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This is an article I found in a vintage magazine American Fabrics from 1949. This magazine was published for the fabric consumer ( fashion designers, upholsters , etc. ) as well as the fabric producers. Some of this is a little heady as it's aimed at convincing the fabric industry to make and design more fabrics for a nationwide promotion in Spring of 1950. Trying to convince the consumer it was time to purchase some thing new. This was written by Mr. John McKay.

The first comprehensive collection shown in U.S.A. of the Aucthentic District Checks by American Fabrics

American Fabrics

Number Ten 1949

The history of these famous Checks is presented here as narrated by Mr. John McKay Adan to the editors of American Fabrics.

The development and fashion of the Scottish District Checks can be attributed, in large measure to Queen Victoria. By her great esteem for the Scottish people, by her admiration of Scottish scenery and her subsequent purchase of the Balmoral Estate, she led the vanguard in the creation of the great sporting estates which today control practically the entire Highlands of Scotland.

Since money in the Highlands has always been a scarce commodity, it became the custom on the estates to feed and clothe their gillies, game keepers and foresters. Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria was much concerned over the question of protective coloring for the employees on the Balmoral Estates. In addition , the clan spirit was still very much alive in the Highlands.

In time the District Checks of Scotland gave rise to a vogue which has grown from a protective colouring to a range of checks, plaids and colouring which are delightful as the native heather from which they spring. Scottish woolen designers performed a truly masterful work in developing these singularly beautiful effects.

The first collection of these patterns was made by Fraser and Smith of Inverness. When this concern ceased to exist in 1893, this part of their trade was handled by Messrs. George Harrison and Co., Ltd., of Edinburgh. Mr. George Harrison coined the term District Checks. Today the manufacture of these Checks is confined very largely to Messrs. A. and J. Macnab, Ltd., woolen manufacturers of Slateford in Midlothian. It is to this company that we are indebted for these superb examples of the Scottish woolen manufacturers, design and art.

The reader should be apprised that the prefix "Glen: is the Gaelic word for valley; in addition, the prefix "Strath" is also a valley but implies a larger and more fertile valley. Because of the rugged terrain of the Scottish Highlands, the homes were largely established in the "Glens" and the "Straths." This is the reason for the use of the prefixes in the names of the District Checks. Incidentally, "Ben" is the Gaelic for mountain.

While the line of District Checks shown in this article does not claim to be entirely complete it does guarantee, however, the authenticity of the patterns. The historical notes used are based chiefly on information supplied by the "Scottish Woollens," published by the national Association of Scottish Woolen Manufacturers.

The potential value of the Authentic District Checks in American Fabrics, from the viewpoint of the Maker and Seller

It is rarely that the chainbelt of the American distribution system can be so richly lubricated as can be done with a properly formulated and adequately staged promotion of fashions based on Authentic Scottish District Checks. Particularly because the various elements of our elements of our economy are slowing down by the consumer's reluctance to maintain his spending pace, it is not only desirable but even essential that a new and different way of presenting merchandise be found to accelerate sharply the wheels of industry. In the opinion of the Editors of American Fabrics, a combined effort by the mills, the manufacturers and the retailers of apparel, well coordinated, can help to make Authentic District Checks a nationwide and truly important fashion which will move a quantity of goods.

When we say the mill, we limit the reproduction of these Checks in no way. Based on our intimate knowledge of American technology, we are confident that our weavers of woolens, of rayons, of cottons and silk can all reproduce the checks with gratifying fidelity of color and clarity. We know the Creative talents of our manufacturing industries well enough to know theat District Checks can .. and will ... inspire the makers of apparel of all types for men, for women and for children ; as well as those whose products adorn the
American home. Indeed, there is no end to the articles in which District Checks can be used in good taste and for good business.

But the manufacturing genius of this country must necessarily be buttressed with the dynamics of American retailing. For in the hands of the great sellers of the land lies the ultimate fate of what can be a fine profitable idea. If they gain a true and clear understanding of the romantic background of District Checks, they will be quick to grasp the publicity value of fashions based on these Checks. If they find that the cream of the nation's manufacturers are seriously engaged in forming comprehensive lines built on the Checks, they will merchandise such goods in a major manner.

The Editors of American Fabrics can but present to you ... the weavers of American textiles, the manufacturers of American fashions, the merchants and sellers of American goods ... the essential soundness and validity of these Authentic District Checks. To you is given the opportunity to transform this idea into reality.

1. The Prince of Wales

-The Prince of Wales, one of the most handsome of the District Checks, owes its name to that of the heir to the British Crown. It follows the lines of the Small Glen Urquhart in that the two and two section is stripe down and stripe across on alternate blacks. Carried out on a red-brown and white ground the four and four section of the glen is boxed in with six ends on either side of navy blue. This pattern assumed fashion importance with the succession of Edward.

