One of several variations on plaid, tattersall is a fabric pattern of alternating grids consisting of thin vertical lines that are repeated in the weft to create a ground of regularly spaced checks. Named for the checked blankets that covered horses at Richard Tattersall’s auction mart in 18th-century England, the pattern is familiar from casual clothing. The motif is similar to a graph check, but differs in that the lines that form tattersall incorporate two or more complementary colors, often combining darker and lighter tones, while graph checks are monochromatic.
