Patterns...Tartan/Plaid

-Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours.

-Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials.

-Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns.

-Tartan is one of the patterns known as plaid in North America, but in Scotland, a plaid is a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder, or a blanket.

-Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over - two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett.

-Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the highland tartans were associated with regions or districts, rather than by any specific clan.

-In addition to clan tartans, there are many tartans created especially for individuals, families, districts, institutions, and corporations.

-In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, tartan-clad garments featured in fashion catalogues. By then, tartan had shifted from being mainly a component of men's clothing to become an important part of women's fashion. In consequence of its association with the British aristocracy and military, tartan developed an air of dignity and exclusivity.

-Tartan made a resurgence in its use in Punk fashion. In the late 1970s punk music was a way for youth in the British Isles to voice their discontent with the ruling class. The unorthodox use of tartan, which had long been associated with authority and gentility, was then seen as the expression of discontent against modern society. In this way tartan, worn unconventionally, became an anti-establishment symbol.

  

-Depending upon how "different tartan" is defined, it has been estimated that there are about 3,500 to 7,000 different tartans, with around 150 new designs being created every year.    

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan}