WEAVING tapestries in Scotland has had a turbulent history since the Second World War. The Dovecot (Edinburgh Tapestry Ltd) was founded by the 4th Marquess of Bute in 1912, following discussions his father had with William Morris in the previous decade.

It developed from weaving tapestries solely for the Bute family to being a commercial concern, first run by the family and then by John Noble and Harry Jefferson Barnes, before returning to Bute ownership in the 1980s.

Under the artistic directorship of Joanne Soroka the company tried to widen its commercial appeal by undertaking revolutionary projects such as the silk kites designed by Sam Ainsley for a petroleum company in Fife and the less revolutionary idea of making tufted rugs.

When the 7th Marquess inherited the company in 1996, he decided that weaving tapestries was no longer viable and it seemed that the Dovecot would be permanently closed. However, it was rescued by David Weir and the Salvesen family and is now operated from a restored and converted Victorian steamie in Infirmary Street, Edinburgh.

During its lifetime since the Second World War, the Dovecot has been closely associated with the tapestry department in Edinburgh College of Art, a number of whose graduates (including Soroka) worked for the company, while others designed for it. And even before the 1990s, when the weaving department was closed, many of them had formed STAG (the Scottish Tapestry Artists Group), holding exhibitions both in the Dovecot itself and in Edinburgh College of Art.

The group had also shown once in London, when the entire exhibition was stolen, none of the works ever to be seen again. Is there somewhere a paranoic tapestry collector with a room full of tapestries that can never be shown to the public in case any of the work is recognised?

What happened in London may have been discouraging, so that STAG disintegrated, but four years ago it was resurrected in the form of STAR* (Scottish Tapestry Artists Regrouped). They are now holding a retrospective exhibition in the City Arts Centre in Edinburgh called That was Then: This is Now.

The exhibition is based on three principles: that it includes work going back to the foundation of Edinburgh College of Art's weaving department some 50 years ago; that it includes work by young weavers; and that it includes tapestries given to the City Art Centre in a bequest made by Jean Watson.

Thus, the exhibition includes tapestries by Archie Brennan, who is now in his 80s (and, like Soroka, was an artistic director of the Dovecot), as well as by Paul Penice, who is in his 20s. But the majority of weavers are in their 40s - and are women.

The tapestries also range from large pieces, such as Winter Wood by Maureen Hodge that uses clever techniques to create a silhouette of dark trees, to many small pieces contained in transparent boxes that are like miniature jewels. Reminiscent of the fashion for miniature textiles that dates from the 1970s, and acknowledging that tapestries are usually expensive whereas these can be bought for around £500, the boxes contain pieces that make clear references to the outside world, such as those created by Jo McDonald, who builds on structures created by cutting up books and musical scores from her late father's collection, and the heart-shaped construction by Ellen Lenvic.

Very different is the work by Linda Green, who creates delicate, abstract compositions of fibres built up from a grid. These, perhaps, are among the exhibits the public least associates with tapestry.

Among the most illustrative tapestries are those by Amanda Glitzi, who is able to produce very fluid lines without creating a line that is 'stepped', thus creating a result that is very akin to drawing, and among those that are very abstract is Sara Brennan's composition that has a large, white field with a thin, horizontal black line along one edge. Also abstract is a tapestry by Fiona Hutchison, whose strong colours and textures are based on her response to the sea.

That was Then: This is Now coincides with a new book written by Joanna Soroka called Tapestry Weaving: Design & Technique that gives a very clear and short history of tapestry before describing its processes, using diagrams to illustrate setting up a loom and starting to weave in a way that is similar to Ann Sutton's use of diagrams in the book your correspondent wrote with her, The Art & History of Tartans, in 1985.

Soroka also includes a section called Inspirational Work from Contemporary Tapestry Weavers that describes the work of 17 weavers accompanied by brief biographies. Many are represented in the exhibition. The book is an excellent introduction to the craft.

That was Then; This is Now continues at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh until January 8, 2012. Tapestry Weaving: Design & Technique, Crowood,£25.

RICHARD CARR