2. The Seaforth

- The Seaforth is the first of the regimental checks, and is used as a "mufti" tweed by the officers of the mess of the Seaforth Highlanders. Like the Coigach it is a white ground, with alternating checks of chocolate brown and tan, and a brighter russet overplaid displacing every fourth tan check. The all-over check measures a little over two and a half inches in the warp, and two and three quarter inches in the falling.

3. The Glen Urquhart Check

-About half-way down Loch Ness, the stamping ground of that modern dragon known as the Loch Ness Monster, stands the battered old stronghold of Castle Urquhart, overlooking a wide and rugged glen from which is derived the name of the greatest single development in woolen designing - The Glen Urquhart Check - or as it is known in the vernacular of the American woolen trade, The Glen Urquhart Plaid. Originally when the design received the endorsement and approval of the Lady Carolin Countess of Seafield for use in her Glen Urquhart estates, it was known as the Glen Urquhart Tartan. The Countess herself was a famed handloom weaver, and for this reason it is possible that tradition has give her credit for creating the design. However there is evidence that the actual designer of the 1st Glen Urquhart check was Lizzie Macdougall, who spun and dyed the blue and white yarn of the original web to be woven by William Fraser. Fraser had some difficulty in following Lizzie's instructions and she had to draw a diagram with a stick on the muddy front of his "but and ben." While this original plaid was navy blue and white, it was ultimately superseded by the black and white glen as we know it today. For the sake of the record the first Glen Urquhart Check was designed in or around the year 1848.

4. The Ing

- The Ing is also a derivative of the Shepherd, but a rich brick -red brown displaces the black of the Shepherd. The natives used a lichen, called Lecanora Tartarea, to obtain a red a crimson dye.

5. The Dupplin

- The Dupplin District Check is on the same pattern as the Seaforth, with black and strong red brown displacing the chocolate and tan of the Seaforth. The overplaid in the Dupplin is a very bright scarlet, the boldness of which gives an entirely different effect to the style.

6. The Scots Guards

- The Scots Guards Check is another regimental Check, in this case being used as a civilian tweed by the Officers of the Mess of the famous regiment of Scots Guards. The ground-work is a large basket effect produced by a two light and two dark warp and filling, but with four dark ends being brought together.

 

7. The Kinlochewe

- This check from Kinlochewe at the head of Loch Maree, is another derivative of the Shepherd with a russet and white check in the warp... every seventh white check has one thread of black and one thread of scarlet displacing the two center threads in the check. In filling bright tan displaces russet.

8. The Fannich

-The Fannich is one of the few "Bastard" checks in that the filling pattern bears little resemblance to the warp. The filling is the same design as the Coigach with chocolate brown and lovat displacing the black and strong red brown. Warp pattern: white 6, lovat mix 3, black 2, yellow 2, black 2, lovat 3.

9. The Lochmore

-The Lochmore is a gun-club like the Coigach, but a soft greenish lovat mixture displaces the black of the Coigach. The prefix "Loch" is the Gaelic name for lake.

10. The Ballindalloch

- Another Shepherd derivative, the Ballindalloch was first used on the Strathspey estates where Rudolph Hess descended when he landed in Scotland, and was met by a gillie brandishing a pitch-fork. No doubt the gillie was wearing his Ballindalloch District Check.

11. The Glen Moriston

- The Glen Moriston belongs to the same era as the original Glen Urquhart Check. It is another gun-club like Coigach on a white ground with alternating checks of dark Navy Blue and a light greenish lovat mixture similar to that used in the Lochmore but with a little more yellowish cast.

12. The Mar

-The Mar is one of the few District Checks which can be called a derivative of the Glen Urquhart. Its development has been attributed to King Edward VII when, as Prince of Wales, he used to shoot on the Forest of Mar. In the word Braemar, "Brae" means a hill, the Mar refers to the Forest.

13. The Gairloch

The Gairloch is on the same warp as the Coigach, but with a biscuit mixture replacing the white in the filling.

14. The Erchless

-The Erchless takes its name from Castle Erchless, the home of the head of the Chisholms, and is on the Beauly River west of the Inverness. The pattern itself is very unusual . . . in the warp three ends of white, pale stone drab and yellow, the whole crossed in the filling with a "marl" or twist of black and white.

15. The Invercauld

-The Invercauld is one of the most unobtrusive of all the District Checks. The Farquharsons of Invercauld, neighbors of their Majesties at Balmoral Castle, have adopted a two and two stripe down ground in white and brown and drab marl twist, with a near two and a half inch overplaid of tartan green.

