Weaving Heritage

If you've read the blog for a little while, you'll have learned that in addition to weaving, I'm a writer under the pen name, Bridgette ni Brian. One of my great loves is combining weaving with writing, and usually it takes the form of story telling.

I'm fortunate in my heritage, because my grandmother and great-grandmother both wove. I've inherited two of the looms they used, and somewhere in my parents' home is a photograph of Grandma weaving at the smaller loom.

Close-up of loom

Weaving, for me, is as a much about what I do now, as it is what my ancestors have done in the past. When I'm able to combine the heritage with story, life becomes interesting. Over the course of the next couple weeks, I'll be starting a trilogy about colonial weavers. What piqued the interest was an article about weavers on the Colonial Williamsburg's website (here) as well as my own research into weaving.

Here at Bryony Studio, I'll focus on the actual weaving involved, both the research in textiles as well as projects I'm working on connected to the trilogy. On my author website (Bridgette ni Brian), I'll focus on the development of the story.

Our woven history is interesting. For Americans, we tend to believe we have nothing because we don't have kilts and tartans; kimonos or saris. What we do have is a history of coverlets which are fairly unique in the world, but that is for another day.