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 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 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.
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 |
6 |
|
| White |
6 |
|
| Black |
6 |
|
| White |
6 |
|
| Black |
16 |
|
| Yellow |
10 |
|
| Blue |
40 |
|
| White |
6 |
Overlapped with
top row |
*(note that
book has a misprint and accidentally omitted this colour but
showed the number of threads)
Here, with apologies to tartan makers everywhere,
is the electronic development of the tartan.
 |
The
threads are woven on a loom with their numbers as shown
above. This is the horizontal part of the Sett. |
 |
This is
woven in with the same threads running vertically. |
 |
Together
this creates the Sett pattern. |
Full Pivoted Sett at 100%
|
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 50% |
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. |
|
