The dress act of 1746 attempted to bring the warring Scottish clans under British government control by banning tartan entirely as well as other elements of Gaelic culture. Tartan, as we know it today, is not thought to have existed in Scotland prior to the 16th century.

The earliest documented tartan found in Scotland referred to as the Falkirk tartan dates from the third century CE and features a very simple check pattern of alternating dark and light natural wool. As late as the 1830s, a tartan didn’t actually have to be made up of any pattern at all, just multiple colors but since then, the meanings of tartan and breacan merged over time to become known as a certain pattern in a certain type of weave. In traditional Scottish Gaelic, tartan is known as breacan which means multiple colors. And while the definition of a tartan was originally one that was made only from a woven material, you can also find tartans today that are printed instead of woven. Tartans originated almost exclusively in woven wool but today, you can find them in a variety of other materials. Tartans alternating weave forms visible diagonal lines where different colors cross and can also give the appearance of creating new colors where these lines intersect. More specifically, tartan is a pattern of intersecting horizontal and vertical bands in differing widths and colors and in its most traditional weave, would be considered a serge twill. It can also be further enhanced by an overcheck in a different color. As a reminder, a check is a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines that create small squares and that can incorporate multiple colors though it doesn’t necessarily have to.

In the most general terms, tartan is a type of checked pattern.

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