Design AtlasThe pattern began in the Scottish Lowlands, woven from undyed black and white wool rather than printed. That weaving origin matters: a 2:2 twill — alternating four black, four white threads in both warp and weft — makes the colour boundary zigzag diagonally on its own, producing the jagged "tooth" outline without anyone drawing it. Christian Dior and Chanel carried it from country tweed into high fashion through the 1930s–40s.
Instead of filling a whole square, the repeat unit is two hook shapes — each a square with one corner bitten off diagonally — facing each other at a 180° rotation. That bite is what breaks the checkerboard's clean right angles into a jagged tooth outline.
In SVG, two notched hook <polygon>s sit inside a small square tile and repeat through a <pattern>. Fill the same square whole and you get a checkerboard; notch its corner and you get houndstooth — the two patterns really are the same grid, just with or without that bite taken out.
Beyond tweed jackets and scarves, when it's used as a UI background the pattern pulls focus on its own — any text sitting on top needs a translucent layer behind it to stay readable.
When to use
Use for tweed/outerwear texture and premium-brand background patterns. Scaled down too far it moirés — keep a minimum tile size.