Tartan of the Month - March

**davidlpope** · 1st March 11, 12:14 PM

Assymetric sett? Regency period? Colors don't seem far off of Wilsons' red, blue, and green.

**figheadair** · 1st March 11, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by davidlpope

Assymetric sett? Regency period? Colors don't seem far off of Wilsons' red, blue, and green.

It's a bit too early in the month to confirm/give clues and so I'll let others have a crack first.

**figheadair** · 1st March 11, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by unaspenser

I have no idea what the tartan is, but I love the colors, and the cut of that coat!

Edit: I'd guess by the setting and the look of the cut that this coat is from around the turn of the 20th century, when bicycles of that style were in vogue.

See post #4

**unaspenser** · 2nd March 11, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by figheadair

See post #4

How could I have missed that? *headdesk*

**xman** · 5th March 11, 11:55 PM

Anyone else?

**figheadair** · 12th March 11, 12:58 AM

No one else what to have a crack? No costume thoughts? No-one want to have a crack at the sett?

**ForresterModern** · 12th March 11, 02:06 AM

Originally Posted by figheadair

No one else what to have a crack? No costume thoughts? No-one want to have a crack at the sett?

I did have a thought and your mention of costume brought me the courage to mention what I otherwise would not have bothered. Probably wrong, even in my own estimation, but I was watching the movie "Rob Roy" the other day after reviewing this thread and ,despite all the overlying apparatus worn by the character thought that I spied this tartan in the coat worn by the Argyll for the final swordfight scene. In the end I decided that the movie coat tartan was more red based than this one, and that I could not make out the cut of the coat from the overlying plaid, belts, etc... worn by the character. There, you baited it out of me, against my will and better judgement. But as you noticed this thread was languishing without recent comment otherwise.

jeff

**Jack Daw** · 15th March 11, 12:48 PM

I'm at work and can't make a comparison, but the tartan reminds me of Cameron of Erracht. (I have an excuse for being way off - I'm color blind)

**Cygnus** · 18th March 11, 12:51 PM

At first I thought it was MacInroy, but checking it shows a number of differences as well as an obvious discrepancy in date.

It's quite a nice towncoat, even if none of us amateurs can identify it!

**figheadair** · 26th March 11, 03:27 AM

Well it's nearly the end of the month and I think this one has run its course so here we go.

The coat is in the West Highland Museum, Fort William where it is described as having been made locally c1810. There are a number of labels in the museum that are incorrect and the cut of the coat, the collar and the rear pockets is of the Wm IV style so it is more likely to be c1830-35. It is in immaculate condition and can't have been worn much.

The material on the other hand appears to be older. It's a rural handwoven coarse and naturally dyed cloth that could date anywhere between c1750-1820 so the claimed 1810 date could refer to the cloth rather than the jacket.

The dyes used are without doubt indigo and cochineal for the blue and red respectively plus some yellow, possibly a local plant dye, and indigo for the green.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the sett is asymmetric. It is made so by virtue of the red stripe separating the green and blue on one side of the blue ground.

It has overtures of the Clan Donald sett but that's probably no more than coincidence. A pattern like this is likely to have been intended for clothing rather than plaiding that was used differently.

Hopefully I will have an opportunity to examine the coat in more detail later this year and to look at the sewing, lining and perhaps be lucky enough to find a selvedge that might help determine more about the actual cloth.