A New Tartan Design - Comments?

[Morgan of Seattle]

I've been working on a Tartan Design to honor my father, Philip S. Morgan III (1934-2009). He passed away this past February. Our family has been in Maryland since the 1600's, I grew up there, and my Dad lived in Maryland all his life. So, I'm planning to call this tartan Morgan of Maryland. The tartan will be available for anyone who might want to wear it.

The design is based in part on the MacKay Clan tartan, of which Morgan is a sept, and is also influenced by the Macleod Clan tartan which the Morgan family in Maryland is connected to by marriage through the MacCabe sept.

The colors may not look quite right on computer, but these depend on the weaver anyway. The design calls for Light Green, Azure, Dark Brown, Scarlet, Blue, and Black. The sett is asymmetrical and uses 264 threads

I would appreciate any thoughts or comments, including suggestions or constructive criticism, before I register this tartan. Thanks!

[dowofbuchanan]

looks great mate ... a fitting tribute

[Arizona Scot]

I really like it, on my computer it seems almost muted like a hunting tartan. Really nice good luck on getting it produced.

[Chas]

Hi Morgan,

I like the muted colours; a cool refreshing look. Maybe I am just being stupid but I can't see how the design is asymmetrical - it looks symmetrical to me.

Regards

Chas

[Morgan of Seattle]

Hi Morgan,

I like the muted colours; a cool refreshing look. Maybe I am just being stupid but I can't see how the design is asymmetrical - it looks symmetrical to me.

Hey Chas,

You are quite right in the general sense of symmetry. In tartan, though, a sett that is called "symmetrical" repeats itself in reverse order at the end of the pattern. This one simply repeats in the same order and thus, in the special sense of tartan setts, is called "asymmetrical." The term tells the weaver not to repeat in reverse order after each sett. This is necessary to make the red and blue stripes alternate, otherwise, you'd get 2 red, 2 blue.

[English Bloke]

Who is going to produce the tartan for you?

[Morgan of Seattle]

Who is going to produce the tartan for you?

Hi English Bloke,

The Scotweb Store has a new and pretty cool setup for this. They have a new online software tool for designing tartan (which I used to create this one) and then they will custom weave the cloth and produce many of their products from it as well. There is a minimum 10 yard order for custom woven cloth. So for example, you could order an 8 yard kilt and then buy 2 yards of material, or perhaps a necktie and a scarf or two. The prices appear to average about 25% higher than for "off the shelf" tartans.

As members of XMTS we also have a standing 10% discount by clicking the ad at the top of these pages. A nice thing! I will of course follow up with a full review once I've actually had this tartan produced.

The other question is whether one wants to register the tartan with the Scottish Tartans Authority. That is a separate process. I am going to do that with this one, and will review that here as well.

Cheers,
Philip

[Rogerson785]

Morgan,

As a past yachtsman of the Chesapeake Bay I think the tartan colors are divine and anyone would be honored to wear such a grand looking tartan. What a great job and a fantastic way to honor your father.

Chris

[Mark Keeney]

Hey Chas,

You are quite right in the general sense of symmetry. In tartan, though, a sett that is called "symmetrical" repeats itself in reverse order at the end of the pattern. This one simply repeats in the same order and thus, in the special sense of tartan setts, is called "asymmetrical." The term tells the weaver not to repeat in reverse order after each sett. This is necessary to make the red and blue stripes alternate, otherwise, you'd get 2 red, 2 blue.

I still don't see it. Maybe I'm a little slow, but, as I see it the tartan is symmetrical from the center of the blue or the center of the red. You wouldn't start with the green as the image starts.

[MacKay71]

Looks pretty good!