TEXTILE RESEARCH:

Tartan is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-

crossed horizontal and vertical bands in
multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven
wool, but now they are made in many other
materials. Tartan is particularly associated
with Scotland; Scottish kilts almost always
have tartan patterns.
Tartan is made with alternating bands of
coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as
both warpand weft at right angles to each
other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two
over—two under the warp, advancing one thread at each pass. This forms
visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance
of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour
repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines
known as a sett.
Tartan is often mistakenly called "plaid"
(particularly in the United States), but in
Scotland, a plaid is a large piece of tartan cloth,
worn as a type of kilt or large shawl. The
term plaid is also used in Scotland for an
ordinary blanket such as one would have on a
bed.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the
highland tartans were only associated with
either regions or districts, rather than any
specific Scottish clan. This was because like other materials, tartan designs
were produced by local weavers for local tastes and would usually only use
the natural dyes available in that area, as synthetic dye production was non-
existent and transportation of other dye materials across long distances was
prohibitively expensive.
Today tartan is generally used to describe the pattern, not limited to textiles.
[7]
 In North America the term plaid is commonly used to describe tartan.
Colour: shades and meaning
The shades of colour in tartan can be altered to produce
variations of the same tartan. The resulting variations are
termed: modern, ancient, and muted. These terms only
refer to dye colours.
MODERN COLOUR:D
escribes a tartan that is coloured using
chemical dye, as opposed to natural dye. In the mid-19th
century natural dyes began to be replaced by chemical
dyes which were easier to use and were more economic for the booming
tartan industry. Chemical dyes tend to produce a very strong, vivid colour
compared to natural dyes. In modern colours, setts made up of blue, black, and
green tend to be obscured.

Ancient colours
refers to a lighter shade of tartan. These shades are
meant to represent the colours that would result
from fabric aging over time.
Muted colours
also called reproduction colours, refers to tartan
which is shade between modern and ancient.
Although this type of coloring is very recent, dating
only from the early 1970s, these shades are thought to be the closest match to
the colours attained by natural dyes used before the mid-19th century.
The idea that the various colours used in tartan have a specific meaning is
purely a modern one. One such myth is that red tartans were "battle tartans",
designed so they would not show blood. It is only recently created tartans,
such as Canadian provincial and territorial tartans (beginning 1950s) and U.S.
state tartans (beginning 1980s), that are designed with certain symbolic
meaning for the colours used. For example, the colour green sometimes
represents prairies or forests, blue can represent lakes and rivers, and the
colour yellow is sometimes used to represent
various crops.
It is generally stated that one of the most popular
tartans today is the Royal Stewart tartan. This is the
personal tartan of Queen Elizabeth II. The sett was
first published in 1831 in the book The Scottish Gael
by James Logan. In addition to its use in clothing,
such as skirts and scarves, Royal Stewart tartan has
also appeared on biscuit tins for Scottish shortbread
Another popular tartan is the Black Watch (also known as Grant Hunting,
Universal, and Government). This tartan, a darkened variant of the main Clan
Campbell tartan (Ancient or Old Campbell), was used and is still used by
several military units in the British Army and other Commonwealth forces.

By the 19th century the Highland romantic revival, inspired by James

Macpherson's Ossian poems and the
writings of Sir Walter Scott, led to
wider interest, with clubs like the
Celtic Society of Edinburgh
welcoming Lowlanders. The
pageantry invented for the 1822 visit
of King George IV to
Scotland brought a sudden demand
for tartan cloth and made it
the national dress of the whole of
Scotland, rather than just the Highlands and Islands, with the invention of
many new clan-specific tartans to suit.

