Tradition Woman weaves a look for Maine

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Maybe you know the distinctive plaid of the Stewart tartan, or the Douglas, or any of several MacGregors. But have you noticed a plaid with light blue for the sky, darker blue for the waters, dark green for the forests and trees, and a thin red line for the bloodline of the people?

You can wear that tartan regardless of your Scots heritage – or lack of it. The pattern is the Maine State Tartan, created by a tartan designer from Nova Scotia, and hand-woven right here in Maine. A heavier material for kilts is produced in Scotland, and blankets are made in New Zealand.

The local weaver is Theresa Lagoy, a Jackson woman who is better known for the religious vestments she has been weaving for more than two decades for her company, Maryweave.

The weaver lives in a small cabin with a view of the rolling hills of Waldo County – on a wintry day featuring the green and blue of the tartan.

Holding court in her workroom is a state-of-the-art loom with enough yarn to make 80 yards of the tartan – the blues, green and garnet red set up to create the specific plaid.

Lagoy sits at the wooden bench, feet working the treadles that raise and lower the harnesses to create the “shed,” the space between the two rows of yarn where she will “throw” a wooden shuttle carrying the next course of thread.

The yarn is loose, so Lagoy pulls toward her the wooden

bar known as the beater, tightening the yarn and adding the

tiniest bit of depth to the growing cloth.

When the pattern calls for several rows of one color, Lagoy uses a “flying shuttle” – a yarn holder she can shoot back and forth quickly by pulling on a handle suspended above the loom, still using the beater to tighten each row.

Once finished, the cloth will become vests and teddy bears, bow ties and scarves, shawls, pillows, blankets and even yard goods for people who want to make their own items from the Maine State Tartan.

Lagoy didn’t invent the Maine State Tartan; she’s only been making the cloth for a year, the plaid that came from the mind of Sol Gilis, a Lithuanian-born tartan designer who lived in Scotland before moving to Nova Scotia decades ago.

Gilis created the design in 1964 at the behest of a Maine woman who stopped by his shop in the Maritime town of Yarmouth. The cloth was produced for a couple of years, then put on the shelf because of business complications.

The tartan might never have been revived if not for Jane Holmes, a Plymouth weaver of Scots heritage who thought the plaid should be made available again.

Holmes runs Maine Tartan and Tweed Co., which sells the heavier “strome weight” cloth – produced by Locharron of Scotland – used for kilts, suiting and upholstery done in the Maine State Tartan.

“This is a ‘district’ tartan, based on place,” Holmes explained, a type of tartan that is actually older than those used to represent clans. Weavers in Scotland would use the material for trade, swapping the tartan cloth for food and goods.

Maine Tartan and Tweed copyrighted the design for the Maine State Tartan in 1988, an effort Holmes said is intended “to protect it from color changes or pattern distortion, which are most important in the reproduction of a tartan design.” The name is trademarked, as well.

Holmes wove the first piece of the revived tartan in 1988 on a century-old rug loom, and that piece is now at the governor’s home in Augusta, the Blaine House.

Then the weaving was done by Cascade Woolen Mill in Oakland until the mill ceased operations in 1995. The cloth was cut for the various products in Plymouth, with home sewers making finished items Holmes designed. Maryweave also uses home sewers to craft the products it sells.

Holmes has described tartans as plaids with a purpose, and Maine’s is the oldest U.S. tartan registered with the Scottish Tartan Society. It also is registered with that group’s American counterpart, the Tartan Education and Cultural Association of Pennsylvania. There also are Georgia, Ohio, Texas and Carolina tartans.

Former President George Bush owns a briefcase lined with the Maine State Tartan. Others who have items with the plaid include former Gov. John McKernan, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, and many officials of Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries.

Mainers may have seen the state tartan without realizing it, perhaps at the annual Maine Highland Games in Brunswick each August. It’s been worn by the Maine State Police Pipes and Drums, the Southern Maine Boys-Girls Chorale, the Maine State Boychoir and Girlchoir, and the Maine St. Andrews Pipes and Drums.

The Brewer Hometown Band wore the tartan in October during its performance representing the Pine Tree State at the Music Celebrations International 2000 Festival of the States in Washington. Holmes, a pianist who plays bells, chimes and sometimes drums for the group, was among the band members taking part. Her husband David, a stone sculptor, also is in the band.

Jane Holmes had known Theresa Lagoy for some years when she met up with her again at a show in 1999.

“I mentioned I was looking for a weaver to weave the Maine tartan material, and she said she was interested,” Holmes said. She looked over Lagoy’s setup and had her make some samples.

“As Cascade Woolen Mill went out of business five years ago, it left us without a local commercial source for the lightweight material, so that is why Maryweave’s interest in weaving it in quantity was welcome, to keep it available for the public,” she said. Maryweave is the only licensed weaver in the U.S. at this time.

Maine Tartan and Tweed continues to sell the heavier cloth produced in Scotland, some products left from the Cascade material, and the blankets made in New Zealand.

As for Lagoy, the opportunity to weave the Maine State Tartan came at just the right time.

A former Carmelite sister, who is now a member of a Carmelite group for lay people, Lagoy was hoping to find a project to supplement her weaving for religious vestments, especially to provide enough work for her home sewers.

“I fell in love with it,” she said of the Maine State Tartan. “It’s a beautiful cloth. It’s got a peaceful feeling. I really think part of it is the spirit of the man who designed it – in touch with the earth, and in touch with God.”

The business end of Maryweave is handled by Nancy Langford, a Dixmont resident who also sews for the company. Langford was a quilt maker for many years, and also is known for designing and making costume components for reunions at Princeton University.

She enjoys making items for Maryweave, and points out that “sometimes customers come up with ideas.

“The Shriners came up with the Glengarry bonnet,” she explained, and now they now wear that item made from the tartan. “I love dealing with them. They’re just so high-energy.”

Lagoy says, only half-jokingly, that sometimes she can’t keep up with the demand for the cloth from the seamstresses.

“I can’t weave it fast enough,” she said. She owns Maryweave, but believes she doesn’t really run the company.

“Saint Joseph is the CEO. He’s been in charge since Day One. I just feel so blessed to have had this business,” Lagoy said. “Somehow, we’re led. There’s that peace inside.”

Holmes also feels blessed to be involved in the revival of the tartan.

“You have no idea the wonderful, warm feeling it gives me when I see people wearing or carrying the products we developed over the past 12 years,” she said. “As my friend Polly Davis’ poem states, ‘No matter where you roam, this tartan will remind you of your Maine home.’

“When I see someone with a handbag, tote bag, scarf, tie, I get choked up,” Holmes said, “knowing our efforts have been successful in bringing this lovely tartan back for the people of Maine to enjoy.”

For information on Maryweave products, write RR1 Box 1133, Dixmont, ME 04932; call 234-2767, or check the Web site at www.maryweave.com. To reach the Maine State Tartan and Tweed Co., write 974 Ward Hill Road, Plymouth, ME 04969; call 948-3742; or e-mail Jane Holmes at wolfscrag@uninets.net.