Tartan of the month - December: What do you see?

**figheadair** · 2nd December 11, 11:14 AM

Very Christmas colours

Thoughts and ideas?

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 2nd December 11, 11:21 AM

Peter,

It's hard to tell due to the image size, but this looks like a plain weave to me. Can you verify?

**figheadair** · 2nd December 11, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome

Peter,

It's hard to tell due to the image size, but this looks like a plain weave to me. Can you verify?

Matt,

Replaced the original image with a higher res one. Should'nt be too difficult for you as you have a record of it and so better keep your powder dry for a while.

**NeightRG** · 2nd December 11, 11:31 AM

It almost looks like there are holes around the edges - as if is were once sewn into a piece/garment, and the stitching was removed - instead of a random scrap being cut out.
The symmetry also says this.
Any chance of a closeup on the two holes near the top left corner?

**creagdhubh** · 2nd December 11, 12:06 PM

Muirhead?

**figheadair** · 2nd December 11, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by creagdhubh

Muirhead?

Nope

**xman** · 2nd December 11, 01:52 PM

Attractive sett. Excellent colours. Very Wilsons looking. Wonderful balance. It looks like five colours to me, but there could be a Yellow as well as a pale Green. Herringbone edge up top which appears to end in the Light Blue rather then the Dark Blue therefore breaking the sett right at the edge. Early to mid 19th century then? Have I got that right?

Are those staples I see in the top right?

It looks like there's some kind of stitching around the outside edge of the piece which I can't imagine a use for. The buckling of the fabric in the bottom corners is almost certainly caused by this.

It also looks like it might be a lighter weave and not that large a piece. May we have the dimensions?

There are also some interesting little 'jigs' in the vertical weave. Not quite a full herringbone turn around, but perhaps just for one thread and then back to the established twill weave. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a function of the loom or something else.

**figheadair** · 4th December 11, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by xman

Attractive sett. Excellent colours. Very Wilsons looking. Wonderful balance. It looks like five colours to me, but there could be a Yellow as well as a pale Green. Herringbone edge up top which appears to end in the Light Blue rather then the Dark Blue therefore breaking the sett right at the edge. Early to mid 19th century then? Have I got that right?

Yellow yes but pale green?
Herringbone - really?
Early to mid-C19th. Why do you think that is the case?

Are those staples I see in the top right?

No

It looks like there's some kind of stitching around the outside edge of the piece which I can't imagine a use for. The buckling of the fabric in the bottom corners is almost certainly caused by this.

Agreed

It also looks like it might be a lighter weave and not that large a piece. May we have the dimensions?

From what I recall it's about 6x8"

There are also some interesting little 'jigs' in the vertical weave. Not quite a full herringbone turn around, but perhaps just for one thread and then back to the established twill weave. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a function of the loom or something else.

Ah. So what might it be?

**xman** · 4th December 11, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by figheadair

Yellow yes but pale green?

This is my cognitive deficiency with the overlap which I believe I mentioned in an earlier thread. Yellow it is.

Originally Posted by figheadair

Herringbone - really?

AH, NO. It is the 'jigging' issue again although there are a few treads which run back the other way and then return. I should have looked closer.

Originally Posted by figheadair

Early to mid-C19th. Why do you think that is the case?

Mostly my mistaken herringbone interpretation.

Originally Posted by figheadair

Ah. So what might it be?

I've not a clue.

**Dale-of-Cedars** · 4th December 11, 01:06 PM

From the matching angles of the cuts on the sides, and the creasing across the middle, it looks like it was folded and stitched together, but not as a pocket or pouch as it looks stitched on all 4 sides. But it isn't stitched along the fold, and as the fold isn't a tight crease it may have been folded around some other fabric before being stitched down.

We seem to be looking at the inside surface; from the holes/tears the top, darker part of the sett, with the tidy edge, looks like it got most abused, probably on the other side of the cloth.

A double-thickness patch for the top edge of a worn or torn kilt apron, or a repair on a piece of upholstery?