16. The Brooke

-This check which is used on the estates of Lord Burton consists of black and white twist check alternating with an eight lovat mixture while every fourth lovat check is edged on either side with a single thread of scarlet. The sample illustrated can also be made with silver grey instead of white ground.

17. The Benmore

- The Benmore District Check owes its name to the Benmore Forest, once the property of Mr. Harry George Younger, but now owned by the British Government, and used for forestry research. The Benmore check is more or less a diminutive Prince of Wales Check, but the overall design is much smaller.

18. The Coigach

- The first of the original Gun-clubs was adopted as the club check of one of the American Gun Clubs in the year 1874. It is like the Shepherd on a white ground, but with alternating checks of black and strong red-brown. The six-threads in the check are just less than a quarter of an inch in the fabric, and the all-over effect is both pleasing and distinctive. While the "gun-club" checks were adopted of use in American Gun Clubs, it should be remembered that the design was created by a Scotch woolen designer whose name has failed to survive that of his great creation.

19. The Dacre

- The Dacre is a bold and distinctive check in exactly the same color as the Coigach whose checks are twelve threads of white, twelve threads of black, twelve threads of white and twelve ht reads of rich red brown. The all-over check measures a little over an inch and a quarter.

20. The Small Glen Urquhart

-The Small Glen Urquhart Check is interesting for many different reasons. Sometimes incorrectly described as the "Small Glen" which is a valley in Perthshire far removed from the native Glen Urquhart, or the Small Glen Urquhart, the alternate two and two sections show stripe down and stripe across. This is caused by the fact that the four and four section in both warp and filling starts and ends with the same colour, light in the warp , dark in the filling. The fact that the four and four section has the same colour on both sides, disposes of the objection sometimes raised to the standard Check which starts with four ends of black and finishes with four ends of white.

21. The Russell

-This check follows the pattern of the Ballindalloch with a ground of six black and six white in the warp with a russet overplaid displacing every eighth black check. The filling consists of tan and tan and white twist displacing the black and white of the warp, while the russet in the warp overplaid is also used in the filling. Due to the contrast in ground lines, however, the overplaid appears wine colored in the filling and russet in the warp.

22. The Guisachan

- This check uses the four pointed hound's-tooth star, for ground effect. The four black and four white of the warp is crossed with four tan and four white in the filling. The weave is the four harness-twill 4 and 4 Herring-bone.

23. The Horse Guards

- The Horse Guards Check is another Regimental Check used as civilian attire by the officers of the mess of the Horse Guard. It is also another derivation of the two and two stripe down and stripe across basket, in this case having a rich red brown and white background, with four ends and picks of navy coming together at one point to throw the brown and white two and two pattern off balance. When this fabric is weaving in the loom the dark ends on one section are raised and the light ends on the other, and vie versa. In this case the complete design measures almost seven inches.

24. The Shepherd Check

- The Shepherd Check of the Scottish Borders is the foundation on which the entire series of District Check rests. It has been the custom among the shepherds on the Cheviot Hills to wear a "plaidie" or shawl made of what became known as the Shepherd Check. There has been many a hot debate on whether a Shepherd Check was the four white four black or the six white and six black pattern. Actually either could be right or wrong because the Shepherds' Check consisted of about a quarter inch of white and a quarter inch of black, so that the number of threads in the pattern was controlled by the size of yarn used in the fabric. This plaidie" or shawl measured around four yards long and about a yard and a half wide and from this fact arises the trade expression "six quarter wide." Ultimately the pattern traveled northward with shepherds, until it became as well known in the Highlands of Scotland as it had been in the Lowlands.

25. The Glenfeshie

- The Glenfeshie is a derivative of the Shepherd. On the same black and white ground as the Shepherd a bold scarlet overplaid displaces every tenth black check. It is at once the boldest and yet the most invisible when seen in its natural surroundings, among the red and grey granite rocks over which the river Feshie tumbles on its way to join its parent the Spey. The check was said to be designed by the daughter-in-law of the Right Honourable Edward Ellice M.P. who tenanted Glen-feshie from 1834 to 1841. The check was worn by Mr. Ellice and all the gillies and gamekeepers on the Glenfeshie Estate. Local tradition however avers that the scarlet overplaid was introduced ti distinguish the gillies and gamekeepers who worked in the forest, from the shepherds.

26. The Strathspey

- The Strathspey is on the same gun-club ground as the Dupplin, but with a very dark over-check displacing the bright scarlet of the Dupplin. The Strathspey owes its name to the Strathspey Reel and Highland Dancing. Natives found in past centuries that Winter is the best time for gathering the lichen from which is derived the dyes used in these checks.

 

 

Construction layout for weaving the Guisachan District Check - a four-end twill with a 4 colored ends and 4 white ends: 4 colored picks and 4 white picks.