3-008-674 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition - M'Dougall's Stall - the Highlands of Scotland, 1862. Display of '...choice specimens from their Royal tartan warehouse in Inverness. These manufacturers...have succeeded in producing...hand-made goods in tweeds for grouse-shooting, deerstalking, and fishing, the dyes being produced from heather, moss, bark of trees, &c., and the colours are especially prepared to harmonise with the natural aspect of the different glens, straths, and mountain side, the sportsman who goes after the red deer being obliged so to adapt himself. The materials, however, are not confined to rural purposes...there are finer fabrics which are designed for town wear. These articles, under the name of Scotch tweeds, have become popular in England, and all over the world... Amongst the articles displayed are also hand-knitted stockings and socks made from native wools...They are made by poor women in the Isle of Skye and the Western Isles...Then there are beautiful hand-knitted Shetland shawls, suitable for the drawing-room, opera, or theatre, as well as the famous Shetland hose, both of which are the result of the industry of the women of, that remote country, who perform marvels without the aid of any machinery but their nimble fingers'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.