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Dowling Clothing: Dowling Tartan

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  • Summary
  • Source(s)

I have still to discover the history of the Dowling Tartan.  It could have been developed by a Dowling whose ancestors moved to Scotland.  Nevertheless, here it is.

The shades may vary according to the weaver but the threads of the Dowling tartan are coloured as follows:

Colour Number of Threads Colour Used
White 6  
Tan (brown) 8  
Black*  6  
Tan (brown) 16  
Green 28  
Black(note that book has a misprint and  accidentally omitted this colour but showed the number of threads) 6  
White 6  
Black 6  
White 6  
Black 16  
Yellow 10  
Blue 40  
White 6 Overlapped with top row

Here, with apologies to tartan makers everywhere, is the electronic development of the tartan.

The source is a book called 
"Tartans - Abbotsford to Fraser" by William H Johnston & Philip D Smith Jr.  
This is a Schiffer Design Book published in 1999 by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA.  19310. USA  (ISBN: 0-7643-0961-7).  
(My copy was purchased as Bushwood Books, 6 Marksbury Avenue, Kew Gardens, Surrey TW9 4JF at  England.bushwd@aol.com)

The book is subject to copyright clear so I cannot produce a scan of the tartan as displayed.  I may have some made up in the years to come depending on the price.   

Content 3
Step One

One

 The threads are woven on a loom with their numbers as shown above.  This is the horizontal part of the Sett.
Step Two
Two
 This is woven in with the same threads running vertically.
Step Three
Three
 Together this creates the Sett pattern.
Step Four
Four

Now the pattern is repeated but pivoted (flipped horizontally and vertically).  The Dowling Sett appears to be pivoted 4 times (some tartans are pivoted only twice).  The four segments are overlapped on the six white strands.  The final result looks slightly different as the weaving creates a diagonal texture in the pattern.

Full Pivoted Sett at 100%

50%

Full Pivoted Sett at 50%

25%

Full Pivoted Sett at 25%

These smaller pictures can be used as 'tiled wallpaper' on your computer to see how it looks with the pattern repeated.  (right click on them and click 'set as wallpaper').  It is a bit busy on the eye so you might want to re-set it later.

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