Tartan fabric by the yard and clan tartans

How a tartan is woven, and what the variations mean

Every tartan is a repeating block of colour running the same sequence through the warp and the weft. Because that block repeats to a fixed width, the cloth has to be cut and matched carefully so the pattern meets cleanly at pleats, seams and panels rather than jumping at the join. That matching is most of the work in a made to measure kilt, and it is the difference between woven tartan and a tartan print, where the design is applied to the surface rather than built into the cloth.

The same tartan is woven in several palettes. Ancient uses the softer tones that natural dyes produced before 1860, mossy greens and lighter blues. Modern uses the bolder chemical dyes that replaced them, bottle green and navy and scarlet. Weathered and Muted are faded and earthy, as though the cloth has been out in the weather. Hunting is not a palette at all but a genuinely different design, woven in earth tones for the field. Dress uses a white ground and was designed for celebration and dance. Universal tartans carry no family attachment, so anyone can wear them.

Tartan colours carry no fixed meaning. Tartan plaid colors came from what dyers could actually produce in a place, not from symbolism, which is why a district pattern often shares its palette with the landscape around it. Choose on how it looks rather than on what it is supposed to represent.

Fashion Kilt weaves every range in premium acrylic yarn, which holds its colour through washing and keeps a pleat. Utility and camo pieces are 100% cotton, leather goods are 100% genuine leather, and denim is real denim. Order tartan fabric by the yard for your own maker, or have any tartan cut into kilts, jackets and waistcoats and accessories, all to your own measurements.