Hello all,

Today I will talk about one of the most complicated costumes of Greece, that of the Karagounai. The Karagouni are an ethnic group which inhabit the lowlands of western Thessaly, just east of the Pindus mountains. They mostly inhabit villages in the area surrounding the cities of Trikala, Karditsa, Sofades and Palamas. Some villages in the area are still inhabited solely by Karagouni. They have retained their folk costume longer than many parts of Greece, many women wearing them daily well into the 20th cent. Today, a simplified form of this costume is popular with many Greek performing groups.

The origin of the Karagouni is unclear. Hatzimichali quotes several sources on this subject, which are rather muddled and which contradict each other. Some maintain that they are derived from Koutsovlachi, others flatly deny this; some claim that they are Arvaniti [Albanian], some that they are Hellene in origin. They seem to speak no language but an archaic Greek dialect. They were not nomads or pastoralists, but farmers who were tied to the land in a feudal type plantation system called Çiftlik under Turkish occupation. [If anyone has more information on this, I would appreciate being better informed]. Starting about 1889, they began to take ownership of the land which they farmed, as the feudal Çiftlik system began to break up.

The men wear the costume with foustanella or pants with no distinctive attributes, such as may be found over a large area of Greece and Albania.

The women's costume is, however very distinctive. The Karagouna, as the women are called, are famous for their beauty and grace. There is a very famous song about one such woman which is sung over much of Greece. The local women do a simple but graceful dance to this song in Thessaly. Another version of the song with a similar but distinct melody became popular further west, on the other side of the Pindus mountains in Epiros. This is the dance with three parts which the International Folk Dance community knows as 'Karagouna', after the name of the song. It is not done by the Karagouni themselves.

There are three or four local variations on this costume, not all of which I will cover, as there is simply too much material, as is often the case with a living tradition.

The original foundation garment is the chemise, pokamiso. Like in so many places in Europe, this term is now used to mean shirt. It has the same standard cut as is found in Macedonia and the Balkans. There is embroidery on the cuffs, around the neck opening, on the hem and along the seams on the outside of the sleeves and on the bottom part of the chemise.

There is also a solid row of tassels attached to the hem, and tassels on the sleeve ends which have spaces between them. Along with the amount of embroidery, the length of the tassels varies by district, and of course, pokamisa meant for more dressy occasions have more embroidery and longer tassels than those meant for more everyday occasions. The modern simplified stage version of the costume usually keeps the tassels but omits the embroidery, or replaces it with a simple band of black trim, which is a real shame.
Instead of making several chemises, the Karagounai would only make three, and then make several different sets of sleeves. The armholes would be finished so as not to ravel, and the sleeves would be basted into place for wearing.

Because the sleeves are open and somewhat full, wrist warmers of woven wool were developed to be worn under them. These later became knitted, and later still, became attached to an undergarment which covered the torso under the chemise. This development also occurred among the Sarakatsani and in many parts of Macedonia. In the Karagouna region this undergarment is called fanella.

Another recent development is the appearance of the trachilia, a dickey which covers the front of the chemise and can be embroidered or ornamented with printed cloth. This has also become popular among Macedonian costumes relatively recently. Sometimes the contrast of old, beautiful embroidery with tawdry tinselly modern cloth is distressing. Sometimes it is done more tastefully. Here is a woman from Karditsa in her dress outfit. She is wearing a trachilia of finely woven damask.

The next layer is a garment, or rather two garments, called saya. This is a sleeveless garment which is open down the front. It is worn in many places around the balkans. In the Karagouna costume, the lower part is pleated, and the bottom edge is decorated with cord embroidery.

In this photo just above, you can see that this woman is wearing two of them as is the original tradition. Here is another photo of a girl wearing a very plain everyday costume; you can see that she is wearing a pokamiso with limited embroidery, a plain apron and two sayas of different colors.

In the modern simplified costume, as in the photo at the head of the article, usually only one saya is worn. Here are a couple of examples of the embroidery on the hem of the saya. The colors used vary by location.

Here is one cut of the saya used in the Sofades region. The number of gores added to the sides varies, with more festive sayas being fuller.

Here are a couple of women from the Karditsa area wearing their festive summer outfits. You can see that the saya is made to fall in pleats at the sides. They seem to be wearing only one saya each.

In the Karditsa - Trikalia area, often the saya is made of a bodice and a full skirt. This is especially true of the two villages of Megala Kalyvia and Ayia Kyriaki, where the saya is made very full and falls in pleats all the way around.

In the area around Sofades and Palamas, the garment worn under the saya was not another saya, but another garment called kavadi, which has elbow-length sleeves, and is usually red, often of a dark shade. The kavadi is trimmed in gold braid and is worn as part of the summer festive costume.

In this photograph this woman is wearing a blue saya over a dark red kavadi in the Sofades - Palamas style.

The sleeves of the kavadi are a focus for ornamentation, especially gold couching and trim along the seam. These kavadomanika were greatly admired, so that in the areas which did not wear the kavadi, the sleeves were added to the costume separately. They are sewn to a small linen or cotton bodice which is worn under the outer saya. Here is an example of a bride from Rizovouni in the Karditsa region. You can see that she has the kavadi sleeves, but is not actually wearing a kavadi.

On more formal occasions, as this woman above is doing, extra ornaments are added to the sleeves. Compare her sleeves to the entire kavadi shown above.
These separate decorative cuffs are called manikoulia and have a variety of different embroideries. This is another way of wearing a variety of ornamentation without making multiple garments.

These area attached with hooks and eyes. They are always narrower on the ends which lie under the arms for more ease of movement. The narrow ends are generally not visible when worn.

Finally, over the fanella, the pokamiso, the trachilia, the undersaya, the kavadomanika and the oversaya is worn a vest, called yilekia. This word is cognate to both the south slavic term jelek and the French term gilet. The yilekia is short, not quite reaching the waist, except for two tabs in front which are found in some regions and which tuck under the belt to hold it in place.
The yilekia is completely covered in cord embroidery except for a rectangle in back. Many of them have exquisite cordwork.

Two different aprons are worn with this costume, the podia and the mesa podia. If you peruse the various images in this article you will see that either may be worn, or ideally, both together.

The underapron, the mesa podia is made of silk, usually has embroidery on the bottom edge, and perhaps a flounce or fringe. This is an elaboration of the plain everyday apron seen above. It can be of almost any color, is longer than the saya and almost as long as the pokamiso.

The embroidery tends to be of a more modern satin stitch floral type.

Over this is worn the podia; on festive occasions by those who can afford one. It is covered with elaborate cord embroidery.

Very often, as here, there is a loop attached to one side on the top and a woven band on the other. The band is passed through the loop and the podia is held on in this manner. The range of ornament in various colors is remarkable. The amount of handwork on these makes them very expensive.

This type of apron is not found in any other Greek costume. But see this Vlach costume from Sqepur in Albania. This might give some insight into the origin of the Karagouni.

The traditional belt was woven and covered with the same kind of cord embroidery as is found in the rest of the costume, fastened with a large fancy metal buckle. Today this has been completely replaced with a belt all of metal, fashioned to match the buckle.

Hand knitted knee socks in white with red toes and heels are worn. These may include narrow, perhaps 1 cm wide stripes of knitted in or embroidered ornament. The traditional slipper shoes are called kordelia. Hatzimichali describes these as being of black calfskin, with laces in the front, a low back, with a thick low heel.

Today the Karagouni often wear whatever shoes they can buy, and folk groups tend to wear tsarouchia.

The old headdress consisted of a cap, skoufia, wrapped around with a linen cloth that had the same kind of embroidery and tassels on the end as the pokamiso. This was wrapped so that none of the white cloth showed when done.

Later the cap was replaced by a thick braid of goat hair called kothros.

Over this a kerchief was wrapped, with a woven or embroidered design in one corner and the edges nearby. Often additional brocade or other ornamental cloth was added to two edges.

The kerchief is folded diagonally in two, then wrapped around the braids on the head so that the decorative corner hangs down behind, with the edge parallel to the floor, one end looped through the other and the whole thing pinned into place. The kothros has since been abandoned except for the village of Megala Kalyvia. This is why the headdress appears bulky in old photographs

Now the hair is separated into two halves, the left is braided behind the ear, then brought to the right side, and both parts are braided together, the braid is brought around the right ear and then over the top of the head. Hair extensions are added as needed. Hatzimichali gives a detailed description of this starting on pg 128. The method of wrapping is the same, but some areas tweak the process which results in distinctive local shapes.

Often a chain with attached coins is hooked to the front of this, and an ornament called kopitsa is hooked to the back. The Kopitsa varies somewhat in form.

Older women tie the kerchief under the chin and around the neck. They do not wear the kopitsa but often embroider the kerchief.

In both of the above images, the women are wearing black wool overgarments which are part of the winter costume and which I will not go into today, as they are somewhat complicated, in keeping with the rest of the costume.

A wide variety of jewelry is worn, in keeping with the occasion, as well as the status and age of the wearer. Many of these involve various pieces chained together. Peruse the various images of this article.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

I will close with some more images of the costume of the Karagouni.

Traditional dance of the Karagounai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRj_Spl-AQ

The ritual final dressing of the bride followed by dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B52b1ko2i_4

A long video showing a local festival in the Karagouna region

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVqcVagXtio

Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals. I also choreograph and teach folk dance.

Roman K.

Rkozakand@aol.com

email

Source Material:
Angeliki Hatzimichali, 'The Greek Folk Costume vol 2', Athens, 1984
Ioanna Papantoniou, 'Greek Costumes', Nafplion, 1981
Popi Zori, 'Embroideries and Jewellery of Greek National Costumes', Athens, 1981

Hello all,

The Basques, of course, are the only remnant of the pre-Indo-European peoples and languages which remain. The Basque language and its relatives were once much more widespread, and it has been in retreat before Latin and its descendants for over 2,000 years now. However, The Basque community and language is still very alive and vigorous today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_%28greater_region%29

The Basques are a unique people who have kept very strongly many of their traditions: in language, food, music, ceremonies, dance, and even sports. They have not, as a whole, held on to a folk costume tradition any more than the French or Spanish have. There are several distinct costumes native to particular areas, however, and this is one of them.

The Basque region is politically divided into three areas, the French Basque regions, the Spanish Basque regions, and Navarre.

Navarre is split by language, the south being Castillian Speaking, and the north being Basque Speaking, south to about the level of Pamplona.
Today I am speaking about the costume tradition of northeast Navarre. If the look at the map above, this costume covers the three river valleys in the easternmost part of Navarre, which are, from west to east, Aezcoa - Aezkoa, Salazar - Zaraitzu, and Roncal - Erronkari. This area is currently linguistically mixed, with most people speaking Castillian, and about 5 % still speaking Basque. These three valleys are more clearly seen in the following physical map of Navarre.

These three costume traditions are similar, but not identical.

Aezcoa - Aezkoa

Salazar - Zaraitzu

Roncal - Erronkari

For the remainder of this article, I will focus on the costume of Roncal - Erronkari, mostly because I have found much more information on this costume compared to the others.

For the woman's costume, the foundation garment is the chemise, camisa [i have only found the basque names of a few items of the costume]. As in most places, it was made of linen, later cotton, and was originally ankle length.

The opening is in the center front, there are shoulder inset pieces, [I am not sure from these photos whether the inset is sewn to the side or the top of the body, but it looks like they are sewn to the side]. The body of the camisa is gathered into the neck, which is low, stands up, and has gathered lace on the edge. The sleeve is gathered into the end of the shoulder inset, and sewn perpendicular to the body of the chemise with gussets under the arms. The shoulder inset is ornamented with lace or embroidery [these are the best photos which I could find]. As in many places, the chemise was later sometimes separated into two garments, shirt and underskirt. This piece also has embroidery or lace on a front placket covering the opening.

The bodice, justillo or korputx, has a distinctive notch in front similar to the costume of Fana in Norway or Spisz in Slovakia. This notch is not found in the costumes of the neighboring valleys. The front edge is ornamented with a colored ribbon. My sources speak of it being laced, but in the photos which I have found it seems to be hooked closed.

In older photographs, this ribbon is of a plain color with embroidery and sequins sewn onto it. In more recent photographs it is more common to see the use of brocaded cloth.

Unmarried girls wear the bodice by itself. Married women wear a jacket over the bodice, which is identical except that it has sleeves and does not close all the way, but is laced shut so that the bodice is still visible in the opening. This garment is called jubon or korputx mangua. [I wonder what unmarried girls do when it's cold?]

Over the long camisa, or underskirt with a short camisa, a petticoat of linen is worn. Over this are worn two wool skirts which are blue or violet. The top skirt is normally worn pinned up around the waist, showing a wide red facing sewn inside the hem which is called aldar. It is held in place by a pin or brooch called amabitxi.

The hair is normally worn in a long braid, with a ribbon tied at the top, called zintamuxko. Bead necklaces are worn, and spectacular earrings, with a matching pendant which is attached to a velvet ribbon around the neck, called bitxi.

For formal occasions, a small cape called mantilla is worn over the head. This is mandatory for church attendance. It is shaped to cover the head and leave a view just to the front. It is edged with a wide band of fancy material, edged with trim. There are two small pieces attached to the corners which are used to hold the mantilla on the head. Today the mantilla is normally red. According to my sources, the topskirt is let down when attending church. This custom, while logical, is apparently no longer followed.

Similar head coverings are used in other parts of Spain, and parts of southwestern Sardinia.
While the mantillas used in the 20th cent are red, there is evidence that they used to be made in all four of the Liturgical colors of the Roman Catholic Church, which were worn for the appropriate feast days.

Widows and women 'of a certain age' wear essentially the same outfit, except that the skirt is not pinned back, and the outer garments are all black.

