Tartan Plaid Scarfs

A scarf is worn around the neck by anyone. A sash is a longer, narrower length worn over one shoulder and pinned, traditionally by women at formal Highland events, with the shoulder depending on whether you are a clan member, a chief's wife or married into the tartan. Everything on this page is a scarf.

It is the easiest way, and for many people the only one they need. A scarf carries the full sett at a visible scale without committing you to a kilt or a skirt, it costs a fraction of a garment, and it works over ordinary clothes. If you want your family tartan and nothing more, start here.

Yes. Nobody will challenge you, and a scarf is the least loaded way to wear a sett anyway. If you would rather sidestep the question, district tartans tied to a place and universal setts belong to no family at all. Use the tartan search or send us a surname and we will check what applies.

Keep everything else plain and let the scarf be the only pattern. A single drape down the front is quieter than a wrapped knot, since a knot compresses the sett into a small area and turns it into noise. Pull your coat colour from one of the darker tones in the tartan rather than contrasting it.

Standard neck scarves run around ten to twelve inches wide and sixty to seventy inches long, which is enough to drape, loop or wrap. Larger stoles and wraps are wider and are worn over the shoulders rather than around the neck. Check the individual product page, since sizes vary across the range.

Premium acrylic woven to the sett, with fringed ends. Acrylic is warmer for its weight than people expect, does not itch at the neck the way heavier traditional cloth can, and keeps colour through washing. The sett is woven through, so both faces show the same pattern and there is no wrong side.

Yes, though custom weaving has a ten yard minimum, which produces far more cloth than a single scarf. It suits a family or a group commissioning several pieces at once. Design it free in the tartan designer and we will quote the weaving and the making together.

Order tartan swatches and judge the colour in your own light rather than on a screen. Photographs of woven cloth shift noticeably between monitors, and weathered and ancient colourways in particular look different in person. This is worth doing before any large or group order.

Try spelling variants first, since standardised spelling is modern and MacDonald, McDonald and Macdonald are frequently the same line. Then check whether your name is a sept, meaning a family historically associated with a larger clan and entitled to its tartan. Send us the surname and we will check both for you.

Cool hand wash with a mild detergent, or a gentle machine cycle inside a mesh bag. Never wring it. Dry flat rather than hanging, since a wet scarf hung over a rail stretches down its length. Comb the fringe straight with your fingers while damp rather than brushing it dry.