Month: November, 2011

Knitting and embroidery. Little works of art to keep your hands warm.

Text and photo Laila Duran ©

Bunad from Numedal in the County of Buskerud. The knitted gloves has colorful embroidery and a flossed edging.

The mittens and gloves used with bunads or folk costumes are often small works of art. Embroidery is often used to decorate knitted hand garments all over Scandinavia. It was during a photo shoot in Norway I met an old man who wanted to show me some knitted glows and mittens that had been worn by his parents at their wedding. They where beautifully knitted and had colorful wool embroidery. I was surprised that hand garments like this was so well preserved, but he smiled and said that his parents had never used them again unless it was a very special occasion. They where just too precious.

These mittens have been used by a bride on her wedding day at the beginning of the 20th century.

The West Telemark bunad has embroidered cuffs on the leg-of-mutton-sleave and the black gloves are decorated in the same colors.

The bridegroom gloves. A hundred years old and still with radiant colors.

These mittens have large cuffs with napped edging. The man is wearing a bunad from Valdres.

Knottless knitting, in Swedish Nålbindning, is a technique often used to make the mittens warmer. These are from a collection in Boda in Dalecarlia, Sweden.

The embroidery from Dala Floda in Dalecarlia is spectacular. The many colors and abundance of floral pattern are used on several of the folk costume garments from the area. Jackets, caps, braces, cuffs and lovely, lovely mittens.

If you want to get some more inspiration on how to knitt please visit the “Born to knit-blog”. Johanne Ländin is writing (in english) about her passion for knitting. http://borntoknitblog.blogspot.com/

All text and photos are protected by Copyright.

Make a Comment by Laila on November 24, 2011
filed in Details in Fashion

Sami folk costume from Arjeplog and a “gietgam”, the Sami baby cradle.

Text and photo Laila Duran ©

In the next book in the series Scandinavian Folklore I am showing several Sami folk costumes. Traveling north in Sweden this summer I met a young family at Lappstaden ouside Arvidsjaur. The young mother is wearing a kirtle from Arjeplog made of chamois leather. The kirtle is a modern version with a zig zag design round the neckline and the wrists. She is also wearing the traditional cap and a woven belt.

I had seen paintings and drawings of Sami women carrying their babies in a leather cradle but never seen one in real life. When I started asking around I was delighted to find that several young families used the traditional “gietgam” (in South Lule Sami language). This cradle in the photo have been used for four generations. Sometimes the leather gets worn and is restored, but the frame work is the original. The cradle is light, it is easily carried over the shoulder or can be hung on the branch of a tree, rocking, while the mother is working.

A piece of printed cotton is fastened to the top of the cradle to cover the baby, protecting it from the mosquitos that sometimes are a nuicance during the nordic summers.

The young Sami woman Cecilia, have made the kirtle and the accessories herself. The elk hide, from a successful hunt, was sent for preparation and dying. Broadcloth and wool yarn in traditional colors are used to decorate the accessories.

Colorful wool yarn are used for the woven belts.

These are some of the houses at Lappstaden in the outskirts of Arvidsjaur. It is still a meeting place for the Sami population in the area and a magnet for tourists during the summer. Every year, the last week-end in August, people gather for trade of traditional goods and happy reunions with friends and relatives.

Cecilia with her hunting dog, a “Jämthund”. This is the largest breed of elkhounds in Scandinavia. He is a devoted baby sitter.

All text and photos are protected by Copyright.

Make a Comment by Laila on November 17, 2011
filed in Folk costumes

“Nasjonalen”, the 19th century national folk costume from Norway.

Text and photo Laila Duran ©

“Nasjonalen” is the name of this folk costume or bunad from the beginning of the 19th century. The origin of the design derive from the bunads from Hardanger and became popular in the 1840 as part of the national romantic movement. Norway and Sweden had been united in a political union since 1814, but at the end of the 19th century a strong political movement worked for an independent Norway. This bunad became a strong symbol for the norwegianism-movement. All over the country people started to make costumes similar to this. Famous artists such as Tidemand and Gude made paintings with bunad motives. Today these are regarded as the greatest art legacy from the national romantic area and exhibited at museums all over Norway.

As Norway became independent in 1905 this bunad where popular for still some time, but in different parts of Norway people started to work out new designs for regional bunads based on the folk costumes used in their area. An original Nasjonal bunad is very rare today. The young woman in the photo is wearing the bunad that was made and worn by her great grandmother.

The headdress is a small three piece cap with velvet trimming and bead embroidery.

Wool skirt and bodice with a beautifully beaded belt.

The red wool bodice has a front with a finely bead embroidered bib and velvet edging. The caracteristic points at the neckline derive from the bunads of Sörfjorden in Hardanger. There are many different aprons to choose from in the Hardanger bunad but the white one, that are reserved for formal occasions, are used with the National.

A silver buckle is used to close the belt.

The very much loved white embroidery from Hardanger is used as decoration on both the apron and the shift. The photo shoot was made in cooperation with Norsk Institutt for Bunad og Folkedrakt.

For more information on the National and Hardanger bunads please visit:

www.hardangerogvossmuseum.no

www.bunadogfolkedrakt.no

All text and photos are protected by Copyright.

Make a Comment by Laila on November 10, 2011
filed in Folk costumes, Historical fashion
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