Tartan Display

• Name of Tartan:

  Nova Scotia Dress (District)

• ITI Number: 660
• Category: Canadian District
• Designer / Source: Murray, Mrs Douglas 'Bessie'
• Date: 1963

• Slog: BWR:WBG
• Colour Sequence: BWRYGGGGGBW
• Thread Count: Available to STA members only
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• Notes: The previous version of the NS Dress shown in this database at #937 was incorrect, probably due to a decades-old misreading of the woven sample. What is now seen as blue and green bands adjacent to the yellow lines was originally recorded as solid green - possibly due to the darkness of both colours. The correct version was discovered in August 2008 on a Nova Scotia government website (Culture & Tourism section) where it was labelled: Mary E. Black. Nova Scotia Dress Tartan sample: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/black/exhibit.asp?ID=183 This page and all contents Crown copyright ? , Province of Nova Scotia, all rights reserved. Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. It would appear that a woven sample was part of the Mary E Black collection but it was designed by a friend of hers, Bessie R Murray, and launched in 1963 by the Nova Scotia Tartan Ltd. There is now copious archive material on Mary Black who was credited with establishing the craft culture in Nova Scotia. Further research unearthed the following "Minutes of the annual meeting of Nova Scotia Tartan Limited, 18 August 1964, Black Papers, vol 2880, PANS. For the purposes of identification and advertising, it was not possible to state explicitly that the dress tartan was the '"dress version" of the official Nova Scotia tartan, because the rights in connection with the official tartans had been vested by statute in the government of Nova Scotia. This was neatly and misleadingly circumvented by a card attached to the garments in the dress tartan which read, "Dress Tartan, Nova Scotia Tartan Limited." Bessie Murray also designed the Nova Scotia Provincial tartan at 1713. Lengthy history of the tartan in archives. Another reference states that it was designed by Sol Gilis of Yarmouth Nova Scotia.

• Where can I buy this Tartan?
•   This tartan is normally in regular production and you should contact any of the following companies.

• Who weaves this Tartan?
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