What is a Tartan?

"No man can tell when day passes into night, but every man knows the difference between night and day"
Edmund Burke 1729 -1997

Tartan is a little like that in that no man can tell when check passes into tartan but every man knows the difference between a check and tartan!  Let's start off with Jamie Scarlett's explanation:

     Tartan is woven from threads which cross at right angles and the pattern - called the SETT - therefore has, of necessity, to be of rectangular format. It comprises a series of stripes which, although exceptions are not uncommon, generally are (a) the same in both warp and weft of the cloth and (b) are expressed as a half-sett which repeats, reversing as it goes, along and across the cloth, so that each half-sett is the mirror-image of its neighbour; these introduce further inviolable rules.

1. When two stripes of the same width cross, they will make a square, and when of different widths they will make a rectangle. If a stripe is wider in the warp than in the weft, the length of the rectangle will fall across the web and vice versa.
2. When two stripes of the same colour cross, the result will be plain colour, and when of different colours, the colours will alternate in the ribs in the fabric.
3.Plain colours cannot appear side by side but are separated by areas of mixed colour and can only join point-to-point, on the diagonal.
4. The number of mixed colours will increase in rapid disproportion to the number of base colours, in accordance with the formula M = ½ (B2 -B), where M is the number of mixtures and B the number of base colours. The more colours we start with, therefore, the more diffuse and broken will be the appearance of the final tartan but there is a subjective aspect which modifies this effect. Put simply, the physical size of a stripe or block affects its visual impact; two threads of red crossing two of yellow does not have the same affect as would an inch of each.

 

 

 

 

 

 These illustrations from the late Don Pottinger, [Unicorn Pursuivant at the Court of the Lord lyon] show the make-up of the warp, the weft and then the two combined.  The large illustration below shows the Royal Stewart tartan displayed in a similar fashion.

A Definition

Tartan is a unique art form and conventionally a textile design comprising a repeating pattern formed with a minimum of two woven bands or stripes each usually of one distinct colour. The  design sequence is the same in both directions of the fabric - with some exceptions - and normally producing a square pattern which is generally - but not necessarily - symmetrical about defined pivot points or stripes.
This arrangement creates a recognisable pattern or 'sett' which is repeated across the width (weft) and length (warp) of the material. Where bands of differing colours cross, intermediate hues are formed and the pattern can be modified by the addition of finer lines of the same or contrasting colours.
This definition is not to the exclusion of designs which - displaying the identifying characteristics of tartans - are destined for use in other than woven form.

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