This of course is a description of the dress clothing. Everyday and work clothes were of course simpler.

Single men wore black shoes, white stockings, linen underpants, black knickers, a white linen shirt with full sleeves, a colorful brocade vest and wide purple sash. Over this may be worn a white double-breasted wool jacket with black trim and possibly topstitching. Also a round black hat with chinstrap is worn either on the head or hanging on the back. When the jacket is worn, the vest might be plain black or gray.

Upon his betrothal, a man changes the white jacket for a red or burgundy one.

This may be worn for the first few years of marriage. After that, the man wears black stockings, a black vest and a black jacket with red trim.

Formerly, a silk kerchief was often worn tied around the head under the hat, as in Aragon. This habit is now making a comeback.

There is also a more somber, all black outfit used by older men for churchgoing.

One last costume has been preserved here, as in some other parts of Spain, and that is the uniform used by municipal officials.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.
I will end with a few more pictures of this costume.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Here is a website dedicated to the costume and other aspects of Roncal - Erronkari, all in Castillian. This is a very good resource.

http://indumentariaroncalesa.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/5-de-agosto-de-2012.html

Francisco Arraras Soto, 'Navarra - Temas de Cultura Popular; Indumentaria Valles de Roncal, Salazar y Aezcoa', Pamplona, 1991
Jose Ortiz Echague, 'Espana, Tipos y Trajes', Madrid, 1953
Isabel de Palencia, 'Regional Costumes of Spain', Madrid, 1926

Manuel Comba, 'Trajes Regionales Espanoles', Madrid, 1977
Cesar Justel, 'Espana, Trajes Regionales', Madrid, 1997
Lilla Fox, 'Folk Costumes of Southern Europe', Boston, 1972

Hello all,

Many people have the idea that shawls are an ancient part of this or that costume. In fact, shawls became part of high fashion in the Victorian Age, and then filtered down into local folk costumes.
Capes were very widespread before this, and coats in colder regions, and poor people had been known to wrap themselves in blankets [plaids, serapes, etc], but the large square shoulder shawl is a relatively recent innovation.

A. The 'Paisley' shawl.

The image above is of a Kashmir, or 'Paisley' shawl which was developed somewhere around 1860.
Kashmir has long been known for the fineness of its weaving and embroidery. They use a tapestry technique, with wool wound on bobbins called kanis. Today they use 80 to 100 kanis for the width of the loom, in the heyday of Kashmiri weaving they used many more. This tecnnique is combined with a twill weave.

The weaving master sat at a desk with the master pattern, and would call out, 3 blue, 4 violet, etc. and the weavers would follow the instructions. This technique, and the fact that the Kashmiris had access to the world's finest wool from goats raised in Ladakh and Tibet caused their work to be extremely famous in India. The Mughal rulers did what they could to raise shawl weaving to a fine art. In fact, the word shal is Persian, and is almost the same in every European language, a sign that it is a recent borrowing.
The demand for this product was high, and obviously weaving of this fineness takes a lot of time, so technique developed, where a somewhat coarser design was woven, and then finished with embroidery. Believe it or not, this was actually faster. The local embroiderers developed a technique where they could embroider the two sides of a shawl with different colors, by not piercing the fabric with the needle, but splitting the warp thread. Here is the front and back of one such piece, the outline having been woven in.

One thing I might mention is that the weavers and embroiderers of these products, which were never used locally, but always exported, are men. Women spin the thread, and produce textiles for home use. Here is a contemporary photo of a group of men doing crewel embroidery on rugs and upholstery material.

The basic motif of these shawls is called boteh, or in English, cone, pine, mango, flower, paisley, etc.

They were greatly valued in India, where they were worn by the aristocracy.

These shawls became known among British women of means starting around 1774. In 1810, Napoleon gave his empress Marie Louise several. Soon "Madame, who had abandoned her cloak, wished not to be described as 'well-dressed'; she must now be 'well-draped'. Shawls became all the rage.

Obviously this meant that demand far exceeded supply of the old high quality shawls. Soon improvements were invented for European looms and imitations started to be woven in Paisley, Scotland, Lyon, France, and later other locations. This is what lead this type of design to be called 'paisley' in English.

Originally these shawls were long and rectangular, but at some point in the mid 1800's, they began to be made in large squares, and this became the standard. This required an advance in the jacquard loom, and meant that shawls imported from Kashmir had to be made in smaller pieces and then sewn together. The stitching on some of those shawls is extremely fine, and almost unbelievable.

As these cheaper imitation shawls became available, they began to trickle down into various folk costume traditions. They all look quite a bit alike. These are still being worn as part of various local folk costumes, although Fashion at large has now bypassed the shawl. Here are some examples of shawls which I have found in various of my books from different nations, I am sure that there are more.

Wales

France

Spain

The Netherlands

Alsace

Switzerland

Aosta Valley, Italy

Austria

Sweden

Poland

B. The 'Manila' shawl.

This type of shawl had a far smaller area of expansion, being limited to the Mediterranean area, but had a similar history.
China at some point became aware of the fashion in shawls and decided to enter the competition. Large square shawls with fringes were embroidered and sent into the foreign marketplace. These were often transshipped through Manila in the Philippines, and became known as 'Manila' shawls, although they were never produced in Manila. These shawls became especially popular in Spain.

The embroidery on these shawls is very typically Chinese. They came to be imitated locally, of course, but still the Chinese style of embroidery was copied. They mostly feature floral designs, with the addition of butterflies, dragonflies, and birds which are not found in Europe.

These became incorporated into Flamenco.

Sometimes they were worn with the center point in front.

They are still worn as part of the gala version of the folk costume in some places, especially in the south. They are also worn with modern clothing. Here are just a couple of examples.

Avila.

Madrid

Extremedura

I admit to finding images like this annoying, because while the shawl is beautiful, it is an import and covers up most of the rest of the costume, making it harder to do research.

On the other hand, some areas which were too poor to be able to buy these shawls have come up with extremely imaginative local versions which only slightly resemble manila shawls, such as this example, de Plumaje. This is no longer a manila shawl, but an authentic local expression of folk art.

'Manila' shawls also came to be used in the Middle East, where they are sometimes referred to as 'Ramallah' shawls.

I guess this is proof that beauty is universally appreciated, and globalization is nothing new.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

The source material is too numerous to list. If anyone wishes to know the provenance of a particular image, please ask.

Hello all,

I received a request for some information the traditional clothing of Switzerland, especially of the area around Luzern, so I will give a very short overview of this information.

Switzerland, as is well known, is a multilingual nation which strongly identifies as one ethnicity. This is extremely unusual, and is rooted in the fact that the Swiss Confederation was voluntary on the part of its citizens, at least at first, and as it grew, that was still mostly true.

Here is a linguistic map of Switzerland, one showing the names of the cantons, and one showing more detail.

Covering the cantons from the northeast, going counter-clockwise. This is a very short and incomplete overview.

Allemanisch or 'German' Switzerland:

St. Gallen

Appenzell

Thurgau

Schaffhausen

Zurich

Zug

Schwyz

Glarus

Uri

Unterwalden

[includes Obwalden and Nidwalden]

Luzern

Aargau

Basel

Solothurn

Bern

This is a large canton with several costumes, here is just a sample.

Emmental

where the famous cheese comes from

Emmental on the right, Bern midlands on the left

Berner Mutz

Oberhasli

Saanenland

'French' and Savoy, or 'Welschland' Switzerland.

[Welsch is an old Germanic word meaning 'people whose language we don't understand']

Jura

Neuchâtel

Fribourg

Vaud

Geneva

Valais/Wallis

The west half of the canton is French/Arpitan speaking, and the east half is German/Allemanisch speaking. This canton is also rather large and rich in costumes.

Ticino

This, along with a couple of the southern valleys of Graubuenden, makes up 'Italian' Switzerland.

Grischun/Grigioni/Graubuenden/Grisons

The last canton, home of the Romansch language, also home to German/Allemanish and Italian speakers.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source material:
Lotti Schuerch - Louise Witzig, 'Trachten der Sweiz', Bern, 1978
Louise Witzig, 'Schweizer Trachtenbuch', Zurich, 1954
Louise Witzig et Edwige Eberle, 'Costumes Suisse', Lausanne,

Hello all,

Today I am returning to Estonia, which I feel that I have neglected. I will talk about the costume and a bit about the wide range of handiwork which is native to Muhumaa, Muhu Island.
Estonia is divided into 15 counties in four regions; Lõuna-Eesti or South Estonia, Põhja-Eesti or North Estonia, Lääne-Eesti or West Estonia, and Saared, the Islands.
Estonian is a Uralic language related to Finnish, and unrelated to the Baltic languages which are spoken in the neighboring countries of Latvia and Lithuania.
Muhumaa is the third largest island in Estonia, located between Saaremaa and the coast. It is shown in red on this map.

The capitol of Estonia is Talinn, and this is their flag.

For more information on Estonia and Muhu island, see these articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonians

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia

Muhu island is one of the areas of Estonia in which folk costume and native crafts survived the longest.
The local costume was commonly worn well into the 20th cent. and native handicrafts are still very much alive.

The oldest known costume consists of a chemise and sash. This was worn for work in the fields, especially for cutting hay and harvesting, in which situation more clothing would just have been a hindrance. There also seems to be a ceremonial significance to this costume. Similar costumes were worn in northwest Russia for haying, which had extensive embroidery above the hems, in areas that would not be seen if any outer garments were worn.

This chemise has narrow shoulder pieces with embroidery, embroidered cuffs and collar and a card-woven band sewn onto the hem. There is also a silver ring brooch holding the neck opening closed.

This image also shows one peculiarity of Muhu costume. The sash is also card-woven.

With card weaving, it is difficult to make the product very wide. On Muhu the sash was usually about 1.5 cm wide and very long. In most places sashes for folk costumes are long enough to go around the waist two or three times and then tie or be secured. If you look at the image above, you will see that the Muhu sash encircles the waist many more times. Muhu sashes were usually 6 to 10 meters long. The designs were simple because they are so narrow. Here are a couple of examples, showing both sides. The ends were sometimes finished off with finger braiding; one end was often made into a loop that the other end could be secured in. Garters were made the same way.

18th cent. costume

In the 18th century, the costume consisted of a sleeveless chemise with a short midriff blouse on top. This costume is illustrated on the right in the image at the head of the article, and was retained into the 19th century as a wedding costume.

The combination of sleeveless chemise with midriff blouse is common in quite a few costumes from Finland to Slovakia. The short overblouse in the Muhu costume had a wide reticella lace border, usually featuring the eight pointed star design.

This outfit is worn with a pleated black skirt, similar to those worn in some other locations on the other islands of Estonia. The lower part of the skirt has woven in red bands, sometimes with an embroidered band near the edge.

Other skirts have bead embroidery near the hem, as in the image at the head of the article.

The tradition on Muhu is for women to wear their hair short.

This costume is usually seen with the white wedding crown and red beaded wedding apron. The wedding apron also has buttons, coins, bells, etc sewn onto it to move and make noise.

The same extremely long narrow sash was wound around the top of the skirt and apron.

This outfit is worn with short white socks that have a design knitted into the top, which are worn over red striped knitted leggings and with moccasins.

Glass beads, and two circular brooches of typical Balto-Scandinavian shape complete the costume.

19th cent costume

By the mid 19th cent, the costume had greatly changed.

In the 19th cent costume the short midriff blouse with a sleeveless chemise undernearth had changed to a blouse which, while still short, was longer than waist length and worn tucked under the skirt. There were still narrow strips on the shoulders. The shape of the collar varied, being stand-up, fold-over, crotched, or sometimes a combination thereof.

A linen or cotton petticoat was worn with this blouse.

The petticoat and blouse were both edged with crochet lace, and the blouse was also embroidered, early on with counted satin stitch, and later with cross-stitch. The embroidery was centered on the collar, cuffs, shoulder insets and front placket.

According to the traditions of Muhumaa, no two blouses, indeed no two major clothing items of any kind were ever exactly alike. Creativity is valued.

The new skirt was a striking orange color with pick-up stripes woven in by hand. Typically the warp is linen and the weft is wool. The skirts were sewn so that the selvedges formed the hem and were gathered at the waist; thus the transverse woven-in stripes hang vertically on the skirt. Oddly enough, there is no word for 'orange' in Estonian. These skirts were referred to as being 'town red'. The dye used is unknown, but oral tradition says that some women used to row over to Sweden in order to obtain it. Modern experts speculate that it was brazilwood.

As you can see in this example, a card-woven band, the same as is used for the sash is sewn onto the hem and often a row of trim or ribbon or crochet is sewn to the outside just above the card woven band.. A hand-width linen facing is sewn to the inside, and a wool braid is attached to the very edge.

The skirt is made to be three times the hip measurement. The stripes were woven according to a particular canon, but each skirt is different. This combination of a general rule with differences in particulars is typical of folk art. Two alternating symmetrical stripe patterns are used, each of which occurs three times. A more elaborate stripe is used between each repeat. The center of one of the two patterns always forms the front center of the skirt. Here are the two patterns woven into the skirt above.

Later, both the edging and the woven stripes became more elaborate.

On Muhu, aprons were first worn at Confirmation. The apron worn with this costume is made of a similar orange stripe material as the skirt. It has a panel of embroidery, usually cross-stitch at the bottom, and most times a second row of beadwork.

Later the home woven striped wool cloth was sometimes replaced by commercially made cloth, either of a solid color or a print. For a time, the embroidered part was stiffened so that the embroidery would be more visible. This was called 'being under full sail'.

White linen aprons were also worn, some plain, and some with embroidery, usually with crotcheted edges, especially for everyday or less dressy occasions.

