Need some Tartan advice

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Just a few notes about the tartans for both NC and SC....

Both states have affocially adopted tartans. In fct, both states have passed legislation adopting the same tartan -- Carolina. The Carolina tartan was designed in 1981 by tartan expert Peter MacDonald of Crieff, Scotland. It was adopted by NC in 1991, and by SC in 2002. So this tartan is the official one for both states.

What about the "North Carolina" and the "South Carolina" tartan, then? They were both designed by a man named David McGill, who owns a business called International Tartans. He designs and promotes tartan, mostly for districts. A few of his tartans, I beleive, may have been given official recognition, but the bulk of them can only be considered fashion tartans. That means that they have no official recognition from whatever body they are named for.

He designed the NC tartan in 2002, at the request of a private individual living in NC, who for reasons unknown did not like the official Carolina tartan. He designed the SC tartan in 2003, at the request of a lady from SC who had heard about his NC tartan. I don't know if she even knew about the Carolina tartan. Neither tartan has ever received any official approval by either state. They are both properly considered fashion tartans. It would be better to call them "a tartan named for South Carolina" rather than "the South Carolina tartan," since SC already has an official tartan.

The Carolina tartan is sold in the gift shop of the NC Museum in Raleigh, as well as the SC Museum in Columbia. You can read a bit more about the controversy here:
http://www.district-tartans.com/
(Click on "News" and find the article on the Carolina tartan).

If anyone wants more details you can PM me.

In any case, if you want to wear the official tartan of the state of SC, you should wear the Carolina tartan. I have some double width yardage of it in cotton on hand at the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop for $24.95 per yard. Woolen cloth is available in signle width, heavy weight cloth for $65 per yard, minimum order of 4 yards.

If you want to wear the South Carolina tartan, as designed by David McGill, that's fine so long as you realize it is not the official state tartan. That cloth (as well as the North Carolina tartan he designed) is available from Bonbright woolens. You can do a Google search to find their web site, I'm sure they have one.

And let me know if you have any more questions!
Aye,
Matt

[starbkjrus]

Wow, ask and ye shall receive. Thanks all for the info, and Matt I may be in touch in the next week or so about that fabric.

Bill,

I like that tartan better than most of the Stewart ones. I might actually be able to wear that one. I think most of my problem comes from the fact that I was at University in the early 80's at the height of the Preppy explosion. All those girls in kilt skirts, dresses and jumpers ALL in the brightest Stewart tartans possible. Of course I was wearing madras pants so bright should not really concern me now should it?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Dee,

If you are a Stewart also, you may be interested to know that the Carolina tartan (the official one) was based off of a version of the Stewart tartan. It is very close in sett to the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan.

Aye,
Matt

[macwilkin]

I really like the so-called "Old Stewart" tartan:

http://www.scotchcorner.com/mill/tar...-old-sett.html

Cheers,

Todd

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The Old Stewart is one of four tartans that Strathmore is now producing in the authentic Wilsons of Bannockburn colors (late eighteenth century, early nineteenth century dye colors). They are doing it in a medium weight (13 oz) cloth.

Aye,
Matt

[KMacT]

I really like the so-called "Old Stewart" tartan:
http://www.scotchcorner.com/mill/tar...-old-sett.html

I agree, and I have eight yards of this and will be making an attempt to sew my own eight-yard kilt out of this tartan. But it has a 15 inch sett(!), so it's a bit of a challenge (I'll be pleating it to the stripe on the "half-sett" for a more managable 7.5 inch sett).

Kevin