Tartan of the month - October: What do yo see?

**Nick the DSM** · 10th October 11, 10:28 PM

Hmm, that seems to narrow it down.

**CopperNGold** · 10th October 11, 10:35 PM

A wrap/carrier that is pinned together for the mother to carry a baby? A baby sling of some kind?

**figheadair** · 11th October 11, 03:47 AM

Originally Posted by CopperNGold

A wrap/carrier that is pinned together for the mother to carry a baby? A baby sling of some kind?

From some 200 years away it's often impossible to difine how a piece of cloth was used and in fact a piece such as this may have had many uses.

Compare this piece with the specimen described here - http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/Unn...dated_1775.pdf

**xman** · 11th October 11, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by figheadair

Possibly, or it may have been used for some furnishing purpose such as a table runner or the like but a shawl/or screen is the most likely explanation.

Ok, so having given you that let me answer the missing question which would have lead you to this - it's 13" wide.

The width of an unfinished piece is often a most important clue to its use that the arbitary length.

Fascinating, thank-you. I'd simply assumed 26"-27" width.

6" sett then. 1' x 3'. Good size for a scarf, but with all those pin holes ...

**figheadair** · 11th October 11, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by xman

Fascinating, thank-you. I'd simply assumed 26"-27" width.

6" sett then. 1' x 3'. Good size for a scarf, but with all those pin holes ...

I have to admit that I can't be certain as to the length and it might be longer. It all depends on whether the piece is complete or otherwise. When I went to the museum (by appointment) there was a whole room full of stuff and I had little time to examine them all and so photographed the interesting pieces. Whether the piece is complete lengthwise or not is of lesser important than some of the other clues.

Whilst the original owner will undoubtedly remain unknown we may surmise certain things about the cloth. So, we established that it's 13" wide with an offset pattern (hard tartan BTW). Care to speculate some more?

**figheadair** · 14th October 11, 11:37 PM

Here's a graphic of the design which has elements of the Perth and Royal Stewart setts:

Anyone any further thoughts?

**figheadair** · 17th October 11, 10:41 PM

Common guys. There's a blinding obvious question/deduction from all that's been said.

**davidlpope** · 18th October 11, 04:01 AM

A lady's memento attributed to Charles Edward Stewart?

**figheadair** · 18th October 11, 04:42 AM

Originally Posted by davidlpope

A lady's memento attributed to Charles Edward Stewart?

Nope

**xman** · 18th October 11, 04:06 PM

I don't have much left, but I will ask if we can see the two 'tears' just off the pivot point at the top and bottom of the image in post #1. Also, what do we know about why 13" wide cloths were woven? What were they used for?