The Embroideress

We all came to America. Some came earlier some more recently. Along with us we brought cultural baggage including foods, crafts, dress, language, superstitions and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

Many groups have, over the years, founded cultural museums, libraries, fraternal groups, etc. And now, increasingly, these groups are establishing an online presence. sometimes very sophisticated, sometimes more humble, but almost always interesting.

For a look at Croatian heritage visit the Croatian Heritage Museum and Library pages. The museum located in Eastlake, Ohio mounts exhibits from time to time. One of their past exhibits was textile themed. It centered around the linens a bride might take as a dowry to a new home. A Dowry of Linens and Lace gives us a glimpse of what a traditional bride might have in her wedding chest.

The site has an extensive links page. If you are researching your Croatian heritage there are links to every sort of resource. Also there is a link to regional Croatian costume.

The entry page to the costume links (just click on any region for a look) has a band of folk embroidery that might have come directly from early modelbuchen.

The Bizovac region photograph boasts beautiful black on white embroidery and the headresses of Pag are reminiscent of mediaval headwear.

Labels: Croatian costume, Croatian needlework, Folk Costume, Folk embroidery

An excerpt of the book The History of Serbian Culture gives a little look at traditional costume of the region. Of course, as always, I yearn for larger images, more detail, more more more.

The site of the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade is available in English. They have textiles and costumes of several Eastern European cultures including Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia.

Danica Anderson's e-zine "Awakened Woman" offers an article on The Witches of Bosnia where she references the use of the symbolic spiral in Bosnian embroidery.

For an account of the development of a needlework cooperative during time of conflict read Deb Carpenter-Beck's "Building A New Life Stitch by Stitch"

The Eliznik site is dedicated to Romanian culture, politics and history. For the stitch collector there is a small but very handy table of stitch diagrams, English and Romanian stitch names and a description of each stitch and its customary usages.

As usual, I disclaim all responsibility for your loss of time when you click into these sites and become enchanted and click and click and click.

Labels: Bosnian embroidery, Embroidery stitches, Folk Costume, Romanian embroidery, Serbian embroidery

Although I know little about Eastern European embroidery I was asked recently to help someone learn about it and the stitches used to execute it.

I found very fleeting bits of reference by Pesel, Gostelow and Paine.

Turning to the Web, I found more useful information.

Macedonian Folk Embroidery
George Mitrevski at Auburn University

Photos of folk costume embroidery linked to stitch diagrams.

Macedonian National Dresses
Dusko Koncaliev

Illustrations of a Valley Bridal Dress from the village of Krivogashtani, Prilep region and
Mariovo Mens's Dress from the village of Stravina, Bitola region are augmented with descriptions of the materials and techniques used and the purpose of the individual garments.

The Folk Costumes and Embroideries in Macedonia

This is a rich site with many illustrations organized by regions and with some links to techniques/stitches.

Macedonia Direct

Provides a map of the country's regions and illustrations of the costumes with descriptions of the garments and ornaments that make up the traditional costumes but does not name or illustrate the techniques used to embroider them.

Labels: Folk Costume, Macedonian Embroidery