Scottish Weaving

The instantly recognisable woven pattern of Tartan has become the brand signifying all things Scottish. Recorded mentions of Tartan date back to the 16th century where highland weavers used the naturally coarse wool to spin and dye using organic locally found minerals, plant and vegetable dyes. Various Clans of Scotland each have their own particular tartan, of which depends on where in Scotland the family originates, determines the colours of the tartan due to the natural sources for dyeing that were around them. Red was a particular colour believed to have been only worn by the wealthy or for ceremonial and special occasions due to the rarity of natural red dyes, whereas on the contrary today red tartans are the most significant and popular.


Wallace Tartan


Black Watch


Rob Roy, one of the simplest of all tartans, which consists of weaving red and black yarns to create a checkboard pattern of three colour changes.

Traditional Scottish Tartan is created by weaving 100% wool yarn using a loom. However nowadays, the renowned pattern is often printed onto fabrics as it is less time consuming. Tartans are often also designed using digital methods, as the ability to explore the variety of colour and check combinations before choosing the desired design can be more time and cost effective.

The most common and well-known use for tartan fabric is for them to be pleated and made into the kilt, traditional Scottish clothing which forms an iconic unisex skirt, the word kilt  meaning to tuck clothes around the body as originally the tartan plaid was a blanket worn by Scotsmen by pleating it into a belt and wrapping the excess fabric around the shoulders.

Chloe pre-Autumn/Winter 2010