The commissioned Mackay tartan weaving project has been completed. It is ready to be made into a vest by my dress designer in Brisbane. Happy to announce the new project requested has been sent. This video showed it been cut.
‘A tartan is a design which is capable of being woven consisting of two or more alternating coloured stripes which combine vertically and horizontally to form a repeated chequered pattern.’ The tartan pattern is traditionally known as the sett of the tartan. reference: The Green Berets
Historically tartan was the everyday wear of Highlanders, spun, dyed, woven and fashioned locally. Wealthy families were able to afford brighter fabrics coloured with imported dyes and fashionably tailored. Traditionally, the spun wool was dyed with the flora and lichen of the local area and people could recognise where they came from. Weaving the Mackay tartan was done on the 4 shaft floor loom. Historically tartan was the everyday wear of Highlanders, spun, dyed, woven and fashioned locally. Wealthy families were able to afford brighter fabrics coloured with imported dyes and fashionably tailored.
Refer: The Scottish Register of Tartans
In the eighteenth century the association of tartan with the Jacobites (considered outlaws and rebels by the British government) led to its proscription in the Highlands from 1747 to 1782. During this period tartan was worn in the lowlands of Scotland, often as a political statement. It was also popularised across the world as the uniform of the Highland regiments.
The end of proscription and the new romantic re-interpretation of Scottish history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries led to the popularisation of ‘Highland Dress’. As worn by King George IV during his visit to Scotland in 1822 and promoted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Nowadays tartan is worn throughout the world (not just by Scots). They are regularly seen on catwalks and in designer collections.
Mackay, McKay and Mackey Surname Ancestry
Scotland.
The Mackays descended from the Old Maormors or rulers of Caithness and their homeland, Duthaich Mhic Aoi or “Mackay country,” has been in the far northeast of mainland Scotland. Their clan history over the years has been recounted in the Rev. Angus Mackay’s 1906 book The Book of Mackay.
Early History. The first chief of whom a written record exists was Angus Dubh Mackay (or Black Angus) in the early 1400’s. His was the land “from Drimholiston to Kylescue” and he could raise a mighty fighting force. In 1431 Angus married Elizabeth, sister to Domhnall the Lord of the Isles, and she brought with her a dowry of 100 fighting men from Lochaber. Their sons were known as the Abrach Mackays and were the earliest sect of the Mackay clan.
refer: Mackay surname ancestry
The MacKay’s were renowned for their strength, courage, and skill in fighting and they were involved in endless battles against their neighbouring clans during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Dawn can give you a workshop in making your own tartans or you can commissioned a tartan.
head over to the Workshop page here