Married women wear a small embroidered cap, held on with laces which go under the hair and behind the head. In the 19th cent. these had beautiful embroidered geometric patterns.
The cap was constucted with a brim and a top, with a hole at the back.

Later a triangular piece was inserted into the hole to make a peak in back. The embriodery shifted more to cross stitch.

Later still, the brimwas made of orange wool cloth with cross-stitch embroidery 'written' on it.

Later in the 19th cent., distinctive shoes were developed to be worn with this costume by some who could afford it. Moccasins continued to be worn by others.

Also at this time, some began to replace the short socks and leggings with long patterned stockings. Mostly the designs were knitted in, but some details could be embroidered afterwards. The tops are secured with garters that are short sections of the narrow card woven sashes.

The primary colors of these stockings are the beloved orange and pink.

Along with this, some people replaced the long woven sash with a wide black belt, first of leather, and later sometimes of elastic, which is worn with a large brass buckle.

This costume continued as a living tradition into the 20th cent. and continued to develop.
I will write another article to cover that, as this one is already long enoug.
Thank you for reading, i hope that you have found this to be interesting, informative and perhaps inspiring.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Eevi Astel, 'Eesti Vööd', Tartu, 1998

Melanie Kaarma & Aino Voolmaa, 'Eesti Rahvarõivad', Tallinn, 1981

Reet Piiri, 'Rahvarõivad - Eesti Rahva Muuseumist', Tallinn 2006

Anu Kabur, Anu PInk, Mai Meriste, 'Designs and Patterns from Muhu Island', Türi, Estonia, 2011

til

Reet Piiri, 'Eesti Talurahva ülerõivas 19. sajandi', Tartu, 2009

Hello all,

I received a request for information about Rusyn costume and embroidery. There is unfortunately little that I have been able to find, but I am continuing my research. I would strongly encourage anyone who has solid and reliable information to publish it. Ukrainian sources tend to have little to nothing about the Rusyny in Slovakia, and Slovak sources ignore the Rusyn areas completely. In fact, Slovak sources tend to have very little of anything from eastern Slovakia. There are some very good photos online of Rusyn costume, but usually without any information as to the village or district of origin. Some performing groups wear standard Šariš costumes, and some wear outfits which are completely made up.

The Rusyns, or Rusnaks, are an eastern Slavic people which inhabited the Carpathian mountains in northeast Slovakia, southeast Poland and Transcarpathian Ukraine.

The ones in Poland are generally called Lemkos, and were cleansed from their territory by the Polish government after WWII.They, and some of their Polish neighbors were resettled in other parts of Poland, especially the areas in the west from which German inhabitants were removed. The Rusyns in Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine generally remain in their traditional territory, but are subject to some level of assimiliation. There is also a colony in Ruski Krstur in Vojvodina with an especially divergent dialect.

The term Rusyn was originally used to refer to all eastern Slavic peoples in the Lithuanian Commonwealth, as opposed to those which inhabited Moscow's Empire, who were called Muscovites. Today, most have chosen to identify themselves as Belorussians or Ukrainians, although the term Rusyn was commonplace in Halychyna well into the 20th cent. In Latin documents of western Europe, Rusyns were often referred to as 'Ruthenians'; as I understand it, this was a pun on a fictional country from a novel. 'Ruthenian' is not a slavic term at all. The people who continue to use the term Rusyn speak a group of dialects which diverge strongly from those of the other eastern Slavic peoples.

This map shows the areas inhabited by Rusyns in Slovakia, and their former territories in Poland. across the center you see the Poland/Slovakia border, and at right the Ukrainian border.

I will be sharing some information as to the costume and embroidery from the village of Čertižné or Чертіжне, which is found just about in the center of this map. It, and other villages from which I have information are marked with red on this map. [the map will have to be expanded to see that information].

I have only two confirmed images of the costume of this village. The first is a drawing from the village website, the second is a traditional woman's shirt, called oplecko. This one is long sleeved. It seems short sleeves were also worn.

Here are a few stage images which seem to be from this area. This is the Slovak performing group Zeleziar.

I will show an assortment of embroidery designs which were specifically gathered in this village.

The source which i have only shows cross stitch designs. Free form floral satin stitch embroidery is also done in this region. I hope that these will be useful to someone.

I should mention that the diagrams are schematic; do not take the hues shown too literally, the printer had limited choices available. If you want to reproduce these designs, adjust the shades to get the effect that you want.

This first group are taken from household linens: pillowcases, tablecloths, breadbasket covers and wedding towels.

This second group are taken from men's shirts.

These designs are from children's chemises

This one design is from a woman's vest [laibyk or zhivotik]

This last and largest group are taken from women's shirts and chemises.

These last two are obvious Art Nouveaux designs which have been reprised.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you found this interesting, and that you will be able to use these designs in your embroidery.

Rusyn songs sung by the Slovak Group Zeleziar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1FGXlTERHI

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Paul Markovic, 'Vyšivky' , Prešov, 1964

Hello all,

Today I would like to talk about yet another unique embroidery tradition of the Dnister corridor, This river separates the historic districts of Pokuttia and Podillia. This region is incredibly rich in embroidery techniques. This technique is mostly known for being used on the ends of the ancient woman's headpiece, the peremitka, which is a long narrow piece of linen which is wound around the head and neck of married women. The ends of this garment were always decorated either with a woven design or with embroidery. These ornemented ends were called 'zabir'. The edges were sometimes also ornamented, usually with simple woven designs. Here are some women in Horoden'ka district costume wearing peremitky.

This type of embroidery was used on women's chemises as well, but lasted longest on the zabory because it could be made to look almost the same on both sides.

The image at the top of the article is a good example of this technique, even though the photo is somewhat washed out. I will be using several images which are of rather poor quality, and i apologize that i was not able to find better.
The framework for these designs was laid out in black cross stich, or sometimes stem stich. For the zabir, double sided cross stitch was used. Then colors were filled in with a herringbone or pine type stitch, which started from the center line of the outlined area and extended diagonally to the outer edge. This was often executed in silk thread, and sometimes in metallic thread as an accent..Some of the outlines, and often decorative elements on the edge of the design were done with Holbein stitch.Other stitches were used for the edging, including buttonhole and chain stitch.

Elements which are equilateral end up looking almost like eyelets, but they are not pulled open. The primary colors used are dark reds, edging into maroon and purple with other colors used as accents.

Some designs use stem stitch instead of cross stitch, and are curvilinear. The filling is done in the same way however.

Many designs are symmetrical about the diagonal axis, which is similar to embroidery designs in the Balkans.

And of course, wherever creative embroiderers existed, variations on the technique also existed.

More recently, this technique, as with so many others, was imitated with cross-stitch. Here are two shoulder insets from women's chemises with the same design, one done in rozchokhy, and the other in cross stitch.

And another pair, from zabory.

In fact, it is my belief that many designs in this area with strong black outlines of individual motifs which are today only found in cross stitch were originally executed in rozchokha. It would be interesting to reverse engineer these designs.

I suppose I should mention that some of these designs were deliberately left unfinished so as to more clearly show the structure.
Occasionally you will see a remnant of rozchokha in a cross stitch design.

This technique has today been revived, and is being taught in places like the Uchylyshche in L'viw. New designs using the technique are also being invented. I had such a piece in my personal collection, but it was borrowed and never returned.

This is a beautiful part of the creative heritage of Ukraine and the world, and I would encourage you to try it. This technique has a great deal of potential.

Thank you for reading. I will close with some more images of pieces done in this technique.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Iryna Svyontek, 'Pokuttia Embroideries of Precarpathian Region', L'viw, 2013

Liudmyla Bulhakova-Sytnyk, 'Podil'ska Narodna Vyshywka', L'viw, 2005

O. I. Kubajevych et al., 'Derzhawnyj Muzej Etnohrafiji ta Khudozhnjoho Promyslu AN UkrSSR', Kyjiw [Kiev}, 1976

Hello all,

I recently made a costume for my friend Laura B. who dances with us, and who is very involved with the fight against Epilepsy. This is Laura posing for us in her costume.
The costume which I chose to make is from Castrovillari in Calabria.
The town is in the province of Cosenza, in the north of Calabria, close to the Basilicata border.

For more information about this town, see this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrovillari

They have a very active cultural organization which performs songs and dances from their region, which is one reason I was able to get enough information to make the costume.
They call themselves I Castruviddari, in the local dialect.
http://www.associazioneculturalealdoschettini.it/gruppo.html

The woman's costume comes in two variations, the plain costume which is seen on thewomen in the first row, and the Gala costume, which the women in the second row are wearing.

The more common version is called 'A Pacchjana'.

The foundation garment is the chemise, camicia or 'a cammisa'. this is of white linen. It has a large opening for the head with a point in front, which results in decolletage. Laura wanted hers to be relatively modest. There is no fastening, the neckhole is large enough for the head to pass through.

Wide white lace is gathered and attached around the neck, the ribbon used to gather the lace is tied in a small bow in front. The edge is finished with seam binding. This lace was acquired by Laura in Italy.

Calderini describes the chemise as having a yoke, with the body of the chemise gathered into the yoke. This is how I made it. Back view.

Front view.

The sleeves are very full, and are smocked at the top of the shoulder into the yoke
Calderini's drawing .clearly shows the seam falling on the upper arm, as is typical for traditional garments.

A gusset is of course placed under each sleeve, and the sleeve itself is smocked into a small cuff.

I made the top part of the chemise of white linen which I acquired in Italy some years ago, and the bottom part, which does not show, from a cotton sheet. I also added a narrower strip of lace to the bottom edge, see above.

The main garment is called 'A Cammisotta'. This consists of a short bodice with straps over the shoulder with a very full skirt attached. This is traditionally of red wool. A wide green panel of velvet or satin is attached at the hem. This is faced with white or ecru, and the edge is finished with red seam binding.

Calderini describes the bodice as being hooked, but in her drawing she shows it being laced. Either would work. Laura wanted hers to be laced so as to be flexible in size.

The bodice is ornamented with narrow gold galloon and embroidery. I used a somewhat wider galloon than usual and decided to forgo the embroidery, as it seemed enough. This is the major way in which this costume may be personalized. The edges are finished with narrow green seam binding.

This girl on the left is wearing a costume from southern Sardinia.

A black satin apron, 'U Silanu', is worn with this costume. The size and shape varies somewhat. There is a tendency in many performing groups in many places to make traditional aprons smaller, for some strange reason, refer to the photo at the head of this article, and note the variation. The original apron was rectangular and rather long and full, as are worn with other costumes in the region. The rounded corners, use of less material and shortening are relatively recent innovations. I chose to make this one rather longer and fuller than most seen today. The edge is secured from raveling with a row of trim.

A shawl, 'U Maccaturu' is worn around the shoulders to cover the decolletage when in Church or for other more dignified locations. This is a green rectangle whose edges are bound in red.

In practice, however, this is almost always folded lengthwise in thirds, and hung over the apron ties on the left hip. This habit has become so ingrained that a separate black knitted or crotched cape has become part of the costume for cooler weather.

The hair is generally worn in a bun at the nape of the neck which is decorated with a ribbon.

Today the hair is often worn short. Fine gold jewelry is traditionally worn with this costume.

The second form of this costume is the Gala costume, which involves putting on another layer, and which I will describe in another article.

A quick description of the men's costume, "U Cuzzu", which takes its name from the hat..
"U Cuzzu" consists of:
"U Cavuzu cullu Funniddu", black wool knickers;
"I Vose", gaiters which also cover the shoes, and are buttoned to the knickers at the sides;
"A Cammisa", white embroidered linen shirt;
"U Gileccu", vest made of robust homespun cloth;
"A Sciarpa", colored wool sash;
"U Maccaturo", bandana which is also useful when working;
"A Giacchetta", a short heavy wool jacket;
"A Ggiobba", a sack which when full, makes a man look hunchbacked;
"U Caravisiddu" o "Cappa", A cape of black wool which may have a fur collar.

White knitted stockings and simple moccasins 'cioce' may be worn with this costume, as in many parts of southern Italy.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and useful. I will close with a few more images of this costume.

Ciao a la Laura ed ai tutti quanti!

Here are a couple of videos showing songs and dances from this town:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFB6un4HJ4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKoVDXvINao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Ra6ReoLcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjeEs2qPs3Q

Roman K.

Rkozakand@aol.com

email

Source Material:

http://www.associazioneculturalealdoschettini.it/index.asp

Emma Calderini, 'Il Costume Popolare in Italia', Milan, 1953

Hello all,

I received a request for more information about the costume and embroidery of Ukrainian Bukovyna. I had not yet gotten around to writing about Bukovyna, although I had certainly intended to. Bukovyna is well known in Ukraine for the complexity and colorfulness of their embroidery, as exemplified by the image above.

Bukovyna was established as a province by the Austrian Empire. It is currently divided into two parts, the north held by Ukraine and the south held by Romania. This border imperfectly follows the native population. There are still some Ukrainians south of the border and some Romanians north of it. Here is an old ethnographic map of the Austrian province.

An Austrian man by the name of Kolbenheier went around collecting embroidery samples at the turn of the 20th cent. and published them in 1912. This work was republished in Canada in the 1970's, and today is available on disc. Both Ukrainian and Romanian communites are well represented in this work.
It is possible to distinguish 4 overall styles of embroidery from his work, apart from some exceptional traditions of individual communities.
I Southern [plates 1- 24], which is almost completely Romanian and consists of the counties of Cimpulung, Humora and Suceava,
II Central [plates 25 - 44], which is mixed Romanian and Ukrainian and consists of the counties of Seret, Radiwtsi (Radauti), Storozhynets and Cherniwtsi (Cernauti),
III Northern [plates 45 - 61], which is almost completely Ukrainian and consists of the counties of Zastawna, Kitsman and Vashkiwtsi,
IV Western, [plates 62 - 74] which is completely Hutsul and consists of the highlands in the counties of .Vyzhnytsia, Radiwtsi (part) and Cimpulung (part).
It is well to remember this when accessing this book, which is an extremely valuable resource.

