My Grandmother's Family Tartan - Chisholm, imporoper to wear?

[figheadair]

As to the dates of the tartans, as noted by a few others, the earliest known list of tartans with clan names comes from after you family was in the Americas. As far as I can tell (hopefully a tartan historian can verify this) tartans were more fashion before the 19th century and the colors were based on what was available and affordable in the different regions of Scotland.

If by fashion you mean that people wore what the liked, could afford or was available then yes, the civilian use of tartan was essentially a fshion choice in the 18th century. That shold not be confused with the modern 'fashion tartans' by which we generally mean mass produced fancy patterns, often coloured to reflect particular trends such as the current fad for purple and blue tartans of the Pride of and Spirit of range of tartans.

Local dyes and thus regional variation might have had some effect on what poor people wore but the better off tended to opt for cloth using impoerted dyes such as cochineal and indigo.