Is this Nicolson/MacNicol or not?

**The Wizard of BC** · 11th December 14, 06:48 PM

A customer brought in a Tartan skirt to be re-sized and when asked what Tartan replied MacLane.
Well, I knew right away that was incorrect so I went through my swatch books.

Here is the apron of the skirt.

And here is the closest match I can find.

The skirt is on the left and a Lochcarron swatch of Nicolson on the right.

Close but no cigar.
In the skirt the blue line is in a red area flanked by a green band on one side and a narrower black band on the other.
The Nicolson by Lochcarron has the blue line within a black band. This is in the STA as ITI #1148.

The STA notes have this to say -

"This is the version woven by the major weavers and the count is extremely close to that given in 'The Highlander' in 1876 - source J.G.Mackay. The earliest documented evidence of a Nicolson or MacNicol tartan is the drawing by McIan of a woman wearing a tartan shawl (1845-7). The illustrated tartan is not consistent and various interpretations are possible. The threadcount used here is taken from a sample in the Scottish Tartans Society collection which is similar but not identical to the count recorded by D.C. Stewart (1950). The four by four red squares can be seen in tartans associated with the MacLeods. See MacNicol."

Any help from our Tartan experts or from a Nicolson.

Is this a variant or a different thread count for Nicolson as it says in the notes?

**figheadair** · 12th December 14, 12:03 AM

Interesting! Yes, it's MacNichol but a rare setting that was first recorded in the McGregor-Hastie collection of c1930 that comprised principally commercial samples available at the time. This cloth is obviously more recent so some current manufacturer has produced this. It would be interesting to try and track down the weaver and discover whether this was woven in error or deliberately.