The costume of Bukovyna is more complex than is generally thought, although the same could be said of most costume traditions. Generally speaking, the costume consists of chemise, wrap-around overskirt [obhortka, horbotka, opynka, fota] a sash which holds the overskirt in place, and a headdress of some kind.

The overskirt 'obhortka' consists of a rectangular piece of heavy home woven cloth with stripes at the top, bottom, and both ends which is wrapped around and overlaps in front.The background color is black and this garment varies little from that used in Podillia, except that the woven in designs tend to be more complex and colorful and may include metallic thread. This is usually worn with one or both corners tucked back into the sash.

There are two types of chemise worn with this costume, and it is the embroidery on these which is the main focus of the costume. The two types of chemise are known as morshchanka [gathered] and khlopianka [boycut]. They differ in cut. Both types are used over all of Bukovyna except the Hutsul areas, as well as in Pokuttia and parts of Podillia. Originally the morshchanka was used for dress chemises, and the khlopianka for everyday, but later some areas elaborated the khlopianka into a dress version. Here are the two cuts:

Morshchanka or 'gathered' cut. these show Pokuttian and Podillian embroidery, but the basic cut is the same.

These have an inset, 'ustawka', which is sewn to the sides of the body fields of the chemise, instead of the top, as they are further north. Thus the neck opening consists of both body fields as well as the tops of the shoulder insets, 'ustawky'. The center of the sleeve is sewn to the bottom of the inset, and the sides are then sewn to the body fields. the sides of the sleeve pieces are sewn to each other, with a gusset inserted at the point where they join the body. Untill the 1950's or so, all chemises were made long, although the bottom part was often made of a coarser weave. Some had a collar band, but others were just gathered on a string around the neck which was then used to tie the front opening shut. You can see both versions above.
This cut resulted in some restriction of movement, which was fine for formal and ceremonial occasions, but for work and everyday, women used a cut which was similar to that of the men's shirts. This was known as 'khlopianka', or 'boycut'.

Take another look at the image from the top of the article, and you will see the three part embroidery which is so typical of this entire area. Here is another. These are both morshchanka type, to which I will devote the remainder of this article. I admit that I like this type better, and i think that it should be made more often today.

The shoulder inset 'ustawka' receives the first or top part of the embroidery along its bottom edge and extending perhaps halfway up. The second part, which is usually monochrome, is executed along the top edge of the sleeve, so that the seam between the two pieces is between these two pieces. The third part of the embroidery conists of the vertical or diagonal stripes which cover the rest of the sleeve. Generally the part of the sleeve next to the body is not embroidered, because it does not show.

The top part of the embroidery usually consists of small motifs arranged in rows, separated by lines of cross stitch or braid stitch, often with rows of chain stitch inbetween, either in colors or metallic thread. Sometimes, as in this example above, most of the embroidery is in black and metallics.but more commonly they are very colorful. The Bukovynian women refer to the embroidery of the Podillians just to the north as being 'sad', because it is almost completely black. Oddly, the same is true of much of the embroidery of the Romanians to the south, although the two styles are very different. There are usually vertical rows of motifs embroidered on both the front and back of the chemise top.

This chemise top is from the north around Zastawna, where the middle part of the embroidery is often extremely wide, and the bottom part often forms one large vertical 'tree' with narrow rows of motifs on either side.

As you can see, the techniques used are a mix of cross stitch, outline stitch, flat stitch, chain stitch, hem stitch, seed beads and even sequins.
In Zastawna, the motifs on the top part are sometimes exceptionally large.

The central part of the embroidery varies, but is most often done in a stitch called poverhnytsia or morshchynka. This consists of columns of horizontal flat stitches.
There are two ways of executing this, either bringing the thread across diagonally to the same side of the next stitch, or bringing the thread straight down so that each stitch in a column is made in the opposite direction. Here are examples of both, front and back. The one example has skipped every other thread so as to make the stitching clearer.

Sometimes other techniques are used for the middle embroidery, but it always forms a contrast to the rest of the composition. In this case being whitework with spots of other colors.

The bottom part of the embroidery usually consists of two different diagonal designs which alternate. Take another look at the various images in this article.

As in the rest of the Carpathian area, sheepskin vests are also worn here. Both hip length vests not dissimilar to the Hutsul style 'kozhushok' or 'keptar' and also longer ones are worn. The longer ones are called mintian, and are cut on an angle so as to flare towards the bottom. Uniquely, in Bukovyna the edges of both are often edged not with lambswool, but with the fur of the European polecat [Mustela putorius]. Here are a couple images of the mintian.

Married women wear a peremitka wrapped around the head, sometimes over a fez-like cap.
In Bukovyna, this often has a design woven into the linen of which it is made.

Single girls often wear a cylindrical headpiece called 'karabulia'. This can be decorated in many ways, with paper flowers, beadwork, ribbons and other items.

One of the most unique features of the karabulia is that it is often decorated with the feathery seed heads of a local type of bulrush. These move in the slightest breeze and provide graceful movement to the headdress.

This is where I will stop for today. I will continue discussing variants of the Bukovyna costume in another couple of articles.
Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Yaroslava Kozholan'ko, 'Traditional Dress of Bukovyna', Chernivtsi - Saskatoon, 1994

O. I. Kubajevych et al., 'Derzhawnyj Muzej Etnohrafiji ta Khudozhnjoho Promyslu AN UkrSSR', Kyjiw [Kiev}, 1976

Oksana Kosmina, 'Traditional Ukrainian Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2007

M. Bilan et al, 'Ukrajinskyj Strij', L'viw, 2000

Tetiana Kara-Vasylieva, 'Ukrajinska Vyshywka', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1993

Natalia Kalashnikova et al, 'National Costumes of the Soviet Peoples', Moscow, 1990

V Bilozub et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Art - Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1961

K Matejko, 'Ukrajinskyj Narodnyj Odiah', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1977

Petro Odarchenko et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Costume', Toronto - Philadelphia, 1992

Olena Kulynych-Stakhurska, 'The Art of Ukrainian Embroidery', L'viw, 1996

Lesia Danchenko, 'Ukrainian Folk Art, Leningrad, 1982

M. Uljanova et al, 'The UkrSSR State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1983

Tamara Nikolaieva 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium - Nadija na Renesans', Kyjiw [Kiev] 2005

Eric Kolbenheier, 'Specimen Embroideries of the Peasant Home Industry in the Bucovina', reprinted in Canada in 1974

Lubow Wolynetz, 'Ukrainian Folk Art', The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 1984

Liudmyla Bulakova-Sytnyk et al, 'Zhinocha Sorochka Borshchiws'koho-Zastawniws'koho Prydnistrovia', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2012

and likely others which I have missed

Hello all,
Today I will follow up my article on the morshchanka type of shirt by focusing on embroidery designs from Zastawna county, Cherniwtsi oblast, Bukovyna, Ukraine.
The motifs of many of these designs are extremely unique, one might even say bizarre.
Some of them look like they could have been the inspiration for Atari Space Invaders.
They resemble no other embroidery tradition in either Ukraine or Romania, although they do have some Balkan elements.
I have no explanation as to where they come from, except as a result of the imaginative creativity of a local community.

These designs originated on the top part or inset embroidery of women's chemises.
They include a framework of black cross stitch and outline stitch, the fields of which are filled in with colored cross stitch, flat stitch, seed beads, flat sequins or chain stitch with metallic gold and silver thread.

The seam between the inset and the sleeve is visible in this image above. The top of the sleeve has a monochrome design usually done in brick or bargello stitches laid in columns. The lower part of the sleeve has either vertical or diagonal stripes, or a large vertical 'tree' with narrow designs on the sides.

The central strip of embroidery may also be executed in other techniques, although it always forms a contrast to the rest of the embroidery.

Many of the motifs are outlined, and have hooks around the edges. Spot designs of this type are lined up to form stripes on the fronts and backs of the chemises, as well as framing the trees on the lower sleeves. These types of designs are also used as borders on household linens, dresser scarves, basket covers and the like. The many hooks sometimes give them an insectoid aspect. The next three designs are from the village of Chorny Potik.

These motifs may also be placed so as to form diagonal stripes, often between the branches of the tree on the lower sleeve, as here.

This type of embroidery has recently become popular in other parts of Ukraine, especially for tablecloths and such, many based on spot motifs. It is well known that the style of embroidery is Bukovynian, however.

The trees on the lower sleeve often feature flat stitching in a very attractive manner.

And sometimes other techniques. Filling designs with chain stitch is very common.

I will finish with some more images of this embroidery.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and inspiring. I urge you to take this embroidery and incorporate it into the ornamentation which surrounds you.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

R. Zakharchuk-Chuhaj, 'Ukrajinska Narodna Vyshywka Zakhidni Oblasti URSR', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1988

Liudmyla Bulakova-Sytnyk et al, 'Zhinocha Sorochka Borshchiws'koho-Zastawniws'koho Prydnistrovia', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2012

Yaroslava Kozholan'ko, 'Traditional Dress of Bukovyna', Chernivtsi - Saskatoon, 1994

O. I. Kubajevych et al., 'Derzhawnyj Muzej Etnohrafiji ta Khudozhnjoho Promyslu AN UkrSSR', Kyjiw [Kiev}, 1976

Oksana Kosmina, 'Traditional Ukrainian Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2007

M. Bilan et al, 'Ukrajinskyj Strij', L'viw, 2000

Tetiana Kara-Vasylieva, 'Ukrajinska Vyshywka', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1993

Natalia Kalashnikova et al, 'National Costumes of the Soviet Peoples', Moscow, 1990

V Bilozub et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Art - Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1961

K Matejko, 'Ukrajinskyj Narodnyj Odiah', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1977

Petro Odarchenko et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Costume', Toronto - Philadelphia, 1992

Olena Kulynych-Stakhurska, 'The Art of Ukrainian Embroidery', L'viw, 1996

Lesia Danchenko, 'Ukrainian Folk Art, Leningrad, 1982

M. Uljanova et al, 'The UkrSSR State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1983

Tamara Nikolaieva 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium - Nadija na Renesans', Kyjiw [Kiev] 2005

Eric Kolbenheier, 'Specimen Embroideries of the Peasant Home Industry in the Bucovina', reprinted in Canada in 1974

Lubow Wolynetz, 'Ukrainian Folk Art', The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 1984

Hello all,
Today I will continue my discussion of Bukovynian costume. The other type of chemise used in Bukovyna is called khlopianka, or 'boycut', because it is similar in cut to the men's shirt.
This cut may be seen in this image above. Because the sleeves are sewn to the body of the shirt at right angles, it provides greater freedom of movement. Thus it was used for everyday and working garments. In Ukraine, even everyday garments had at least some embroidery. You can see here there is a strip of embroidery along the seam where the sleeve meets the body, a little around the front opening, and along the sleeve ends. This photo was taken in the 1950's, and you can see that it is a more recent garment by the floral embroidery, the somewhat shortened sleeves and the crotched edging on the sleeves, and likely the neck opening as well.She is also wearing a obhortka with rather plain stripes.
Here is the cut of the khlopianka.

Here is another example of rather modest embroidery of a geometric design. Unusually, both the hem and the sleeve end embroideries have been shifted away from the edges. they should be very close to the edges of the garment. This type of chemise rarely has a cuff. note the short sheepskin vest with floral embroidery.

During the 20th century, the khlopianka began to be the recipient of embroidery which was both simplified and more extensive, the entire sleeve and front sometimes being treated as fields for embroidery. One can distinguish 5 different types, with hybrids also being found. Some of these were no longer confined to Bukovyna, but began to spread and hybridize with the chemises of Podillia and further.

1. The 'tree' typical of the bottom part of the sleeve of the morshchanka extends all the way to the shoulder seam, with the top two parts lost. Usually there is a crosswise strip of embroidery on the body field just above the seam. You can see this diagramed on the schematic above. Sometimes it had a cuff as did the morshchanka. This might be considered to be a hybrid with the morshchanka chemise.

2. Geometric cross stitch embroidery used. This was part of the general spread of cross stitch only designs across western Uraine in the early to mid 20th cent. Typically the designs used combined the Bukovynian love of color with the Hutsul and Podillian type of dense geometric embroidery designs. The shape of the neck opening was sometimes made square because of the use of cross stitch designs. this type of chemise was also made in west Podillia at the same time.

This last image shows type 1 on the left, and type 2 on the right. This chemise on the right also shows a fad which was popular in the late 20th cent., which is embroidery based on blue, which was never a major color in traditional embroidery.

3. Silk embroidery with cutwork. This is usually done in ecru, straw or light yellow. The cutwork is done in grids with the outer edge bound in satin stitch, and the interior grid completed by simply wrapping the remaining threads. This has some similarity to Sniatyn embroidery, but the execution is very different. The cutwork areas offten form a background to the actual design. Often this is combined with other types of embroidery as in these two examples, which combine it with geometric embroidery. Again, I am at a loss to explain the origin of this type of embroidery, as it resembles no other style of embroidery in the region closely. It is admired, and has spread to other nearby regions.

4. In the mid to late 20th cent. floral embroidery became popular. I personally am not fond of this, as floral embroidery often tends to be very generic. Cross stitched flower embroidery pretty much looks the same no matter where it is from. Some of this embroidery could easily be Berlin work, or from Mexico, for that matter.

In spite of this, some of these have an undeniable beauty of their own, and this type of embroidery has spread out of Bukovyna as well.

