Spinning and weaving are at the very core of our lives. In every culture, across every era, textile arts have always existed. Fibre is in everything – it’s in the ropes we use to create homes, the cloth that drapes us, the blankets that warm us, the baskets we use, the book covers on our shelves, the surgical thread in doctors hands. The list of examples goes on forever. Although I could certainly write an entire book on the history of knitting, spinning, weaving etc., a bite-sized article focusing on the history of fibre arts in Canada will have to do.
Although a lot of our culture is influenced by our southern neighbours, Canada has a particularly long and unique relationship with fibre arts.
The Indigenous peoples of Canada had intricate weaving and spinning techniques long before any settlers arrived. The Salish peoples along our coastline have a complex history and relationship to fibre arts. Blankets have been important in ceremonial dress for centuries, often showing the importance of an individual in the quantity used. They also represented an individual’s wealth and were often used as a form of currency. As there was no sheep in this pre-contact time, blankets were made with plant fibres, goat hair and a special fibre from the Salish Woolly Dog. This special dog is now extinct due to generations of cross-breeding with European dogs.
Knitting was introduced in Indigenous communities with the arrival of European settlers. As more and more restrictions and bans were placed on communities due to assimilation, knitting and basket weaving became the main way to save the traditional and religious motifs. The Hudson’s Bay Blanket was 20x times cheaper to produce then traditional blankets, and Indigenous peoples were often only allowed to sell their knitting and baskets to tourists to support themselves. The famous Cowichan Sweaters evolved from these attempts to save traditional art and were often seen at important events on esteemed members of the community. Indigenous communities are now reconnecting with the pre-contact weaving traditions.
Europe, of course, has its own long history with weaving, knitting and spinning. In 1906, Nilus Leclerc created a workshop in l’Islet, Québec. It produced church furniture, doors, windows and weaving looms! In World War One, Mr. Leclerc designed special looms for bed-ridden soldiers. This program was in partnership with Britain, America and Canadian Governments. They were used successfully to in recovery therapy programs. Weaving was already popular, and after the war the demand for home-weaving looms grew. In 1995,
another local businessman, Maurice Brassard, purchased the loom portion of the factory. A few years earlier, in 1977, Maurice Brassard had created a company to sell weaving fibres.
Both companies are still owned by the Brassard family, and feature an impressive inventory of Canadian made products. There are approximately 7,000-8,000 weaving guilds in Canada alone!
If a yarn-crawl across Canada isn’t on your weekend to-do, we highly recommend B.C. born Sylvia Olsen’s books, Unraveling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey, Knitting Stories, and Working with Wool.
Happy knitting, crocheting, spinning, and weaving!
