Paige's Design Portfolio

The heritage represented by this textile pattern is a mix between Scottish and Native American backgrounds. The Majority of Paige’s background lies within Scottish roots. More specifically she belongs to the Macgregor Clan, one of the many clans Scotland is known for; the clan is uniquely known for its history in being one of the more aggressive clans. Within the clans there are specific colors, sayings, and symbols unique to each one. The Macgregor is represented by the colors red and green, and its symbol includes a lion with a crown and the saying, “Rioghal Mo Dhream” meaning, “My Race is Royal.” The other heritage represented is Native American. A very small part of Paige’s background can be traced back to the Blackfoot Indians. Although it is so small it is unique and therefore represented in this textile. The Blackfoot Indians originate today in Montana and are represented by the color blue, the native bear and feathers all seen in its flag.

For the textile the main idea was to create the majority of it being of Scottish heritage, and only a little bit of the Blackfoot heritage. This was to mimic the actual heritage background, it being almost all Scottish and very little Native American. To accomplish this, the background image used was the Macgregor clan pelt, and colors. The Red and Green were then used throughout the rest of the textile as well. The Macgregor crest was also used in the bottom right hand corner, which includes the lion, crown, and saying “Rioghal Mo Dhream.” Lastly, the type in the middle of the feather circle, “Byde weill, betyde weill,” is a famous Scottish saying that Paige grew up with her dad saying often, meaning, “Everything comes to him who waits.” The feather circle is the last element, as well as the only element representing the Blackfoot Indians. It is the feather circle that appears on the Blackfoot tribal flag, and is normally black but to represent the mixture of the two cultures the circle was turned dark green to match the Macgregor clan’s color scheme.

The textile was put together to mimic another textile pattern that was found. The found textile had a large Flower with another smaller flower slightly below and skewed to the left of it. The off center, out of place, abnormal look inspired the textile because mixing a Scottish heritage with a Native American one is in itself a bit skewed. The feather circle was blown up, being the largest element because it is the only element representing the Blackfoot Heritage so it was enlarged to create a little more emphasis amongst all the Scottish elements. This circle was to represent the larger flower of the found textile, and the Macgregor crest was placed in an offbeat way to mimic the smaller flower in the found textile. The saying was put in the middle of the Feather Circle to balance the negative space and positive space of the two elements. Lastly the background was faded so that the elements on top would gain more emphasis as well.