© Text and photo Laila Duran.

Every book in the series Scandinavian Folklore (Drakt og Prakt, Norwegian edition) starts in spring. The books takes you around Scandinavia during one year. Now, as I am taking the last photos for volume III, I went back to Scania and rural heritage tailor Gillis Jimheden in Ranarp. Apart from making up folk costumes from many of Scania hundreds he is also a passionate collector of costumes. For this shoot he picked an old “skinnklocka” (leather bell) a name that might have something to do with the cut of the leather skirt.

Anemones,”vitsippor” are what we wait for in Scandinavia. When they bloom spring is here!

The girl is dressed for a festive occation wearing her inherited silver pendants.

The bell shaped skirt is made in three sections. The sections width may wary but there are always three. The bodice is made of green homespun and to add to the festive look she wears long silk ribbons hanging from her head dress. This type of hed dress is called a “pigelock” and is worn around her pleated hair.

To keep warm she wears a black jacket of broadcloth trimmed with floral ribbons and strips of silk.

The cuffs on the sleeves are trimmed with gold lace, silk ribbons and fine black velvet. Her apron is an old hand woven apron in bright shades of colours.

In the book, Scandinavian Folklore Vol III, there will be plenty of photos of both old and newly made garment fom Scania. For those of you who wants to know more about Bygdeskräddaren Gillis Jimheden please visit  www.bygdeskraddaren.se
There is also a lage article about his and his wife Monica Jimheden´s work in the Swedish magazine: “VÄV” Scandinavian Weaving Magazine. This can be ordered from www.handweavers.co.uk

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© Text and photo Laila Duran.

Most of February I spent trying to cure myself from the flue that swept across Scandinavia. But…. a photo shoot was booked in Setesdal in central Norway and more than twenty people expected me to show up, so I packed a suitcase full of warm clothes and hoped for the best. The weather was beautiful and so where the sites. For four days, Randi Gåserud Myrum curator at Setesdalsmuseet and I, travelled to the villages in the valley of Setesdal from Bykle in the north to Bygland in the south.

Some of the girls brought their horses……

…..while the rest of the models arrived on foot, trying not to fall on the slippery snowy roads.

The work on the book “Bunader fra Setesdal” continues and we look forward to show as many of the residents bunads as possible. Museum houses and Churches where opened for the shoot and I will show both interiors and exteriors from the old buildings in the book.

The out door museum at Bygland was a perfect spot for both walks on the icy river and interior shoots in the amazing old houses with open fire at the center of the room.

The girls just could not stop playing around in the snow.

Resting after a good days work! Finally I would like to thank all the people that took the weekend off to help me and made this trip such a wonderful experience.

All text and photos are protected by Copyright.