tartan

Plaid! Plaid! Plaid! or otherwise known as tartan in Scotland is one of the most iconic fabric patterns in the world. Originally created only in wool, they are now available in many different types of fabrics. The distinctive pattern is made up of cross woven stripes of color at right angles. As they are woven they appear to have angles of multi color banding due to the weave. The distinctive squares that appear are referred to as setts. The colors and patterns were originally used to distinguish Scottish clans and were temporarily banned from 1746-1782 under the Dress Act. Eventually the patterns were used to distinguish regions of country that you would travel through in Scotland. Some mythos explains the meaning via, blue coloring distinguished that your region had water or lakes, green was rolling hillside, and yellow meant the type of crop that you may have been known for, and red usually represented power or your hierarchy. It is also estimated that their maybe over 2,700 versions of the pattern today, that is a lot of plaid! Now, it is a pattern that represents the love of outdoors and with the more of it you see, it usually means the weather might be getting colder as it is a popular pattern in scarves, hats, and blankets.