Most of these chemises, however, are executed in a type of counted satin stitch, which I personally find much more interesting.

5. The last type of chemise which I am covering today has a very similar type of design, but instead of being embroidered, the motifs are made of beads. These today are extremely popular, and have spread over a large part of Ukraine. You will sometimes see these labelled as 'Hutsul wedding shirts', but in fact they started in Bukovyna, where beads have long been used as a minor part of the morshchanka embroidery.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and useful.
I will close with just a few more images.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Myroslava Kot, 'Ukrajin'ska Vyshyta Sorochka', Drohobych, 2007

R. Zakharchuk-Chuhaj, 'Ukrajinska Narodna Vyshywka Zakhidni Oblasti URSR', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1988

Liudmyla Bulakova-Sytnyk et al, 'Zhinocha Sorochka Borshchiws'koho-Zastawniws'koho Prydnistrovia', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2012

Yaroslava Kozholan'ko, 'Traditional Dress of Bukovyna', Chernivtsi - Saskatoon, 1994

O. I. Kubajevych et al., 'Derzhawnyj Muzej Etnohrafiji ta Khudozhnjoho Promyslu AN UkrSSR', Kyjiw [Kiev}, 1976

Oksana Kosmina, 'Traditional Ukrainian Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2007

M. Bilan et al, 'Ukrajinskyj Strij', L'viw, 2000

Tetiana Kara-Vasylieva, 'Ukrajinska Vyshywka', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1993

Natalia Kalashnikova et al, 'National Costumes of the Soviet Peoples', Moscow, 1990

V Bilozub et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Art - Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1961

K Matejko, 'Ukrajinskyj Narodnyj Odiah', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1977

Petro Odarchenko et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Costume', Toronto - Philadelphia, 1992

Olena Kulynych-Stakhurska, 'The Art of Ukrainian Embroidery', L'viw, 1996

Lesia Danchenko, 'Ukrainian Folk Art, Leningrad, 1982

M. Uljanova et al, 'The UkrSSR State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1983

Tamara Nikolaieva 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium - Nadija na Renesans', Kyjiw [Kiev] 2005

Eric Kolbenheier, 'Specimen Embroideries of the Peasant Home Industry in the Bucovina', reprinted in Canada in 1974

Lubow Wolynetz, 'Ukrainian Folk Art', The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 1984

Hello all,
In my last two postings I concentrated on the Bukovynian chemise. Today I will talk a bit about the overskirts of the Bukovynian costume. I have already mentioned the Obhortka [Horbotka], which is the oldest form of overskirt used in Bukovyna. In some places it continues to be part of the festive costume to this day. The word 'obhortka' literally means 'that which wraps around', and horbotka is derived from it as a sort of folk dyslexia. Horbotka is admittedly easier to say. The two girls in the center of the above photo are both wearing obhortkas, the one on the left with the left corner tucked up, and the one on the right with both corners tucked up.
This is the old style of obhortka, which wraps around further than they tend to today. Often today the hem is shortened as well, under the influence of general fashion. You will notice that the woven ornament consists of very narrow, wide spaced stripes. the middle part, which is worn in back, is plain black. The obhortka is woven of wool and is very heavy and stiff. This is why at least one corner is gernerally tucked up, so as to provide freedom of movement. Jan Brett, in her illustrated version of the Ukrainian folk story 'The Mitten', draws this costume, but has the obhorta in a soft material which drapes. This is one of many incorrect details of her drawings in that book. The two girls on the sides of the above photo are wearing a different type of overskirt called the Fota. I will talk more about that later.
In the 20th cent. the obhortka began to change; the stripes became wider while their spacing remained the same, so that the black spaces between the stripes became narrower. The horizontal bands on top and bottom became somewhat wider as well. Often they were different, so that it could be worn either way, and so would look like different garments.

Later on, the stripes were sometimes woven with designs, at first geometric, then later stylized floral designs.

Still later, you can find overskirts which have abandoned the stripes altogether.

This photo above was taken in the 1930's. You can see that under the influence of city fashion, sometimes the hem was shortened. This was taken to further extremes in the 1960's. More recently, there has been a tendency to go back to the longer hems.
Because the population of central Bukovyna, around the border, is ethnically mixed, you will find Romanian influence, and in fact, the costumes of the Romanians and Ukrainians of that area are almost identical. But one style of obhortka, which features an ornamental band around the hem, which then turns the corner to come up the front is undeniably a result of Romanian influence from further south, as it greatly resembles those worn in Muntenia. You can see one in this photo, which i believe is of a Romanian couple. You will sometimes see Ukrainians wearing this today as well. This type of obhortka is woven thinner and is worn shorter, so is usually not tucked up.

Here is a video of the popular Bukovynian singer, Sofia Rotaru, she is of Romanian origin but here is singing in Ukrainian. She is shown visiting Bukovynian peasant houses, and trying on various costumes of the region. The one she is wearing at 2:54 is from central Ukraine, the one at 2:48 looks very Romanian, but is not from Bukovyna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCI2UOsI6Y4

The second type of overskirt used in Bukovyna is called Fota. It appeared around 1850. Here is a drawing by Kul'chytska done in the early 1930's. Also notice she is wearing two kerchiefs, a large black one tied in back, and a small white one worn under the chin and tied on top of the head.

The fota was also woven of wool, but was thinner and more flexible than the obhortka. It resembled a thin bedspread. It was just barely wide enough to wrap around, and had little or no overlap. It was about the same height as the woman, so was worn doubled over, or sometimes cut in half. It had the warp gathered into tassels at the hem, and featured wide horizontal stripes.

The fota was worn in three different ways. The first way is by itself, as you see in the above three images and on the left in the image at the head of the article.
The second way of wearing a fota is with rantukh. Take a checkered shawl with fringes, fold it on the diagonal, and tuck it into the sash in front, over the fota. The girls in the first photo are from Kitsman.

The third and apparantly the most common way of wearing the fota is with fusty or kryla; 'wings' .The 'kryla' are kerchiefs which are folded in four lengthwise and tucked under the sash from underneath. Often this was a second sash worn over the first one which secured the fota.One was worn on either side, or a kerchief would be cut in half, and each half sewn down in this form permanently, which many times was ornamented with ribbons, galloon and perhaps beadwork, and the top folded over and sewn to be able to slide over the sash. These provided movement while walking or dancing which was absent when wearing the tightly fitting obhortka or fota. These were also sometimes worn with the obhortka.

The third type of overskirt worn in Bukovyna is called riklia. This is found in two forms. Originally it was apparantly a bodice which opened in front and had a gathered skirt attached. This is perhaps an intrusion of city fashion, or maybe has some connection with a similar garment worn in parts of Russian/Soviet Moldova, although that seems unlikely.

This form has almost completely disappeared, today being found only as part of the wedding costume of the village of Toporiwtsi. The second photo is of a wedding in Toporiwtsi in the 1040's.
In the 20th cent.in most places the bodice disappeared, and the riklia takes the form of a gathered skirt. This makes the entire costume look much more generic, but this garment has the advantage of being easy to make, because it is made of commercially available cloth and does not need to be home-woven, and it provides a satisfying swish when moving.
It is made of either solid colored cloth or a floral print, either or which may be decorated with ribbons or bands of lace.

Today, all three types of overskirt can still be found in Bukovyna.
Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Myroslava Kot, 'Ukrajin'ska Vyshyta Sorochka', Drohobych, 2007

R. Zakharchuk-Chuhaj, 'Ukrajinska Narodna Vyshywka Zakhidni Oblasti URSR', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1988

Liudmyla Bulakova-Sytnyk et al, 'Zhinocha Sorochka Borshchiws'koho-Zastawniws'koho Prydnistrovia', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2012

Yaroslava Kozholan'ko, 'Traditional Dress of Bukovyna', Chernivtsi - Saskatoon, 1994

O. I. Kubajevych et al., 'Derzhawnyj Muzej Etnohrafiji ta Khudozhnjoho Promyslu AN UkrSSR', Kyjiw [Kiev}, 1976

Oksana Kosmina, 'Traditional Ukrainian Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2007

M. Bilan et al, 'Ukrajinskyj Strij', L'viw, 2000

Tetiana Kara-Vasylieva, 'Ukrajinska Vyshywka', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1993

Natalia Kalashnikova et al, 'National Costumes of the Soviet Peoples', Moscow, 1990

V Bilozub et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Art - Clothing', Kyjiw [Kiev] 1961

K Matejko, 'Ukrajinskyj Narodnyj Odiah', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1977

Petro Odarchenko et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Costume', Toronto - Philadelphia, 1992

Olena Kulynych-Stakhurska, 'The Art of Ukrainian Embroidery', L'viw, 1996

Lesia Danchenko, 'Ukrainian Folk Art, Leningrad, 1982

M. Uljanova et al, 'The UkrSSR State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art', Kyjiw [Kiev], 1983

Tamara Nikolaieva 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium - Nadija na Renesans', Kyjiw [Kiev] 2005

Eric Kolbenheier, 'Specimen Embroideries of the Peasant Home Industry in the Bucovina', reprinted in Canada in 1974

Lubow Wolynetz, 'Ukrainian Folk Art', The Ukrainian Museum, New York,

Hello all,

I feel that I have neglected a couple of European countries, and I wish to remedy that. Today I will take a deeper look at one of the costumes of Sweden which has a distinctive embroidery tradition. Embroidery is not as common in Swedish folk costume as it is in some other countries, like Norway for example, but it does occur in some localities. Swedish costume in general is more linked to decorative weavings and printed cloth.

Dalarna, in Latin Dalecarlia, is a center of Swedish folklore. It is one of the places where folk costumes survived the longest, And indeed in some parishes are still used in an unbroken tradition. Each parish had its own costume, some of which had fallen into disuse, but have now been revived. In contrast to regions where the local costume had to be reconstructed, and which have only one or two recognized variants, in places such as Leksand where it is a living tradition, there are many variations. In Leksand, these oral traditions were codified and written down in 1923. These specified, for example, which of nine apron colors was to be worn for which Church holiday or season [in Church]. Dalarna has also preserved some very old distinctive dialects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalecarlian_dialects

The family at the head of the article are wearing one version of the festive non-Church costume, considered appropriate for playing music and for dancing. The hems of both the mother and daughter are extemely short, reflecting the period of the 1960's and 70's. In general the hems have since come down again. This costume is worn in the parish of Leksand and the neighboring parish of Siljansnäs. They are shown in yellow on this map, at the heart of Dalarna on lake Siljan.

There are several variants of this costume, many of which are only seen in church. I will only describe a few, as I have limited space, and I have little information about the church costumes.
The foundation garment for women is a linen chemise, särk. In Leksand the chemise is sleeveless and has straps over the shoulder. It is a couple of inches shorter than the skirts.
The woman on the left in this first image is from Leksand.

In Leksand, both married women and unmarried girls divided their hair in two parts, each part is wrapped in red wool ribbon, and then pinned around the back of the head as a foundation for the headpieces.

The shirt, överdel, is collarless, hangs to just about the waist and has sleeves set in at a right angle. The sleeves are smocked into wristbands. These are embroidered in more festive garments, and are closed with a ribbon. The neck opening is closed with a ring brooch.

There may be a band of embroidered linen set in between the body of the shirt and the sleeves, and the entire shirt may be of a fancy weave, as in this example. This would be a very formal shirt.

This fine, counted thread satin stitch embroidery is one of the 4 types used in the leksand costume.
The motifs used are geometrical, and based on diagonal lines, being of the same type of design as is found in inkle weave sashes. This allows for a great variety of designs. The edge of the cuff is finishes with nuggor. This is made by executing a row of hemstitching, then folding the cloth right along the middle of it. The gathered groups of thread thus form 'picots' along the edge. The edge is then sewn down with an overcast stitch in fine thread to secure it.

This example is twice as wide as a usual woman's wristband. Perhaps it is a man's cuff or something else. Men's cuffs had the same sort of embroidery.

This type of embroidery was also used on handkerchiefs, as here, and likely other household linens. The designs used were variations on those shown.

The bodice, livstycke, is separate from the skirt in the Leksand costume. I have been able to document four types. There may be more. They have a rounded front opening, usually rather low as worn today, just above the bust. Most are laced closed on metal loops attached to the front opening, and all feature a padded roll at the bottom, designed to help hold the skirts in place. Here is an older bodice from the local museum. This one is made of a dark silk, and is embroidered with a simple design reminiscent of the head of a maypole. The neckline is rather high.

This garment is also found in living tradition. Here are some images of a woman in mourning attire on her way to a funeral, so she is wearing this dark bodice, and the yellow apron. You can see that it is made of black silk damask.

Here is another piece from the local museum. This is of an everyday work bodice, much worn and patched. It closes with buttons because they are much cheaper. It also has a higher neckline than the dress bodices, which is only practical.

Sometimes in colder weather, bodices made from leather are worn. These are made with the same kind of chamois leather as is used for the men's breeches. They are also sometimes embroidered in the same way, in which case they are called laskat. They hook closed so as to be warmer.

The best known bodices are the red ones, which come in two forms, the sunday and festive bodice, which is red with woven in stripes as in the photo at the head of the article, and the ceremonial, or wedding guest bodice, which is of red damask and may be embroidered in the unique Leksand style.

This embroidery which is found on the women's bodices is also found on the pockets, and on the men's jackets. This style seems to be unique to Leksand.

Older women sometimes make the ceremonial bodice with embroidery from a darker colored cloth.

A mixed linen-wool underskirt is worn over the chemise and bodice. This is called randil, and for everyday wear is the only skirt worn. It is usually red and has horizontal woven-in stripes. For daily wear the randil is worn with a skimp, a leather apron. For the Sunday, Festive and Ceremonial costumes, a full black wool skirt skjorte is worn over the randil.

