Musings on the West Virginia tartan

**OC Richard** · 5th May 11, 03:47 AM

I fly back to my home state tomorrow and it got me thinking...

There at the Bridgeport Highland Games every year there's a booth which promotes the officially adopted WV tartan. I'll see it Saturday, I suppose.

I just don't care for it very much. They took the design of a shawl, c1820, in the DAR collection in Barboursville, but modified it. The modified design has an added asymmetric element which jars my eye. And, overall, it has a weaker structure than the original shawl had.

Here's an image which (supposedly) reflects the original shawl design.

First I tried to come up with an approximate thread count using the Gaelic Themes tartan generator. (Since first posting this I've found the STA thread count, which I give at bottom.)
The trouble with that is the very limited palette. What's funny is the domino effect where a certain colour you want isn't there, so you're forced to choose something a bit different, which doesn't look good with the others so you change them in sequence!

However I somehow ended up with something I like, very different colours from the original but having a nice vintage look to it. One thing I really like, which isn't present in the original, is the clear distinction between the green and azure stripes:

(Maybe I could call it "West Virginia Ancient".)

Then I tried the ScotWeb generator, first with custom colours I created from the limitless palette. I really like that feature. I was able to get fairly close to one thing I really like about the original, which is the use of a deep Burgundy and a seafoam green. The Royal blue here is too light but I couldn't figure out how to change one colour without dumping the whole palette and starting over from scratch.

Then I tried one using the palette of available yarns and I really like the result:

What say you, O Tartanistas? I'm seriously thinking about having enough of this woven for a kilt.

The count given by the STA for West Virginia Old Shawl is
y4 g4 b8 r8 g8 r48 az8 g4 r8 g4 y4

and here is that count rendered in colours as close as I can obtain

**ForresterModern** · 5th May 11, 05:27 AM

I too am not enthused about the West Virginia state tartan, despite that being the place of my birth, generations of my family heritage, where nearly all my family live, and likely place of my final days on this earth. I agree that there is something incongruous about the sett that disturbs my visual sensibilities. Perhaps it might not in person but what I have seen on generators is just not comforting as it should be.

I generated a few of my own West Virginia Spring tartans on Scotwebs tartan generator one of which (WV Spring 3 pro) I am particularly fond of and considering having it made up and registered. I would value your opinion.

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/tartandesign/details/28566

I just don't think I can support the WV State tartan as I should being a "son o' the mountains", but would still like to honor my home state. I have 7 generations of my Foster ancestors either living or buried there, possibly 8 (still searching out that gravesite for verification). And springtime there is my favorite time.

jeff

**OC Richard** · 6th May 11, 03:36 AM

That's very nice!

I too come from many generations of West Virginians- I am descended from John Cooke, who came to America in 1762, fought on the American side in the Revolution, and received a large land grant in what is now southwestern WV. The epicentre of the Cooks is the region around the towns of Oceana and Pineville.

In my case I would like to stick with the tartan based on the relic shawl- it's a very nice design in my opinion and I'd really like to have a kilt made up in it.

Too bad they reworked the original strong design into a weaker one.

Well I'll be flying into Chuck Yeager later today! At the Bridgeport games tomorrow.

**denmcdough** · 7th May 11, 09:47 PM

Got to attend the Bridgeport Games today, 5/7/11. The weather held up nicely, and I had a great time meeting up, and talking to, OC Richard (pics to come soon). Anyway, the WV tartan is beautiful, IMHO. The computer generated things, here, don't do it justice. You gotta see it up close and personal!

**figheadair** · 7th May 11, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

I just don't care for it very much. They took the design of a shawl, c1820, in the DAR collection in Barboursville, but modified it. The modified design has an added asymmetric element which jars my eye. And, overall, it has a weaker structure than the original shawl had.

Here's an image which (supposedly) reflects the original shawl design.

The count given by the STA for West Virginia Old Shawl is
y4 g4 b8 r8 r48 az8 g4 r8 g4 y4

The STA notes say that the original was asymmetric but that 'someone' had made the count symmetrical. Has anyone seen the original? Better still does anyone have/know of a photograph of it?

**AKScott** · 8th May 11, 01:21 AM

Of the modifieds I like the first and third the best. I will defer to those who have seen it in person, all of my swatches look better in person than the online versions.

**OC Richard** · 11th May 11, 07:37 PM

OK back from West Virginia and the Bridgeport Games!

Here's the booth advertising the WV official tartan

and here's a closeup of the fabric they had. It seemed to be around 9oz or 10oz. They had it made up into scarves and neckties and they were also selling it by the yard.

and for comparison the (supposedly) original sett as given by the STA (in colours as close to the original as I could find)

Note the changes.

The original sett is very closely related to the red MacDonald of the Isles tartan.

What's very interesting about this sett is that every other NWN green/red complex has azure stripes bordering the outside of the entire complex, and every other NWN green/red complex has royal blue stripes bordering the central green band.

The modified official WV tartan has put those royal blue stipes on every green/red complex, and removed the red stripes from every other green/red complex, radically changing the overall pattern in my opinion. Also, a slightly odd-looking asymmetrical black/white line pair has been added to the middle of the red ground.

**OC Richard** · 13th May 11, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by AKScott

Of the modifieds I like the first and third the best. I will defer to those who have seen it in person, all of my swatches look better in person than the online versions.

I should point out, to avoid confusion, that all the images in my original post above are of the original West Virginia 1820 shawl sett- I was merely trying different colours. Rather, it is the Official West Virginia State Tartan which is a modification of the original sett.

Now, here below is a modification of the original West Virginia 1820 shawl tartan: I moved the azure blue stripes to the same positions as the royal blue stripes in an effort to make the tartan more even and symmetrical. I don't care for it that much as it removes much of the visual interest of the original.