Pattern family
Tartans
A tartan is a crossing-stripe pattern defined by an exact thread count called a sett, repeated identically in warp and weft and woven on a 2/2 twill so each intersection blends its two colors. This sub-catalogue runs from the third-century Falkirk fragment, the oldest tartan cloth found in Britain, to the regimental Black Watch. It grows under a strict rule: every tartan is rendered directly from publicly documented construction, and no sett is ever guessed. Most registered setts are held behind the Scottish Register of Tartans' login, so entries are added only as verifiable documentation surfaces.
Black Watch
No. 016tartan · tartans
Rob Roy
No. 037tartan · tartans
Shepherd's Check
No. 038tartan · tartans
Falkirk Tartan
No. 039tartan · tartans
Settle the confusions
From the journal
In 1842 two brothers published an ancient manuscript of clan setts. It was fake. Much of what the world believes about tartan descends from it anyway.
Why Tartan Was Banned for 36 Years →After Culloden, Britain outlawed Highland dress. The Dress Act of 1746 made tartan a crime for 36 years, and the ban reshaped what tartan means.