Free Printable Buffalo Plaid Christmas Decor
It’s printable season here at The Navage Patch, and that means we’re working overtime to bring you as many awesome free Christmas printables as possible, as soon as possible, so you’ll have plenty of time to print them and decorate your house for the holidays! Today we’re offering a beautiful selection of free printable buffalo plaid Christmas decor, including a printable nativity scene in two parts that you’re going to love!
Keep your eyes peeled and have your mouse hand at the ready, because from now until Christmas, we’ll be serving up lots of free printable holiday cheer, including watercolor Christmas printables and winter patent art!
But first, did you ever wonder where the heck the term “buffalo plaid” (aka buffalo check) comes from? I gotta be honest – until last week’s free printable post, I’d never heard of it.
Oddly enough, I bought a pair of buffalo plaid pajamas a few days before writing that post. Who knew?
Not me, that’s for sure.
I knew nuthin!
As usual.
Hey, I’m a guy. We’re not supposed to know the names of the fabrics and patterns we wear.
Anyway, there’s a really cool story behind buffalo plaid.
Would you like to hear it?
I thought so!
Once upon a time there was a big burly Scotsman named Jock McCluskey who came to the New World to seek his fortune back in the late 19th century. He worked as a bounty hunter, a fur trapper, a gold miner, and he even dabbled in keeping the peace as frontier lawman. Those were troubled times on the American Frontier. Seven hundred men of the US 7th cavalry under Lt. Col. George Custer had recently been defeated by 2500 warriors of the Lakota, Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne tribes in the Battle of Little Bighorn. This didn’t sit well with the powers-that-were at the time, and the ensuing years were dark and painful for the American Indians.
Jock McCluskey found himself in this war-torn country at a time when fighting was an inescapable part of life on the frontier.
He was fearsome in battle, and his size struck terror into his foes.
But for all his skill and fearlessness on the battlefield, he was equally well know for his compassion. During those years of Indian persecution, McCluskey saw past the hatred and saw decency and humanity in the Native Americans.
Through kindness and understanding, he gained acceptance by many of the Great Plains Indian tribes. It didn’t hurt that he was a total badass on the battlefield, and most of the Indian warriors held him in pretty high esteem. They came to trust him, and Jock McCluskey went on to become a valuable liaison between the US Government/Military and the Indians. He was a rare white man welcomed by both sides in the bloody war for this nation’s Heartland.
He traded frequently with the Indians, bartering all sorts of “civilized” goods for buffalo pelts. The most coveted barter goods he brought were the heavy woolen blankets from his native Scotland woven in the distinctive red and black pattern we know so well today.
The Indians at the time did not have the means to produce such deep and rich reds, so many of the tribes believed that the dye for these blankets must been distilled from the blood of spirits and ghouls. McCluskey let them run with this belief, and those blankets became prized by Indian warriors, who would sling them across their horses, believing spirit guardians within the blankets would bring them luck and keep them safe.
The warriors called these blankets, “plaid,” as they were apparently unable to pronounce the Gaelic word “pladjer,” meaning “blanket.”
The US Army outposts and trading forts who bartered for McCluskey’s pelts and blankets also picked up the term “plaid,” when referring to the red and black tartan pattern, and thus was born the American term for plaid which refers to the tartan, as opposed to the Gaelic word which refers to the blanket.
From there, someone at some point added the “buffalo” in front of “plaid,” and the rest is history.
From a heavy wool blanket draped over war horses to a printable nativity scene – buffalo plaid has come a long way. So sit back, sip your coffee, click your mouse, and enjoy your free printable buffalo plaid Christmas decor!
Free Printable Buffalo Plaid Christmas Decor
As usual, here’s some information on the buffalo plaid printables: we designed these 15 free Christmas printables in two colors and to fit into a 16×20 inch frame or a 24×36 poster frame, though you may scale them up or down as necessary. 24×36 inch scales down easily to 20×30 / 16×24 / 12×18 / 8×12 / 4×6 inches, and 16×20 inch scales down to 12×15 / 8×10 / 4×5 inches with no problems. If you need help with scaling down these printables so you can print them using your home printer, then check out our “How To Easily Resize Pictures” post.
Also, if you don’t have a large format printer like the Canon i8720 Printer (prints up to 13×19 inches) and are wondering the best place to get these printables printed bigger than 8×12, we recommend trying Staples in your area or Amazon print shop. Both stores offer custom-sized prints on matte or glossy paper, and they both cost about the same. Staples also offers Engineering Prints, which are really affordable for large-format prints, but in some areas (like ours), they must be ordered from their online print shop.
