Weaving My Family Tree

In my last post (Project Planning), I mentioned the projects I have in mind for my table loom and my Glimakra. But while I start on yarn selection and warp calculations, my mind is still pondering an idea that has been percolating for some time now - weaving my family tree. 

This project would combine two of my favorite hobbies: weaving and genealogy. It's fascinating to research one's roots. For some people, genealogy is all about names and nationalities. But I find the cultures of my ancestral peoples even more fascinating. Maybe that's because another of my interests is traditional crafts and skills. As a fiber artist, a particular interest in culture is clothing, textiles, and how these things were made. What if I were to trace my ancestral origins through their textiles? Might that not be an interesting project? 

This past Christmas season, I made a series of posts on my homestead blog entitled "Christmas Songs of my Ancestors." It traced back through the general regions and ethnicity of the various people groups in my family tree, focusing on their languages and music. Thanks to that series, I now have somewhat of an outline that can would help me weave my family tree.

• American: this would extend from modern times back to the early 1600s, when the first of my ancestors migrated to the New World.
  
• Native American: 1600s
• Irish: 1800s
• Prussia: 1400s to 1700s (I just learned about this one)
• English: 1200s to 1500s
• Norman French: 1000s to 1100s
• Viking: 700s to 900s
• Saxon: 400s to 1000s
• Celtic: prior to the Roman and Saxon invasions, all the way back to who knows when

 

There are a number of things I'd have to research for each one:

• fibers
• weave structures
• colors
• dyes
  
• equipment

 

And I'd have to make decisions such as: 

• How historically accurate do I want to be?
• Do I want to use authentic fibers and yarns?
• Do I want to spin the yarns myself?
• Do I want to use historically accurate equipment?
• Do I want to do the dyeing myself, with plants they would have used?
• Do I want to weave actual period objects, such as blankets and clothing?
• Or do I just want to weave samples?
  

 

Obviously, this will take some time to research and make decisions. And it will take some time to plan, source and obtain materials, and weave. But I'm not in a hurry. I just like the idea of combining two interests like this. And I do love a good research project.

This post, then, is my starting point for this project and will serve as a reference for my research.

Weaving My Family Tree © Jan 2025

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related post

Project Planning