One more type of skirt is worn in winter which is made of sheepskin. This also may be worn under the Sunday black skirt if needed for warmth.

This costume, like all in Dalarna, has a number of different aprons, förkläde, most of which are only worn in church. These tend to be glazed wool in various colors. We have already looked at the skimp, the everyday leather apron,

and the yellow and black woven apron for funerals and personal mourning. There is a great deal of individual variety in the woven black bands on these aprons. These two women are dressed up and ready for church in their personal mourning tradition. The first is from Siljansnäs, and the second from Leksand, The kerchiefs worn over the bonnet are secured differently in these two parishes, which is one of the very few differences.

There are two additional types of apron which I wish to talk about, and these are the ones most commonly used in Folklore groups. In fact, these are the only two aprons which are considered to be appropriate for dancing. There is the apron shown at the head of the article, which is used for Sunday afternoons and festivals. This is a 'secular' apron and is not worn in church. It has vertical white, black, and red stripes woven into the material, and there are many variations.

All aprons are gathered into an inkle woven band which ties around the waist and has colored pompoms attached to both ends. Older women tend to use more black and less red, and there is a 'half-mourning' apron which replaces the red with blue. .

The young woman on the right above is wearing the secular mourning apron, and the woman on the left is wearing one of the glazed wool church aprons.
The last apron is a dark glazed blue wool with woven bands appliqued to it which is worn for weddings. This is worn for the ceremony and also for the wedding festivities.

A loose pocket, kjolsäck, is worn which is ornamented with applique, and often the same kind of embroidery as is used on the red damask bodice. The same sort of curvilinear motifs are used on the pocket.

Over the skirt and apron, a leather belt with metal ornaments is worn. The first, third and fourth belt in this image are from Leksand, the second from Dalby. Various useful items were often hung from the belt.

Bonnet shaped caps, hatten, are worn with this costume. Single women make them out of colored or printed cloth, see the images in this article. They conisist of two pieces, a rectangle which covers the top and side of the head, and a round piece gathered onto the back. The back fits over the braids pinned to the back of the head, and is secured with a ribbon tied just in front of them. Married women wear a hatte of white linen with a bobbin lace edging in front, and secure it with a 'sootbande', inkle woven with designs in black and white. Here is a closeup of a cap, some bands, and some Leksand bobbin lace.

In winter, leather or sheepskin caps may be worn over these.

White wool stockings are worn, tied with garters above the calf. Black shoes with a tongue that falls over the front are used, decorated with red pompoms on special occasions.

The last clothing item I will talk about today is the shoulder kerchief, the halskläde. For every day and informal occasions, it is of a home woven plaid, or a commercial scarf. Peruse the various images. For Sundays, it is white linen, sometimes edged with bobbin lace. It is secured with a ring brooch, simple ones for everyday. For special occasions the brooch is decorated with silver dangles.

The wedding guest halskläde is ornamented with a very particular type of embroidery in black silk, called svartstick. This style is particular to Leksand. Gagnef and Åhl parishes also have black embroidery on this garment, but each has a different style. Here is an old photo of a wedding in Leksand. The bride and groom are in the center, the bride with a garland of flowers around her shoulders and the groom with a large bouteniere. The attending women are all wearing the embroidered shoulder shawl, and, you will notice, the blue apron with appliqued bands.

Here is a good closeup of the embroidery on the wedding guest costume, both bodice and shoulder shawl, front and back. She is wearing a single woman's cap of calico.

Here is a woman in Sunday afternoon dress embroidering, or more likely just posing with, the embroidered halskläde.

The motifs used somewhat resemble the white embroidery used on the shirt. The stitches used are cross stitch, holbein stitch, and counted satin stitch. There are always three squares in each corner of two different designs, stitching which connects them, and usually the initials of the embroiderer and the year of execution. Within this broad framework there is a variety of detail. Black tassels of the embroidery silk are attached to each corner. Here are a number of examples. You can see that each is different. Sometimes all four corners are embroidered, but more commonly, as the halskläde is worn folded in two, only half of it is embroidered.

Here is an unfinished project of mine in this type of embroidery.

Here is a contemporary dresser scarf done in this style.

I think that I have gone on long enough. I will save the mens costume for another article. Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this interesting and informative. And perhaps you will adapt some of this embroidery to a project for yourself or others. Bring a bit of living Swedish culture into your home. I will close with just a few more images of this costume.

Bride and Groom.

Here you see modern blouses of the era with the rest of the costume traditional, caps, aprons, skirts, pockets, etc.

A pile of marred woman's caps and the bands to tie them.

Roman K.

email: Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/drakter-fran-leksand

http://www.folkdrakt.se/bild/leksand/leksand.htm

Liv Trotzig et al, 'Sockendräkter Dalarna', Stiftelsen Dalarnas Museum, 1976
Iona Plath, 'The Decorative Arts of Sweden', New York / London, 1948
Ingrid Bergman et al, 'Folkdräkter i Sverige', Helsingborg, 2001
Anna Maja Nylen, 'Folkdräkter ur Nordisk Museets Samlingar', Arlöv, 1971
Anna Maja Nylen, 'Swedish Peasant Costume', Stockholm, 1949
Anna Maja Nylen, 'Swedish Handcraft', New York, 1977
Erik Janson et al, 'Levande Textil', Uppsala 1987
Kerstin Ankert, 'Dräkt & Textil i Dalarnas Museum', Dalarna, 2009
Laila Duran, 'Scandinavian Folklore vol I - III', Sweden, 2011-2013 Anna Hådell, 'Svartstick', Stockholm, 1980

The loose pocket is an important item of folk dress over much of Europe, and is especially decorative in Scandinavia. I found a number of sketches of pockets, kjolsäck, from Leksand on the website of the Nordiskmuseet, and I wish to share them here, along with a few photographs. These show a combination of applique and Leksand embroidery. First, the photos.

The following are sketches in the collection of the Nordiskmuseet of pockets from Leksand.

Such bags are used all over Scandinavia, and there are many local traditions as to their ornament.
Here is one example I found online. This photo shows a Leksand apron, but the bag is not. It is embroidered in the style of the parish of Floda, which lies just to the south. You can see that it is very different.

I hope that these will be useful to those who are interested in Swedish Costume.

Source:
http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/katalogkort-leksand

Thank you for reading.
Roman K.

rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
Today I will continue my series on the costume and embroidery of Leksand. I should point out that several of the neighboring parishes in the vicinity of Lake Siljan have costume traditions equally complex and interesting, ie. Floda, Mora, Boda, Rattvik, Gagnef, etc. Today I will look at the mens costume and analyse the Leksand embroidery.

The first item of clothing is the shirt, skjorta. This is of white linen with a wide cuff and collar. I have not found an image of one from Leksand, but here is one from the neighboring parish of Gagnef. It seems to be similar. There is a wide collar with counted satin stitch embroidery and nuggor on the edge. Similar embroidery is on the cuff. The sleeve is smocked into the cuff, and the body of the shirt is smocked into the collar.

Sufficient fullness is achieved around the neck by cutting a T shape along the shoulders, turning the sides out and inserting a rectangle of linen into the opening thus created. These two insets and the body of the shirt, front and back are then collectively smock-gathered into the collar. This is a cut typical of Scandinavia. Note the buttonholes on both the collar and the cuffs. The cuffs are closed by threading a ribbon through these and tying it. The collar likewise, or the collar may also be closed by a ring brooch as for the women. I believe that the collar in Leksand was worn turned down, so that the embroidery would be on the other side. There was undoubtedly individual variation.

As for the women, festive shirts were sometimes made of linen with a decorative weave.

Here is an example of cuff embroidery from Leksand. You can see that it is essentially the same.

The next item of clothing are the breeches, byxor or brackor. They are usually made of chamois leather in the natural color of buttery yellow. They may possibly also be made of vadmal, a very thick homewoven wool. They have the standard cut, with a wide waistband buttoning in front, a fall front opening, and lacing in back to accomodate the need to loosen the waist on demand. They reach below the knees. The cuff opening is laced shut, with a white lace for everyday, and a black lace with red pompoms attached to the ends for dress. While in many places the Empire period resulted in both mens and women's clothing haveing higher waistlines, this did not happen to the byxor from Leksand; the breeches are worn at the hip. In this first image, the boy on the right is from Leksand, the one on the left is from Norra Ny in Värmland

Note the white wool stockings held up by garters of black wool or leather.
You can see some of the details more clearly in this set of breeches from the neighboring parish of Mora. This pair is in gray vadmal and is higher waisted.

Breeches for dress occasions are embroidered, in the same way that women's chamois bodices sometimes are. The motifs echo those of the Leksand embroidery on the outer clothing. I am not sure how this embroidery is done; if anyone has an insight, I would appreciate that information.

The vest, Väst or Livstycke, is of two kinds, chamois leather for everyday, and black wool for dress. It has a standing collar, is hooked or buttoned closed down the front, and has two pocket flaps. The most dressy version has red piping around the openings and pocket flaps. The vest is sometimes shortened under the influence of the Empire period, leaving a gap between the vest and the breeches. This gap may be filled with a wide leather belt, which is ornamented with embossed work.

A neck kerchief, or halskläde is worn with this costume. Sometimes it is a colored square, silk or otherwise, which is rolled and tied around the collar.

For the more formal costume they wear the långkläde, which is a length of linen about 21 x 150 cm which for wear is folded lengthwise to be about 5-6 cm wide. This is embroidered on each end, and may have bobbin lace attached. Each end is often embroidered differently, and it is tied around the neck in such a way that only one end shows, and different embroidery can be shown off at different times.

Here are examples of långkläde from the neighboring parish of Gagnef. Plain white cotton and embroidered linen. The linen embroidery and bobbin lace are of the same type as those used in Leksand.

There are three kinds of hats worn with this costume. For everyday, a knitted stocking cap or a peaked cap, and for festive occasions, a felt hat. This is also worn on the way to and from Church; like all Christian laymen, a hat is never worn in Church. For everyday, a leather apron with a bib is often worn. This is called förskinn, meaning front leather. This has a belt which secures the apron around the waist.

There are three kinds of 'jackets', 'troje' worn with this costume. There is the long sheepskin jacket shown here above, which is worn in cold weather. There is a long plain black wool jacket 'svarttroje' which is worn to Church, sometimes over the sheepskin jacket, if warmth is needed. Here is a man going to a funeral, which is indicated by the women's costumes. The man's costume just tells us he is going to Church.

Here is the cut of both the jackets and the vest. This also shows the garters and gives embroidery patterns for the shirt and jacket.

The most distinctive jacket worn with this costume is the festive jacket, the blåtroja. This means 'blue jacket', and it is supposed to be a midnight blue in color, although it sometimes appears black.

This image shows a man in Leksand costume with a woman in Skåne costume.

This has a hook closure down the front, red piping around the openings and a separate shoulder cap. It also features the typical Leksand embroidery on the shoulders, which extends onto the shoulder cap, and on the front waistline. The shoulder embroidery is the same as that on the women's bodice, but the waist embroidery, while executed in the same technique, is asymmetrical. The designs are all similar, but vary in detail and color, older men tending to opt for less bright colors. These are the same designs used on the women's bodices. This first one is very strange in that the jacket seems to be green, but perhaps the color got shifted.
There is basically one stitch, in Swedish called flatsom, with occasional eyelets, and sometimes stem stitch for outlines and tendrils.

Compare the embroidery on the women's bodices.

This type of Leksand embroidery is also used on the women's kidskin half-gloves, which are part of the ceremonial - wedding guest costume.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this interesting and informative. This unique style of embroidery would be useful for household projects, a runner or a pillow. Bring a bit of old Sweden into your home.

Roman K.

Hello all,

In 1840, Queen Victoria decided to be married in a white gown, and thus started a fad which is still with us. She chose white because she had some lace that she was very fond of, and wanted to use it in her wedding. There was nothing traditional about it. There was at that time no tradition of being married in white. Portraits of the wedding, like the one above, were widely seen and her choice in fashion was copied. All the symbolism attributed to the white gown are later accretions.
People have, of course, always gotten dressed up for their weddings. Often the bride had spent years embroidering parts of her outfit, but generally it was a more colorful and elaborate version of the clothing she would wear on special occasions for all of her life. Very commonly traditional bridal dress incorporated flowers and a crown or wreath of some kind. There was no color considered to be specific for weddings; wedding dresses were often black, or red, but usually very colorful. They were rarely plain white. Also, while some elements, such as the crown, were reserved for weddings, most of the wedding outfit continued to be worn on special occasions. Queen Victoria could certainly afford to have a gown made for just the one occasion, but most people did not.
Many of the so called 'traditions' connected with modern western weddings are in fact recent innovations. Being of Ukrainian background, I find some of them bizarre, and very un-European, such as the veil, the sequestering of the bride from the groom on the day of the wedding, the giving away of the bride, all of which suggest more a middle-eastern mindset in which the woman is treated as chattel, rather than an egalitarian European one.
And of course, many of the 'traditions' are designed to sell things; after all, weddings are big business.
Here are some examples of Bridal outfits from around Europe which are truly traditional. If you have a strong connection to a particular ethnicity or place, I strongly urge you to research your background, and make your wedding more truly meaningful, rather than just another carbon copy of generic western culture. There ARE ways of doing things that do not involve dressing up like Queen Victoria.
Please enjoy the following selection, which, by the way, is far from exhaustive. There are many more.
I found so much material that I decided to only do a quick scan of western Europe.

Saami

A Saami bride borrows many silver brooches to wear on her silk shoulder scarf. A crown, as in other parts of Scandinavia, is also worn.

Norway

In Norway, crowns come in two forms. The more common is shaped like a stereotypical crown, like this very large example from Hardanger in Hordaland.