Since the Victorian era, authorities on tartan have claimed that there is an
etiquette to wearing tartan, specifically tartan attributed to
clans or families. Even so, there are no laws or rules on
who can, or cannot, wear a particular tartan. The concept
of the entitlement to certain tartans has led to the term of
universal tartan, or free tartan, which describes tartan
which can be worn by anyone. Traditional examples of
such are Black Watch, Caledonian, Hunting Stewart, and
Jacobite tartans, and many district or regional tartans. In
the same line of opinion, some tartan attributed to the
British Royal Family are claimed by some to be "off limits"
to non-royalty.
 However, some modern tartans are protected by trademark law, and the
trademark proprietor can, in certain circumstances, prevent others from selling
that tartan. The "Burberry Check" of the English
fashion house, first designed in early 1920s, is
an instantly recognisable tartan that is very well
known around the world[and is an example of a
tartan that is protected
Many books on Scottish clans list such rules and
guidelines.One such opinion is that people not
bearing a clan surname, or surname claimed as
a sept of a clan, should not wear the tartan of
their mother's clan. This opinion is enforced by the fact that in the Scottish clan
system, the Lord Lyon states that membership to a clan technically passes
through the surname. This means that children who bear their father's
surname belong to the father's clan (if any), and that children who bear their
mother's surname (her maiden name) belong to their mother's clan (if
any).Also, the Lord Lyon states that a clan tartan should only be worn by those
who profess allegiance to that clan's chief.
Some clan societies even claim that certain tartans are the personal property
of a chief or chieftain, and in some cases they allow their clansfolk
"permission" to wear a tartan.According to the Scottish Tartans Authority —
which is closely associated with the Scottish tartan industry — the Balmoral
tartan should not be worn by anyone who is not part of the British Royal
Family. Even so, some weavers outside of the United Kingdom ignore the
"longstanding convention" of the British Royal Family's "right" to this tartan.
The society also claims that non-royals who
wear this tartan are treated with "great
disdain" by the Scottish tartan industry.
Generally, a more liberal attitude is taken
by those in the business of selling tartan,
stressing that anyone may wear any tartan
they like. The claimed "rules" are mere
conventions, with different levels of
importance depending on the symbolic
meaning of the tartan on some particular
occasion. For example, when a district
tartan is worn at a football game, or a
family tartan at a family event, such as the
investiture of a new clan chief, the issue of
wearing the event's tartan is of greater concern than wearing the same tartan
when attending Highland Games where no event is scheduled where the tartan
would have special significance. The same rules apply as do to wearing any
clothing that prominently displays colors with national or political significance,
such as un-patterned orange or green cloth in Ireland (regardless of whether it
is worn as a kilt), or red, white, and blue colors at national events in France or
the United States.

CONSTRUCTION:
Each thread in the warp crosses each thread
in the weft at right angles. Where a thread in
the warp crosses a thread of the same
colour in the weft they produce a solid
colour on the tartan, while a thread crossing
another of a different colour produces an
equal mixture of the two colours. Thus, a set
of two base colours produces three different
colours including one mixture. The total
number of colours, including mixtures,
increases quadratically with the number of
base colours so a set of six base colours
produces fifteen mixtures and a total of
twenty-one different colours. This means
that the more stripes and colours used, the
more blurred and subdued the tartan's
pattern becomes.
The sequence of threads, known as the sett, starts at an edge and either
repeats or reverses on what are called pivot points.

In addition to the original Scottish regional tartans and modern district tartans,
modern tartans have been created for regions outside of Scotland.
Many regional tartans are officially recognised by government bodies. Most
Canadian provinces and territories have an official tartan, with the first dating
from 1956.Canada has an official national tartan that was originally designed to
commemorate the introduction of its new maple leaf flag, and was made an
official national emblem in 2011.Several Canadian counties and municipalities
also have official tartans.
Many of the U.S. states also have official tartans, with the first dating from
1988. In Scotland at least two local government councils have official tartans.
Dress, hunting, and mourning tartans[
Tartans are sometimes differentiated from another with the same name by the
label dress, hunting, or rarely mourning.
Dress tartans are based on the earasaid tartans worn by Highland women in
the 17th and 18th centuries. Dress tartans tend to be made by replacing a
prominent colour with the colour white. They are commonly used today in
Highland dancing.
Hunting tartans also seem to be a Victorian conception, although there is
some evidence of early tartans with camouflage colours.These tartans tend to
be made up of subdued colours, such as dark blues and greens. Despite the
name, hunting tartans have very little to do with actual hunting.
Mourning tartans, though quite rare, are associated with death and funerals.
They are usually designed using combinations of black and white, or by
replacing bright colors such as reds and yellows in a traditional tartan with
black, white, or grey.
Corporate tartans and commercial "tartan-ware"

Clever Victorian entrepreneurs not only created new tartans, but new tartan
objects called tartan-ware. Tartan was incorporated in an assortment of
common household objects, such as snuffboxes, jewellery cases, tableware,
sewing accessories, and desk items. Tourists visiting the Scottish Highlands
went home with it, and Scottish-based businesses sent tartanware out as gifts
to customers. Some of the more popular tartans were the Stewart,
MacDonald, McGregor, McDuff, MacBeth, and Prince CharlieToday tartanware
is widely collected in England and Scotland
Fashion tartans
In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, tartan-clad garments were featured in
fashion catalogues. By then, tartan had shifted from being mainly a component
of men's clothing to become an important part of women's fashion. In
consequence of its association with the British aristocracy and military, tartan
developed an air of dignity and exclusivity. Because of this, tartan has made
reappearances in the world of fashion several times.

A German punk wearing a piece of the Royal Stewart tartan, 1984

For instance, tartan made a resurgence in its use in punk fashion. In the late
1970s, punk music was a way for youth in the British Isles to voice their
discontent with the ruling class. The unorthodox use of tartan, which had long
been associated with authority and gentility, was then seen as the expression
of discontent against modern society. In this way tartan, worn
unconventionally, became an anti-establishment symbol.
Popular in the mid 1970s, the Scottish teeny bopper band the Bay City Rollers
were described by the British Hit Singles & Albums reference book as “tartan
teen sensations from Edinburgh