Tartan of the Month - July. What do you see?

[figheadair]

A lovely little snippet. What do you make of it?

[Morris at Heathfield]

The selvage appears to be a bit ragged. Blue herringbone selvage pattern, but red at the very edge. Apart from the basic red, green, and blue colors in the tartan, I also see very narrow azure "tramline" stripes and salmon stripes bordering the rightmost red stripe. I would guess this is another tartan from the first half of the 18th century, probably used as a plaid.

[figheadair]

The selvage appears to be a bit ragged. Blue herringbone selvage pattern, but red at the very edge. Apart from the basic red, green, and blue colors in the tartan, I also see very narrow azure "tramline" stripes and salmon stripes bordering the rightmost red stripe. I would guess this is another tartan from the first half of the 18th century, probably used as a plaid.

Good so far:

Portion of (probably) an early 18th Century plaid wil a herringbone selvedge. The dating has an interesting twist which I will reveal later.

There's more.

[figheadair]

Come come. No-one else?

[figheadair]

Hummmm. It looks like the rabble has become tired of trying, not only this month but the past couple. I though that there was an interest in seeing some of the older pieces and at the same time learning something of the techniques that went into their making. Shall I continue after thing one?

[The Monk]

I'd like you to continue. I know zip about anything so I don't respond but I enjoy the reading.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I'm a bit embarrassed to say I didn't recognize it at first, but that's an old MacQuarrie tartan, isn't it? Is that one from the Highland Society collection?

[figheadair]

I'm a bit embarrassed to say I didn't recognize it at first, but that's an old MacQuarrie tartan, isn't it? Is that one from the Highland Society collection?

Bang on Matt.

Here is the original compared with a reconstructed graphic.





The fragment is all that I've had access to for a couple of years. It's an offcut of the larger piece in the HSL which I've been trying to get access to for a couple of years but the whole collection and anything else in the archives has been unavailable to study whilst there's a major refurbishment programme going on. All very frustrating.

The sample is interesting because it is what I would describe as rural weave as opposed to the majority of the early HSL samples which were of Wilsons' cloth. This one is in a different league and I suspect was actually provided to/by the chief from his lands. Whether than was Ulva or elsewhere I cannot say but the herringbone selvedge suggests that this was originally a plaid/plaiding. Clearly hand woven from hand spun yarn, this piece is almost certainly much earlier than the HSL. I'd date is anywhere between c1740-80 and probably nearer the '45 end of that spectrum.

The irregular sequence at the red/pink pivot is undoubtedly the weaver's error. Note it's in the weft and very easy to do and miss until one trys to match the sett when joining the two halves.

[English Bloke]

Oooooh yeah... I see the thin pink on the inside edges of the broad greens now. I didn't even notice those before.

[KenB]

Well I must admit, I didn't have a clue to the identity of this tartan. So many tartans, especially older tartans, really look very similar to my uneducated eye.

I really enjoy these posts and they are very informative and educational. I guess I don't respond often; that way my ignorance wont show.