Here are other examples from Valdres;

and East Telemark, which also includes a special white apron and an embroidered cloth over that.

In Setesdal, the crown is shaped more like a tiara. Here they also have a special white apron with a colored silk one over it. The bridal outfit also includes a red frock worn over the normal white and black ones.

The second type of crown is flat, with silver dangles and is highly embroidered or beaded. This type is found in Voss

and in West Telemark

There are, of course, many other local variations.

Sweden

Skåne

A very common bridal accessory is a wreath or crown of imitation or real flowers, here made of colored feathers.

Rättvik, Dalarna

She is wearing both a small crown and a flower cap. He is wearing a lace collar which is not part of the typical man's dress outfit.

Leksand, Dalarna

notice that here the flower wreath is around the shoulders rather than on the head.

Södermanland

Sometimes, as here, the crown is quite small, although it retains the full symbolic meaning.

Värmland

The base of the crown is here hidden by the flowers.

Finland

Wedding in Jomala

Denmark

Wedding in Fanø

Germany

Das Altes Land

The bride is on the right, with the flowers and wings on her cap.

Miesbach, Bavaria

This is the same outfit she would wear on any festive or ceremonial occasion.

Calwer Waldt

Colored blown glass balls are a common feature of German wedding crowns. These are made in the same way as Christmas tree ornaments.

Marburg

A wreath of flowers on the head, and also around the arm.

Scheessel

The bridesmaids as well as the bride wear high crowns decorated with colored blown glass balls and other features. The bride also has a white lace fichu and a white apron.

Bad Nenndorf

Gutach, Schwarzwald

The bride is on the left. The basket shaped crown is typical for southwest Germany and parts of Austria

France

Savoie

The bride and groom are marked here by the boutonnieres with ribbons attached. This is found in many other places in Europe as well.

St. Pierre and Miquelon

Upper Savoy

Alsace

Normandy

French Flanders

Provence

Portugal

Minho

Douro

Beira

Algarve

Estremadura

Spain

Laguartera

Burgos

Salamanca

Toledo

Valencia

Italy

Scanno, Abruzzo

Arbereshe

Sardinia

In the south of Sardinia, a traditional part of the wedding is the 'chaining' of the bride and groom.

Austria

Here is an example of a modern style formal Austrian dirndle considered to be appropriate for a wedding.

Thank you for reading, I will finish eastern Europe in another article, as I have simply found too much material to cover.
I hope that you have found this interesting.

rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Debionne/Meissner, 'Die Schoensten Deutschen Trachten', Munich, 1987
Gisela Wulff, 'Luettje Burdeern von'n Doerpen', Germany, 1979
Tomaz Ribas, 'O Trajo Regional em Portugal', Braga, Portugal, 2004
Heidi Fossnes, 'Norges Bunader og Samiske Folkedrakter', Oslo, 1994
Laila Duran, 'Scandinavian Folklore vol I - III', Sweden, 2013
Caroline Brancq, 'Les Costume Regionaux d'Autrefois', Paris, 2003
Rode de Basso Prouvenco, 'Le Costume Populaire Provencal',
Radost Ivanova, 'Traditional Bulgarian Wedding', Sofia, 1987
M. Veleva, 'Bulgarski Narodni Nosii vol 1 - 4', Sofia,

Hello all,
today I am returning to Telemark, one of the richest provinces in terms of folk art and costume in Norway.

Telemark has three costume areas, West Telemark, East Telemark and Tinn. I have already covered one version of the costume of West Telemark. Today I will do the same for East Telemark. East Telemark consists of the east half of the province, minus Tinn.

There are three versions of the East Telemark costume for both men and women. These are not associated with different regions, but rather with different historical periods. The costumes became progressively simpler with time. The costume of the first half of the 19th cent. is known as Raudtrøjefor women, and Snippekufte for men. Here is a historical drawing of these. Very attractive, and I will write about them in the future.

The costume of the second half of the 19th cent. is known as Beltestakk for women, and Gråtrøjefor men. This is the costume which I will focus on today.

The costume of the first part of the 20th cent. is known as Stakk og Liv for women and Rundtrøje for men.

This last costume was worn daily in some places up to 1970. Starting in the 19teens the older forms of the costume began to be revived, as the entire nation began to focus on folk art as part of their identity, and began to appreciate the beauty of the older forms of the bunads.
It is very fortunate that there exists a rich storehouse of material to draw upon.

Beltestakk and Gråtrøje are possibly the most popular versions of the bunads worn today. While not as elaborate as the older forms, they are still impressive, and are cheaper because of the relative lack of embroidery. These two costumes should be paired. One does see the Raudtrøje paired with the Gråtrøje, and this is not technically wrong, as the men switched costumes about a decade earlier than the women, but the Raudtrøje really should be paired with the Snippekufte, which has recently become more available.

As is usually the case, the foundation garment is a linen chemise, serk, in this case, sleeveless. Here is an example from an old doll.

Over this is worn a shirt, skjorte. This is short, since it is worn over a chemise, and has a high standing collar. The cuffs and collar usually have buttonholes on either side and are fastened by collar pins and cufflinks. Later shirts sometimes had a cloth tie for the cuffs. Here are a couple of cuts for the skjorte.

The collar is embroidered, and usually the cuffs as well. In earlier examples, as with the Raudtrøje, the front was also embroidered. The shirt is the same in both costumes, except there was more embroidery on the earlier ones. Heavily embroidered shirts are now often worn with this costume as well, although they are really a feature of the Raudtrøje. There is an incredible variety in the embroidery, and I will have to devote a separate post to them. Here are just a couple of examples.

Today, often the skjorte is made of plain linen, and the embroidered collar is a separate piece. These are called krave.

In the latter part of this period, and even today, the skjorte is sometimes replaced by the untertrøje, which literally means 'underjacket'. This is essentially the same garment, but instead of linen or cotton is made of commercial printed cloth. It has no embroidery, but sometimes has a jabot attached to the front. This may be calico, gingham or other material, sometimes even velvet.

As originally worn, there is an underskirt. This is clear if you look at the old photos, the volume of the skirts cannot be achieved without at least one. Here is a closeup of an old doll, which clearly shows the wool underskirt, the chemise, and also bloomers.

Aagot Noss says that the underskirt, understakk, is also called the gray skirt. It is made like the regular skirt but not as full, of either vadmal [homespun wool] or a linsey-woolsey. It is unclear to me whether it was fastened at the waist or hung over the shoulders like the regular skirt. I have found no good images of it.

The topskirt is very full, and usually of black vadmal, or sometimes in red for brides. It is gathered into a very short bodice called the overliv, this being the height of the Empire period. The overliv was often made of damask, brocade, or other fancy fabric in many colors, and trimmed with ribbons.

Some were cut straight across, like this one.

Others were cut on a curve, so that the sides were lower under the arms.

Occasionally, the overliv was embroidered, on the base fabric and sometimes on the ribbons. This did not happen as often as with the Raudtrøje.

The skirt itself, stakk, was smock-gathered into the bodice, with an opening and a flat area in front. Sometimes silver lacing hooks were sewn to the bodice, which were never used.

Often a facing was sewn over the top edge which was sewn to the overliv. This produced a ridge at the seam.

The hem of the stakk varied from full to very full. There was invariably a thick multilayered facing, skoning, sewn to the hem. This was cut in a circular shape to stand out from the rest of the skirt in a bell shape. 4 m is likely the smallest The outside was sewn with a finer material, and was trimmed with at least one row of ribbon or contrasting cloth.

The apron, forkle, was wide enough to cover the front of the stakk. It was gathered or pleated at the top to the width of the flat area. The edges were bound with ribbon, a narrow woven band was sewn to the top edge to form a tie, these often had tassels on the ends. These were wrapped all around the waist and were tied in front. A wide ribbon or decorative cloth applique was applied to the bottom edge and continued up the sides for a short length. This band was faced on the back with another layer of material.

The apron-ties, forkleband is inkle-woven in the same kind of designs as are used all over northern Europe from Sabme through Scandinavia, the Baltics, to Estonia and even the Komi areas and Siberia. Typically they have a center design with two narrow edge designs. The main colors are traditionally red and white with some black on the edges.

The decorative panel on the bottom hem, the forklebord, is usually made of decorative ribbon or appliqued material. These can be in almost any color.

They were, however, sometimes embroidered. Here are just a couple of examples. Here is an old photograph of a man in Rundtrøje with a woman in Beltestakk wearing a jacket and an embroidered forklebord.

The stakk was belted with a very wide, rather thick sash, the Belte, for which this costume is named. It is card-woven, and quite long. The ends generally are pinned in place, and the fringes are tucked behind the sash on both top and bottom. The colors are planned to harmonize with the ornament on the rest of the costume.

The traditional hairstyle is the same for all three versions of the costume. The hair is parted down the middle, and the loose hair is divided into two. The middle of an inkle-woven band similar to that used as apron ties is wound from the center back of the head around the loose bundles of hair. The two wrapped bundles of hair are wound around the top of the head to the other side, and when they meet again at the back, the two ends of the band are tied together, and the tasseled ends are allowed to fall in back. Here is a woman in Raundtrøje showing how this looks. She ended up with one long end and one short end.

With the advent of short hair styles, this is now sometimes imitated by wrapping the band around a length of cord which is fastened in a double loop and may be simply placed on the head.

Silk kerchiefs became very popular towards the end of the 19th cent. Some were worn around the neck inside or outside the collar. Others were worn on the head over this hairstyle. Typically the ends were wound around the back of the neck and then twisted and brought up again in front of the wrapped bundles of hair and tied on the top of the head. Sometimes, if not large enough, the ends were tied at the back of the neck and another, contrasting smaller kerchief was wrapped around from the back of the neck to the top of the head and then tied. In this first image, the women have tucked the end of the kerchief in front to show the neck kerchiefs. It normally falls freely as in the second image.

And of course, no Norwegian costume is complete without Sølje, the silver brooches and other jewelry which are part of the ensemble. In Telemark, there occurs a particular style of filligree which is often gold plated. This image above is a good example, and review the other images in this article as well.

If you compare old photographs of the beltestakk with those of the revived costume, you will notice a couple of differences. Firstly, the old ones had somewhat shorter hems, likely so as to show off the embroidery on the stockings, as well as simply being more practical. Secondly, the shoulder straps were often shorter, so the apron and skirt came up over the bust. In the revived beltestakk, the skirt and apron are worn under the breasts. This also has the effect of the belt being worn very near the top edge of the skirt. And thirdly, the old costume generally had embroidery only on the shirt collar, perhaps with tatting or whitework on the cuffs, the revived costume often had embroidery on the cuffs and the front as well, as in the Raudtrøje. Some people are reviving the old form of the costume, so that both are seen today. Here are some examples of each. See also the images above. There are also some old photos which show costumes closer to the revived ones. Things are never so simple.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be informative and interesting.
I will continue to write about this costume in a couple more articles.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Some online resources:
Telespringar, the ancient dance of this regionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XtK4y9khI

another couple, the girl in the revived Beltestakk, the boy in some odd hybrid costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLWgqiaNyC4

Blog of a woman who made a beltestakk, in Norwegian with photographs.
http://kreativinspirasjon.wordpress.com/category/beltestakk/

Norwegian digital Museum, lots of images of old garments.
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/stakk/NF/NF.1930-0043?subjects=%22Folkedrakt,+kvinne%22&search_context=1&count=3379&pos=2

Norwegian costumes are readily available, if expensive. Do a search under Husflid or Heimen,
with the name of the costume in which you are interested. Here are a couple possible sources.
http://www.norskflid.no/bunad/bunader/telemark/oest-telemark-beltestakk-mod-fra-skien/

http://www.heimen.net/Produkt/Aust-Telemark+-+Beltestakk+A82

Source Material:
Aagot Noss, 'Draktskikk i Aust-Telemark', Oslo, 2010
Kari-Anne Pedersen, 'Folkedrakt blir Bunad', Cappelen Damm, 2013
Bjorn Sverre hol Haugen, 'Norsk Bunadleksikon' Oslo, 2009
Kjersti Skavhaug et al, 'Norwegian Bunads', Oslo, 1991
Heidi Fossnes, 'Norges Bunader og Samiske Folkedrakter', Oslo, 1993
Ellen Scheel et al, 'Bunad-Brodering', Oslo, 1997
Janice Stewart, 'The Folk Arts of Norway', University of Wisconsin, 1953
Guvnor Traetteberg, 'Folk Costumes of Norway', Oslo, 1966, 1976
Thorbjorg Ugland, 'A Sampler of Norway's Folk Costumes', Oslo, 1996
Laila Duran, 'Scandinavian Folklore vol I - III', Sweden, 2011-2013

Hello all,

Today I will continue my series on the East Telemark costume by describing the Gråtrøje costume, the men's folk costume of the 2nd half of the 19th cent in East Telemark. This is the most popular of the three versions of that costume today, and is often thought of as THE men's costume of Telemark. You can see it illustrated above, this young man in the Gråtrøje is flanked by two young women in the revived Raudtrøje costume. To be historically correct, the Gråtrøje should be paired with the woman's costume Beltestakk. Gråtrøje literally means 'Gray Jacket', and is named after the distinctive jacket which forms the most unique part of this costume, which is traditionally made of natural unbleached wool.

The shirt, skjorte, is traditionally of linen, but today sometimes of cotton. The cut is essentially the same as the women's shirt, but generally longer, see my previous article. Most of the time it is not embroidered, but as you can see from this image above, sometimes the collar and cuffs are embroidered in a manner similar to the women's shirts, most commonly in cross stitch. The earlier costume had extensive embroidery on the shirts.

