Terminology again.
We must be careful to remember that the words used today cannot be assumed to be the same as the words used previously.
For example one weaver today uses the terms, Modern, Ancient, and Weathered for the same design in different colors.
These are all the Black Watch Tartan.
Then there is the Dress versions of some designs which simply replace one of the background colors with White which creates a lighter, more feminine look. This is for ladies dresses and is not meant to be 'dressier'.
Today this is the RRS Black Watch.
Which is quite different from what some think of as Black Watch which give an almost totally black or dark appearance.
Each weaving mill has their own dye lots and colors. Some are unique to that mill and are often quite a bit different from some others.
I was speaking to one well known weaver who when asked why a particular shade of green was used in one of his designs, commented that when he originally envisioned and designed the Tartan, it used a light green shade, about like the shade of leaves in spring. But one day he got a large rush order for fabric in his design but was out of yarn in the light green shade. So he simply substituted a yarn dyed in a darker green shade. This darker shade is now thought of as the normal shade for the design. Every mill that weaves the Tartan today use the dark green. Even though it is not what he originally designed.
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