldn't call that a Donegal. It's a herringbone weave. I would go with the colour it looks when you pull back a bit as the main descriptor. That's looks like a fawn/light brown with possibly a grey background.

Donegals are usually a more uniform background weave with flicks of colour.

That's a good analysis. I would go as far as calling it a large/wide herringbone.

Alistair72 · Sunday January 29, 2017

No problem.
It my we'll be made in Donegal but Donegal cloth is a type of weave. Ironically Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge shows you flecked herringbone, but then in the text talks about the one one a tailor will think you mean.
"While the weavers in County Donegal provide a number of different tweed fabrics, including herringbone and check patterns, the area is best known for a plain-weave cloth of differently-coloured warp and weft, with small pieces of yarn in various colours woven in at irregular intervals to produce a heathered effect. Such fabric is often labeled as "donegal" (with a lowercase "d") regardless of its provenance."

PLANofMAN · Monday January 30, 2017

I would call it herringbone tweed in a wide pattern, brown/tan/grey.

Eeyore68 · Monday January 30, 2017

Hanna Hats assures me that all of their tweeds are produced in Donegal, and are 100% new wool. What I learned is that not all tweeds made in Donegal are "Donegal tweeds"

It's only a pity they don't have this pattern in stock anymore, but fortunately it's easy to combine.

Thanks all for your help!