Here are some possible embroidery designs for the shirt.

Today either knee breeches, knebukse, or long pants, langbukse, are worn with this costume. Both were in fact known in the 19th cent., the long pants being more common in the latter part of that century.

Both the long pants and the breeches are of black vadmal and are high-waisted. This became more pronounced towards the end of the 19th cent. under the influence of Empire Period fashions. The breeches have a fall front, and are ornamented with many silver buttons and red or green piping. As you can see from the two images above, the long pants may also be so ornamented, or may be plain black.

Early high-waisted knickers.

Later very high-waisted knickers.

Long pants. These tend to be plainer.

All forms of these pants are supported by braces. Notice that each example above has buttons to attach to the braces.

Unless you are going barefoot, as this boy is doing, knitted knee socks, stromper, are worn. These are either white with a knitted-in texture, or knitted with a black and white design.

Finger woven [braided] garters, sokkebande, are always worn with the knee socks. They are not merely ornamental, but serve a practical purpose in holding the socks up. They are tied around the leg above the calf, and the ends are left to hang on the outsides of the knees. They are generally braided in two or more colors in stripes, as shown here.

The older costume, Snippekufte, had woven vadmal stockings which were embroidered, as did the women's costume. These were rarely worn with the Gråtrøje, but here is one example from 1900.

Vests are worn over the breeches and braces. They are either black or dark green, have a standing collar and are double-breasted. They tend to be short, but the exact length depends on how high-waisted the breeches are, overlapping the breeches by a couple inches.Take a look at the various images in this article and you will notice that while modern examples have the two rows of buttons parallel, the older examples have them in somewhat of a V. Also, in the old examples the tops of the vests were buttoned up, and today they are folded down to make lapels.

Here are two photos of local groups taken 110 years apart, the first photo in 1870 and the second in 1980. Take a moment to look at the similarities and the differences.

The jacket is the most distinctive part of this costume. Like the vest, it varies somewhat in length, depending on how high-waisted the breeches are. It is similar in cut to women's jackets of the region, except in opening down the center front, having a high standing collar and long pointed lapels. The base color is the natural offwhite color of sheep's wool. There is a row of buttonholes and buttons down each side of the front opening and appliqued decoration on the collar, cuffs and pocket flaps. Here is an old photograph in front of a church.

If you look carefully at the two men on the far right, you will see that their jackets have extra ornament. The older form of the jacket was plain on the lower front corners and back, like this example.

Tailors later added scrolling rococo applique to these areas. This was combined with topstitching in various colors. Although these jackets look basically similar, close examination will reveal different patterns in the applique. Take a look through the images in this article. Here are closeups of a few of the jackets.

A second variant of this jacket exists from Heddal, in which the ground color is dark green instead of white/gray.

Footwear consisted of various types of sturdy shoes with laces or buckles, or even occasionally boots.

As with the women, silk kerchiefs in verious colors are tied around the neck.

Hats are of two kinds. For more formal wear, round felt hats are worn. for more everyday occasions knitted stocking caps are worn. These have a band of fleecy loops around the edge, and are similar to those worn in neighboring Setesdal.

The silver for this costume consists of cufflinks, collar button, watch chain, a knife which hangs from the waist and the numerous buttons on the garments. A particular square filligree collar button is unique to Telemark.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. I will close with some more images of this costume.

Norwegian costumes are readily available, if expensive. Do a search under Husflid or Heimen,
with the name of the costume in which you are interested. Here are a couple possible sources.
http://www.norskflid.no/bunad/bunader/telemark/oest-telemark-beltestakk-mod-fra-skien/

http://www.heimen.net/Produkt/Aust-Telemark+-+Beltestakk+A82

http://www.almankas.no/Bunadene-v%C3%A5re/Herre/Aust-Telemark

Email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Aagot Noss, 'Draktskikk i Aust-Telemark', Oslo, 2010
Kari-Anne Pedersen, 'Folkedrakt blir Bunad', Cappelen Damm, 2013
Bjorn Sverre hol Haugen, 'Norsk Bunadleksikon' Oslo, 2009
Kjersti Skavhaug et al, 'Norwegian Bunads', Oslo, 1991
Heidi Fossnes, 'Norges Bunader og Samiske Folkedrakter', Oslo, 1993
Ellen Scheel et al, 'Bunad-Brodering', Oslo, 1997
Janice Stewart, 'The Folk Arts of Norway', University of Wisconsin, 1953
Guvnor Traetteberg, 'Folk Costumes of Norway', Oslo, 1966, 1976
Thorbjorg Ugland, 'A Sampler of Norway's Folk Costumes', Oslo, 1996
Laila Duran, 'Scandinavian Folklore vol I - III', Sweden, 2011-2013

Hello all,

The East Telemark costume is known for its embroidery, and also for the elaborate ornament on both stockings and shoes. Above is a photo of the famous Telemark dance teacher, Karin Brennesvik, likely doing Telegangar. You can see the embroidery on the stockings, and a hint of the ornament on the shoes. Here is a closeup of a similar stocking.

Stockings of woven cloth, vadmal, were popular in many places, and were used in Telemark in the mid 1800's. They were superceded for a while by knit stockings, which fit to the legs better, but now the older form is making somewhat of a comeback, as they are excellent for showing off the elaborate embroidery of Telemark.

Aagot Noss has done some impressive research into the folk costumes of Norway, especially Telemark, and has identified three cuts which were and are used to make these stockings. Type 2 has the toe cap knitted and sewn on.

This type of stocking absolutely requires the use of garters to stay up, which are tied around the leg above the calf. The flat field of cloth makes an excellent location for embroidery, however.

The embroidery is of the type called Rosesaum, and is done before the stockings are sewn together. Both the colors and the extent of the embroidery vary.

The stockings, when worn, look baggy to modern eyes, but the embroidery more than makes up for it. Here are some more images of this type of footwear. These are worn with both the Raudtroje and the Beltestakk costumes. The composition of the embroidery is usually similar.

This is part of an antique doll which was meticulously clad in the folk costume.

On the left is an old stocking, and on the right is a modern copy which varies somewhat from the original. I admit to liking the original better.

The shoes were made with cutwork in the leather, black over red, and various other ornaments.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and inspiring.

Email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Aagot Noss, 'Draktskikk i Aust-Telemark', Oslo, 2010
Kari-Anne Pedersen, 'Folkedrakt blir Bunad', Cappelen Damm, 2013
Bjorn Sverre hol Haugen, 'Norsk Bunadleksikon' Oslo, 2009
Kjersti Skavhaug et al, 'Norwegian Bunads', Oslo, 1991
Heidi Fossnes, 'Norges Bunader og Samiske Folkedrakter', Oslo, 1993
Ellen Scheel et al, 'Bunad-Brodering', Oslo, 1997
Janice Stewart, 'The Folk Arts of Norway', University of Wisconsin, 1953
Guvnor Traetteberg, 'Folk Costumes of Norway', Oslo, 1966, 1976
Thorbjorg Ugland, 'A Sampler of Norway's Folk Costumes', Oslo, 1996
Laila Duran, 'Scandinavian Folklore vol I - III', Sweden, 2011-2013

Hello all,

Today I will continue my series on East Telemark costume by talking about the shirts. This garment is called skjorte, and was and is worn by women with both the Raudtrøye and Beltestakkcostumes, and even the Stakk og LIv, but without embroidery, and by men with the Gråtrøje costume. The man's shirt for the Snippekufte and Rundtøje costumes were different.

The earliest known garment of this type which still exists dates back to 1798, and undoubtedly they were made still earlier. The embroidery on these shirts flourished in the 19th cent. It was toned down a bit later with the advent of Pietism and the availability of printed cloth, but was enthusiastically revived in the 20th cent. The drawing above was made in 1844 of Kirsten Olsdatter in Heddal. Here is another drawing of the same woman. She is wearing the old form of the Raudtrøye costume.

You can see in these two images that the shirt is extensively embroidered. I have documented 7 different types of embroidery which are used on these shirts. Here is the oldest known skjorte, which I alluded to above.

The arrangement of the embroidery is substantially the same as is known today, and so is the cut, except that this shirt has shoulder insets like in West Telemark. It is easy to see cross stitch and holbein stitch, holbeinsting, in the embroidery. There are three variants of the cut used for this garment, they are shown here in chronological order, from earlier to later. Notice that the shoulder inset is no longer used.

The skjorte of the early 19th cent.generally have no cuffs, the embroidery being done directly on the sleeve ends, as in the above example. Later the shirts were made with cuffs. For a period in between, for formal occasions, two shirts were worn, one without cuffs being worn over one with cuffs.

Here are a couple more examples of early shirts.

In this one above, we see satin stitch embroidery, but of a somemwhat different style than that seen later.

In this example, the collar is executed in typical East Telemark satin stitch, plattsaum. The front panel is executed in three techniques, from the opening out: needleweave hemstitch, uttrekksaum, thencross stitch, kross-saum, and counted satin stitch, klostersaum. The sleeve end is done in rosesaum type satin stitch.
There are two more common stitches used in this embroidery. Darning stitch and gobelin stitch, gobelinsting. Here is a collar which uses darning stitch, smøyg, alone.

This is an extremely ancient technique which is found in scattered places all over Europe and Asia. In East Telemark it is most commonly combined with gobelin and other stitches.

This is reminiscent of Hutsul embroidery, and yet the effect is different. Sometimes the technique is exactly the same, and the only difference is in the choice of colors.

Here is a collar in progress in gobelin stitch, from front and back.

The standing collar consists of one layer of cloth. The edge is toothed, which is made by executing hemstiched posts and then folding the cloth in the middle of it, and then securing the two edges together. There is a small overlap along the top of the collar.

The embroidery techniques are combined in various ways, and certain motifs recur often. I will use the rest of this article to give you more examples.

Here is an example from 1818 with modest embroidery.

Here above is a sleeve end embroidered in uttrekksaum. The next few images show that the shoulders were also sometimes embroidered.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and inspiring. There are many ideas here which could be used for many types of projects.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Some online resources:

Norwegian digital Museum, lots of images of old garments.

http://www.digitaltmuseum.no/things/skjorte/TEM/TGM-BM.1912:185

Telespringar, the ancient dance of this regionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XtK4y9khI

another couple, the girl in the revived Beltestakk, the boy in some odd hybrid costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLWgqiaNyC4

Blog of a woman who made a beltestakk, in Norwegian with photographs.
http://kreativinspirasjon.wordpress.com/category/beltestakk/

Norwegian costumes are readily available, if expensive. Do a search under Husflid or Heimen,
with the name of the costume in which you are interested. Here are a couple possible sources.
http://www.norskflid.no/bunad/bunader/telemark/oest-telemark-beltestakk-mod-fra-skien/

http://www.heimen.net/Produkt/Aust-Telemark+-+Beltestakk+A82

Source Material:
Aagot Noss, 'Draktskikk i Aust-Telemark', Oslo, 2010
Kari-Anne Pedersen, 'Folkedrakt blir Bunad', Cappelen Damm, 2013
Bjorn Sverre hol Haugen, 'Norsk Bunadleksikon' Oslo, 2009
Kjersti Skavhaug et al, 'Norwegian Bunads', Oslo, 1991
Heidi Fossnes, 'Norges Bunader og Samiske Folkedrakter', Oslo, 1993
Ellen Scheel et al, 'Bunad-Brodering', Oslo, 1997
Janice Stewart, 'The Folk Arts of Norway', University of Wisconsin, 1953
Guvnor Traetteberg, 'Folk Costumes of Norway', Oslo, 1966, 1976
Thorbjorg Ugland, 'A Sampler of Norway's Folk Costumes', Oslo, 1996
Laila Duran, 'Scandinavian Folklore vol I - III', Sweden, 2011-2013

Costume of the Karagouni, Thessaly, Greece

Basque costume of Erronkari [Roncal], Navarre, Spain

The Shawl, an Asian invasion into European Costume

Overview of Swiss Costume

18th - 19th cent. Costume and handwork of Muhumaa, Muhu Island, Estonia

Embroidery designs from the Rusyn village of Čertižné - Чертіжне, Slovakia

Rozchokhy or zabir embroidery of Zalishchyky, Borshchiw and Horoden'ka counties, Ukraine

Laura's costume from Castrovillari, [Castruviddari], Calabria, Italy

Costume and Embroidery of Bukovyna, Ukraine, part 1 morshchanka

Embroidery of Zastawna county, Cherniwtsi oblast, Bukovyna, Ukraine

Costume and Embroidery of Bukovyna, Ukraine, part 2 khlopianka

Costume and embroidery of Bukovyna, part 3; overskirts, obhortka, fota and riklia

Costume and Embroidery of Leksand, Dalarna, Sweden

Kjolsäcken, Loose Pockets of Leksand, Dalarna, Sweden

Mens costume of Leksand, Dalarna, Sweden, and Leksand embroidery

Short Overview of Traditional Bridal Dress in Western Europe

Beltestakk and Gråtrøje, Costumes of East Telemark, Norway part 1

Gråtrøje costume of East Telemark, Norway

East Telemark, Norway, socks and shoes for Raudtroje and Beltestakk

East Telemark, Norway, embroidered shirts for Raudtrøye and Beltestakk

You can see in these two images that the shirt is extensively embroidered. I have documented 7 different types of embroidery which are used on these shirts. Here is the oldest known skjorte, which I alluded to above.

The skjorte of the early 19th cent.generally have no cuffs, the embroidery being done directly on the sleeve ends, as in the above example. Later the shirts were made with cuffs. For a period in between, for formal occasions, two shirts were worn, one without cuffs being worn over one with cuffs.

Here are a couple more examples of early shirts.

In this one above, we see satin stitch embroidery, but of a somemwhat different style than that seen later.