Tartan Design help

[Patty Logan]

60ADB854-E4A5-461B-9CCF-992F8FCCD3E2.pngHi I’m looking to design a dress tartan in my family’s tartan Logan Modern. If anybody could give me some pointers on how to do that or can be more involved in the design process that would be great. Anything would help. Thanks

[Steve Ashton]

May I ask please.

When you say a "Dress Tartan" do you mean a Tartan for more formal events or one more suitable for a ladie's dress?

[Patty Logan]

I’m not sure what you mean? I’ve seen tartan variations that use white and call them self a dress tartan, is that what you mean?

[OC Richard]

I think Steve is referring to "dress" or arasaid tartans intended for feminine wear, which have broad swaths of white added to an ordinary Clan tartan (or military tartan).

I've seen a very large number of Americans think that "dress tartans" are for men to wear at formal occasions. They are not.

As far as designing a women's arasaid tartan, you can look at Dress Gordon (which is extremely popular) for an idea of how to plop a wide white band into an existing tartan. https://www.google.com/search?q=dres...#imgrc=_&vet=1

[Steve Ashton]

The names used for some Tartans can be quite confusing.

One weaver explained their choice in naming like this.

Black Watch, Modern
It refers to the color, not the Tartan design, that is modern. The colors are when modern, aniline dyes are used. The colors are often bright and vivid.



Black Watch, Ancient
Again, it is not the tartan that is ancient but the colors which were chosen to simulate what the Tartan may have looked like if natural dyes were used.



Black Watch, Weathered
Another simulation of what the Tartan may or could possibly look like if faded after 40 years of being outdoors.



Black Watch, Dress
Not "Dressier" or more formal, but having one of the background colors changed to white to create a lighter, more feminine, looking Tartan, more like a ladies dress.



This explanation is not universal of course. Other weavers have different names and reasons that they chose their colors.

There is not, and never has been, a standard for naming Tartans, the colors, or the names of anything else in highland wear.

If someone wishes to design a Tartan for more formal events and wishes to call it a dress version they are, of course, free to do so. Others have.
This is why I asked my question.

[Katia]

Sometimes a "dress" tartan will just replace one of the colors with white (check out my kilt tartan-- it appears the green in the "standard" tartan is what has been replaced). In your case, it would likely be either the green or the blue (try both and see which you prefer). I think you could start there.

[figheadair]

60ADB854-E4A5-461B-9CCF-992F8FCCD3E2.pngHi I’m looking to design a dress tartan in my family’s tartan Logan Modern. If anybody could give me some pointers on how to do that or can be more involved in the design process that would be great. Anything would help. Thanks

There is no such thing as the Logan Modern tartan, there's the Logan tartan which, like the majority of clan tartans, is produced in a variety of shades of which Modern is but one. Others include; Ancient, Muted, Reproduction and Weathered.

[Katia]

There is no such thing as the Logan Modern tartan, there's the Logan tartan which, like the majority of clan tartans, is produced in a variety of shades of which Modern is but one. Others include; Ancient, Muted, Reproduction and Weathered.

I had assumed it meant he wanted to make it specifically in the "modern" colorway (though I could make an argument that an "ancient" or "muted" colorway could look very nice as a dress tartan-- I think I once saw a muted dress Black Watch or Campbell that was quite striking, and former Highland Dance world champion Colleen Rintamaki wore a "muted" dress Green Lindsay that I once heard was actually a dyeing mishap from the mill that she liked and decided to keep).

[Steve Ashton]

And you do understand that there are more than one Tartan listed with The Scottish Register of Tartan? In fact there are 12 under "Logan".

The one you show in the image in post #1 is called Logan #7 with this description -

"Jamie Scarlett MBE says this follows Logan's count of 1831 and is/was frequently seen with the five red lines of equal width. Same as #1429 (original Scottish Tartans Authority reference) MacLennan. Lochcarron weaves this and calls it Ancient Logan.A Logan tartan is mentioned by Telford Dunbar in his 1962 'History of Highland Dress' (Page145) when he states that it appeared in William Wilson's stock list of 1800. It's not known if it was this one. "


This is the one woven by Locharron and sold under the name Logan/MacLennan.