Now it’s time to click on the button below to download today’s printable buffalo plaid Christmas decor – you’ll find them under the Christmas section of The VIP Patch.
If you’re not a Navage Patch VIP, you won’t be able to access our Freebies Library. But that can be easily fixed! Subscribe for free on the form below and become a Navage Patch VIP. Once you subscribe, a password will be sent to you in our Welcome email, and that will give you access to The VIP Patch [Freebies Library].
Great history lesson and beautiful printables!
Thank you so much, Giselle! 🙂
These are gorgeous!
Thanks, Claudine!
Thank you, they will look beautiful framed for Christmas!
You’re welcome, Lisa!
Love buffalo plaid and I always did wonder where the term originated. Assumed Native American source concerning the buffalo part but the plaid story was news to me. As a life long lover of tartans, I find this “americanization” of a Gaelic word for blanket to a whole nation’s word for a fabric pattern interesting and fun. Thanks for sharing that and Thanks for sharing your wonderful home renovations and downloadable prints.
You are so very welcome, PJ!
Hello,
I’ve already joined and get emails, but I’ve deleted the password! Could I get it emailed again please. LOVE THESE!
Hi Michelle, just look at the top of any of the emails we send out each week. You’ll find the password there! 🙂
I Love LOve LOVE these new printables. Buffalo Plaid is my favorite decor for Christmas. So I will enjoy these for ever. Thank you
Awesome! You’re welcome!
Thanks! Love these!
You’re welcome!
I love you guys! Thank you so so so much!
Happy Holidays!!!!!
Thank you, Cathleen! Happy Holidays to you and your family!
First off I want to tell you I love your blog. The posts are so funny. And what can I say about the printables. Y’all have been busy and these are beautiful. I can’t wait to see what’s to come. We just had our first cold snap in the South (by cold snap I mean it dipped below 40) so it’s finally beginning to feel like the Christmas. But it’s going to be back in the 60s Saturday. I can only handle the cold in small spurts.
Thank you so much, Stacye! Oh, you would have hated it here yesterday. All day in the 20s and then a wet Noreaster with 6 inches of snow!
love the buffalo checks and thank you for the history lesson.
Thank you, and you’re welcome, Carolyn!
How pretty! I am so grateful to have found and subscribed to your blog a few weeks ago.
Hi Sarah, and welcome! Handan and I are happy you found us, too! 🙂
Thanks for the lesson on buffalo plaid – very interesting! Love the printables! Thanks for sharing.
You’re very welcome, Debra!
Hi I’m new here – I found you through Pinterest and I’m so glad I did! I did not know the history of the buffalo plaid – thanks for that! My mom loves buffalo plaid and I can’t wait to give her these! Thank you so much for making these free – they’re honestly way too beautiful to be free! You guys are amazing! And one more thanks ,,, for the tutorials on sizing and the link to print with Amazon – which is what I used – I didn’t even know they did that!
Hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving and have the best Christmas!
Thank you so much, Daniella! I’m so happy you’re liking our printables, and I hope your mom will as well! Handan and I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing these printables! I love the reindeer names…my family has always spelled Rudolph instead of Rudolf. Would you consider adding this option?
Hi Sherrie, yes sure! I can make a Rudolph version this weekend and upload it to same folder for you to download. How does that sound?
Thank you, Handan
Very interesting story. Thank you for sharing it. Love the printables.
Thank you, Julie, I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
No email after 24 hours. What do I do? I LOVE THESE! Thank you so much for sharing.
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Hi Anne, I see that you signed up at 1:55pm today, and that you opened our welcome email at 2:00. Are you still having issues?
Hu im now a sub. How do i reach the pics to print off?
Hi Jessica, I’ve emailed you a help file that will walk you through the process. 🙂
thanks for sharing with us blessings
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Judith! We’ll be sharing more buffalo plaid Christmas printables this year. So keep an eye on the upcoming posts 😉
Love your blog, I really lol after reading some of it! And I love the printables
Thank you
Brenda
Thank you so much, Brenda! (I often lol when writing them!) 🙂
Love your blog!! I’ve made several of your projects including three different yarn wreaths. I would love to see a buffalo plaid printable of the shepherds facing right to complete the Nativity scene. I’ll keep reading. Thank you!!
Thank you, Angie! Handan will be working on this. I’ll let you know when she’s done.
Thank-you so much for these darling printables!! You did an amazing job on these. The buffalo paid is so fun!
You’re so very welcome, Nadene!
I love “Buffalo plaid”. In the UK it’s called “Hunter’s plaid”. Great post!
Cool! I didn’t know that! 🙂