With over 5,500 thousand tartans now officially registered and commercially produced, it would seem a safe bet that most tartans can also be found in ribbon. Unfortunately this is not the case... only around 40 tartans are produced in ribbon, so for many people it's a case of finding the closest alternative. Very often, and because the ribbon shows the tartan at such a small scale, the alternative is so close to the original that only the most critical tartan "anorak" would notice the difference.

Some of the best eBay sellers of tartan ribbon invite buyers to contact them about the tartan they are trying to source and will search various tartans databases to find the closest available ribbon. A point I'd make is this... if a tartan specialist says that, for example, the "McShoogle tartan" is not produced in a ribbon then save yourself a lot of time, energy and heartache and stop searching... there are so few manufacturers of tartan ribbon that it is extremely unlikely a tartan has been produced without the industry's professionals knowing about it!

Occasionally (although not often on eBay) you may see companies advertising "hundreds" of tartan ribbons, but when you look closer, this turns out to be either just a ploy to get you to visit their website, or simply cut strips of woollen plaid, which presents 3 problems: (1) the tartan is full scale, so each check is typically 4"-6" apart... at 1" ribbon width this means you will not normally see the check... only the odd stripe, (2) the cloth is heavy wool so is too heavy to use for smaller items like cards, wedding stationery, favours etc, and (3) nothing narrower than 1" wide strips are usually offered, so (again) is rarely of any use for crafters, cake decorators and brides.

Having said that, woollen plaid tartan ribbon is extremely good for decorating venues, larger floral arrangements, bouquets or floral tributes and, most importantly, where having exactly the correct tartan is crucial. There are over 500 tartans available in this type of ribbon and probably the best place to see them is at a new website called www. tartan-ribbon.com. Each strip is 54" long as this is the traditional width to which all tartan cloth is woven. A pack of 10 x 1" wide strips costs £24.95, including VAT and free worldwide shipping.

The best tartan ribbon is accredited by the Scottish Tartans Authority. It is colourfast, approved for use with food items (eg wedding cakes) and has stitched edges to prevent fraying. Widths available are 7mm (3/8 inch), 10mm (¼ inch), 16mm (½ inch), 25mm (1 inch), 38/40mm (1½ inch), 70mm (2¾ inch) and, occasionally, 75mm (3 inch). Please note however that not all tartans are available in all widths... only 4 tartans are produced as narrow as 7mm, for example.

Occasionally, very rare tartan ribbons are produced under licence and these prove extremely popular as they tend to mirror popular wedding hire tartans... much sought-after tartans like the Modern Douglas, the Pride of Bannockburn, Pride of Scotland and even the Rangers FC and Hibs FC tartans can currently be found on sale from eBay's top tartan ribbon sellers. 

The Golden Rule to remember is try not to get disappointed when you learn your tartan isn't available in "proper" ribbon... be open to the idea of using a very close alternative, request a sample cutting, or check out whether woollen plaid ribbon will suit your intended use.

The latest news is that new tartan ribbons have been commissioned for 2008-9, so availability should improve even more!

Above all... wear and use tartan with pride!!!