CONTENTS
National Tartans
Provincial and Territorial
Tartans
British Columbia Tartans
Alberta Tartans
Saskatchewan Tartans
Manitoba Tartans
Ontario Tartans
Quebec Tartans
New Brunswick Tartans
Nova Scotia Tartans
Commemorative Tartans
Personal Tartans
Corporate Tartans
Religious and Educational
Tartans
Military, Police and Fire
Service Tartans
Fashion Tartans
A B
J K L
S T
C D
M N
U V
E F
O P
W
G H I
Q R
X Y Z
Alphabetical Index
Category Index
INTRODUCTION
*** Tartans of Canada is in the process of being put on line. New tartans since 2010 are still to be added. I hope to have the whole collection up to date and on line by the end of 2011. ***
This aims to be a complete and up to date compendium of all Canadian tartans; geographical, commemorative, personal, corporate and fashion tartans. It is the result of several years of detailed research which continues still as new tartans are created or old ones recovered. If you know of a Canadian tartan that is not listed here, please let me know. Also, please don't hesitate to contact me if you spot errors, however trivial.
SOURCES
The main source of information is the International Tartans Index (ITI) maintained by the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA). This resource, which has been grown since the 1960s, contains over 4000 tartan designs and continues to be updated and refined. Until 2009, new tartans were registered with the STA, but since the Tartan Act of 2009 the registration of new tartans has been the role of the Keeper of the Tartans, who maintains the Scottish Register of Tartans (SRT). This is my main source of information for all tartans post-2009.
Some Canadian tartans have been registered with what is now the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, and the designs are maintained in the Canadian Industrial Designs Database (CIDD). This resource has provided new information regarding some of the Canadian tartans recorded in the ITI, as well as providing details of tartans not found in the ITI. Any new information I obtained I passed on to the STA, who have now incorporated it into the ITI where appropriate.
Where possible, I have consulted the towns, cities, municipalities, corporations, families, etc… to check the information from my sources, and in some cases I have obtained further information by consulting with individual designers, weaving guilds, pipe and drum bands, etc…
These are the main texts I consulted:
District Tartans by Gordon Teall of Teallach and Philip D. Smith Jr (London, 1992)
The Compendium of District Tartans by Matthew Newsome and James Bullman (Scotdisc, 2004)
Tartans: Vols I - III by William H Johnston and Philip D. Smith Jr.
World Tartans by Iain Zaczek (New York, 2001)
The Setts of the Scottish Tartans by Douglas Stewart (1950)
Tartan: The Highland Textile by James Scarlett (1990)
The Tartan Weaver's Guide by James Scarlett (1985)
SETTS
** If you intend to weave or otherwise use any of these patterns, please be aware that you may need the permission, usually written, of the designer or producer. This information can be found either in the SRT or the ITI.
The setts or threadcounts for the tartans are given in one of two forms. Modern convention has symmetric patterns shown as half setts with full pivots. The two pivot colours, at the beginning and end of the sett, are shown with bold characters and have a slash separating the colour from the count, as in:
B/6 G32 Y2 R2 W2 R12 G6 R2 G6 W/2
The full pattern would thus be
B6 G32 Y2 R2 W2 R12 G6 R2 G6 W2 G6 R2 G6 R12 W2 R2 Y2 G32
And would repeat from B6 again.
Asymmetric patterns are shown as full setts and end with an ellipsis (…).
A very few tartans have different colour sequences in the warp and the weft. This is indicated by a bold capital 'X' separating the warp threadcount, which is always first, from the weft threadcount. (I have also occasionally used a lower case unboldened 'x' to indicate that a particular sequence is repeated within a pattern: it should be clear which is which.)
Unless otherwise indicated in the text, where more than one sett is given for a tartan, the first in the list is the one shown.
COLOURS
The vast majority of traditional Highland tartans are created from just 6 colours: red, green, blue, black, white and yellow. This cannot be said of Canadian tartans which employ a much larger palette. The colour codes used are listed below.
A
Azure
DY
Dark Yellow
MY
Mid Yellow
AB
Anderson Blue
E
Earth
N
Gray
AM
Amber
FB
Faded Blue
NB
Navy Blue
B
Blue
FG
Faded Green
NW
Near White
BB
Old Blue
FRB
French Blue
O
Orange
BE
Beige
G
Green
OB
Oxford Blue
BG
Blue Green
GO
Gold
OG
Olive Green
BL
Balmoral Blue
HG
Heather Green
OT
Olive Brown
BN
Blue Gray
HT
Heather Brown
P
Purple
C
Crimson
HtG
Hunting Green
PH
Purple Heather
CaT
Camel Brown
K
Black
Pk
Pink
CB
Carolina Blue
LA
Light Azure
R
Red
CH
Charcoal
LB
Light Blue
RB
Royal Blue
Cr
Carmine
LDR
Lindsey Red
Rt
Rust
CRL
Coral
LG
Light Green
S
Scarlet
CT
Chocolate Brown
LmG
Lime Green
SB
Sky Blue
CW
Clear White
LN
Light Gray
SR
Sienna Red
DB
Dark Blue
LNB
Light Navy Blue
ST
Shale Brown
DBG
Dark Blue Green
LO
Light Orange
SW
Soft White
DCr
Dark Carmine
LP
Light Purple
T
Brown
DFB
Dark Faded Blue
LPk
Light Pink
TK
Khaki Brown
DG
Dark Green
LR
Light Red
Tl
Teal
DN
Dark Gray
LRB
Light Royal Blue
Tq
Turquoise
DO
Dark Orange
LRt
Light Rust
U
Umber
DOG
Dark Olive Green
LSB
Light Sky Blue
V
Violet
DP
Dark Purple
LT
Light Brown
VDB
Very Dark Blue
DPk
Dark Pink
LU
Light Umber
W
White
DR
Dark Red
LV
Light Violet
WG
Weathered Green
DSB
Dark Sky Blue
Lv
Lavender
WR
Wine Red
DT
Dark Brown
LY
Light Yellow
WW
Wilson's White
DTl
Dark Teal
M
Maroon
Y
Yellow
DW
Dark White
MB
Mid Blue
YT
Yellow Brown
DWR
Dark Wine Red
MG
Mid Green
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
CATEGORY INDEX