Tartan of the month - December: What do you see?

[xman]

Attractive sett. Excellent colours. Very Wilsons looking. Wonderful balance. It looks like five colours to me, but there could be a Yellow as well as a pale Green. Herringbone edge up top which appears to end in the Light Blue rather then the Dark Blue therefore breaking the sett right at the edge. Early to mid 19th century then? Have I got that right?

Are those staples I see in the top right?

It looks like there's some kind of stitching around the outside edge of the piece which I can't imagine a use for. The buckling of the fabric in the bottom corners is almost certainly caused by this.

It also looks like it might be a lighter weave and not that large a piece. May we have the dimensions?

There are also some interesting little 'jigs' in the vertical weave. Not quite a full herringbone turn around, but perhaps just for one thread and then back to the established twill weave. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a function of the loom or something else.

[figheadair]

Attractive sett. Excellent colours. Very Wilsons looking. Wonderful balance. It looks like five colours to me, but there could be a Yellow as well as a pale Green. Herringbone edge up top which appears to end in the Light Blue rather then the Dark Blue therefore breaking the sett right at the edge. Early to mid 19th century then? Have I got that right?

Yellow yes but pale green?
Herringbone - really?
Early to mid-C19th. Why do you think that is the case?

Are those staples I see in the top right?

No

It looks like there's some kind of stitching around the outside edge of the piece which I can't imagine a use for. The buckling of the fabric in the bottom corners is almost certainly caused by this.

Agreed

It also looks like it might be a lighter weave and not that large a piece. May we have the dimensions?

From what I recall it's about 6x8"

There are also some interesting little 'jigs' in the vertical weave. Not quite a full herringbone turn around, but perhaps just for one thread and then back to the established twill weave. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a function of the loom or something else.

Ah. So what might it be?

[xman]

Yellow yes but pale green?

This is my cognitive deficiency with the overlap which I believe I mentioned in an earlier thread. Yellow it is.

Herringbone - really?

AH, NO. It is the 'jigging' issue again although there are a few treads which run back the other way and then return. I should have looked closer.

Early to mid-C19th. Why do you think that is the case?

Mostly my mistaken herringbone interpretation.

Ah. So what might it be?

I've not a clue.

[Dale-of-Cedars]

From the matching angles of the cuts on the sides, and the creasing across the middle, it looks like it was folded and stitched together, but not as a pocket or pouch as it looks stitched on all 4 sides. But it isn't stitched along the fold, and as the fold isn't a tight crease it may have been folded around some other fabric before being stitched down.

We seem to be looking at the inside surface; from the holes/tears the top, darker part of the sett, with the tidy edge, looks like it got most abused, probably on the other side of the cloth.

A double-thickness patch for the top edge of a worn or torn kilt apron, or a repair on a piece of upholstery?

[Cygnus]

From the matching angles of the cuts on the sides, and the creasing across the middle, it looks like it was folded and stitched together, but not as a pocket or pouch as it looks stitched on all 4 sides. But it isn't stitched along the fold, and as the fold isn't a tight crease it may have been folded around some other fabric before being stitched down.

We seem to be looking at the inside surface; from the holes/tears the top, darker part of the sett, with the tidy edge, looks like it got most abused, probably on the other side of the cloth.

A double-thickness patch for the top edge of a worn or torn kilt apron, or a repair on a piece of upholstery?

It actually looks to me like it had been folded into quarters since the crease on the left appears concave while the one on the right looks convex.

Though that may have just been the way it was stored, not a result of its original function.

[figheadair]

Attractive sett. Excellent colours. Very Wilsons looking. Wonderful balance. It looks like five colours to me, but there could be a Yellow as well as a pale Green. Herringbone edge up top which appears to end in the Light Blue rather then the Dark Blue therefore breaking the sett right at the edge. Early to mid 19th century then? Have I got that right?

Nearly at the end of the month and no-one else seems to have any in put so let's review what can be determined and surmised.

Firstly, here's a graphic showing the full sett. The shades are not as subtle as the original but it gives the overall impression.



Xman mentioned that it is a very Wilsons looking sett and I agree. Its setting and weight is similar to some of their late C18th Fancy setts so I'd date this to c1780-1820 and say that it's probably Wilsons' Old Superfine cloth. I'd already mentioned the size as being about 6x8" and from the image and the rough date one could surmise that the cloth was worsted. Holding it confirms the fact. At that sort of date the colours would have been naturally dyed and the red, a classic cochineal scarlet, is not something that can easily be done at home, so this again suggests a more industrial level of production such as that Wilsons were doing but around 1775.

With the selvedge at the top of the image it is clear that the picture has been turned by 90 degrees and it has obviously been cut to shape at some point and has a number of stitches evident around the edges. Whether this piece formed part of a larger garment, furniture upholstery or the like or was a reused fragment from an older length is difficult to say for certain but as the stitching is rather haphazard it's most likely that this feature was from a later application and that the cloth was originally a plaid/shawl length or part of a garment such as a jacket that would have been more neatly sewn.

As with so many fragments, especially where there is evidence of reuse we can date the cloth fairly well but are often left wondering about the exact original and later use of the material. Undoubtedly that will remain the case in this instance.