How long does it take to weave a tartan?
The time scale for creating a special weave tartan and having it made into a bespoke kilt can be anything from 3 to 6 months.
How is tartan traditionally made?
The traditional method is to weave it using a loom, made of a warp (the vertical stripes) and a weft (the horizontal stripes). It’s important that each warp and weft meet at a right angle, otherwise you’ll end up with a rather squint pattern! Each tartan is made of a base pattern called a sett.
How is tartan made ks1?
Tartan is a unique pattern used in traditional Scottish Highland Dress. It’s made by horizontal and vertical coloured lines crossing over each other.
What do different kilt colors mean?
Red, green, blue and yellow tartans are the most common. Today, the colours identify religion as red and green tartans represent Catholics and the blue represents Protestants. The divide is important in Scotland as one can identify people’s religion by what colour tartan is worn.
What’s the difference between tartan and plaid?
Plaid and tartan both contain horizontal and vertical lines that intersect at 90 degree angles. So the most important difference for people in the US to note between tartan and plaid is that tartan is plaid associated with a clan. Whereas plaid holds no association with a historic clan.
How is tartan woven?
Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and 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.
What is a plaid pattern?
According to the classic book Textile Designs by Susan Meller and Joost Elffers, “the plaid is a box layout of stripes, usually horizontal and vertical, and almost always crossing at right angles. As the fabric is woven, these two systems come together to form a beautiful plaid design.