Another Transylvanian church, more embroidery

This church is a few Km away for the church I posted about yesterday. 

The Kalotaszeg region of Romania is famous for this "irasos" or "writing" stitch, here blue is the colour.

www.parna.co.uk

Transylvania, commemerative embroideries

Its been a while since i have posted here. I have just returned from a trip to the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania, Romania and thught I would share some images of embroideries. First up is a church in the small village of Magyarvalko. A beautiful fortifed church on top of a hill in this tiny village.


For more regular upates follow me on facebook

Beautiful, embroidered wall hangings from Transylvania

About Vintage Grain Sacks

Vintage linen grain sacks vary in weight, texture and weave, every piece is slightly different .

Most of our grain sacks date from  before 1939, most are significantly older. Our grain sacks were woven in areas of Eastern Europe with a strong peasant culture. Families would grow their own hemp and or linen, harvest it, prepare for spinning and then weave. Hemp and linen was used to make clothes as  well as household textiles and sacks and cart covers for use on the small holdings. Stripes and or monograms would indicate to the village mill whose grain was being milled. The most common coloured stripes are red or blue. We source from a small number of villages in transylvania where toffee  coloured stripes were woven form thread dyed using  walnut kernels.  Hering bone weaves are more ommon in Romaina, sometimes thes fabrics are dark and very heavy and generally not as attractive as the fabrics thtat were made in hungary, the Ukraine and  some of the Transylvanian villages.

Grain sacks are beautiful textured, versatile fabric. Measurements are for the unopened sacks .  The sacks was made of one piece of  fabric doubled over and hand stitched at the sides  the opening hems. Some sacks have a triangular of rhombode peice of cloth inserted at the opening  with which the sacks could be more easily grasped and may have been used as a pouring spout. Each grain sack is double the stated length if opened out.

Our pinterest page shows vintage grain sacks in use for furnishngs

Embroidered sheepskin waistcoat from Transylvania

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  
• Mens sheepskin waistcoat, decorated with hand sewn cut leather appliqué stained pink and and pale cream, and coloured embroidery in red, green, purple, blue and pink wools..The waistcoat fastens with two leather buttons and loops, Decorated sheepskin coats, jackets and waiscoats were common in  Transylvania and in some areas less highly decorated sheepskin jackets are still worn. I think that this waistcoat is from Hungarian Transylvania, the colours are beautiful and this piece shows an amazing skill and standard of workmanship. Its not in perfect condition, there is wear in some places
• Saxon Trasylvania in particular was well known  for  its furrier workshops in the 19th century. An embroidered sheepskin coat  from Saxon Transylvania can be seen on the British museum website here
• Ref  British Museum

An interesting piece

This is a beautifully worked piece. It belongs to one of my suppliers in Transylvania. Unsuprisingly he is hanging onto it! The lower inscription translates as " sewn in 1916 during the 1st world war"  It's in excellent condition. The pictures could be better but I think they give you an idea

Apafi Manor, Malancrav, Transylvania

This is the first of a few posts focussed on  Transylvania.

Transylvania has a rich folk cultural heritage and  was where my interest in textiles was triggered.  I first travellled to Transylvania in 2007, my  friend Peter Strickland was making a film. We stayed in a traditional village house surrounded by hills and ancient forests. It was  insight into rural life in Transylvania which has held  a  fascination for me ever since. The combination of  dramatic countryside, medieval villages, cultural heritage ( including of course  the textile heritage) and  the simplicity of everyday life makes Transylvania perfect place for retreat from the noise of the city dwelling. You can get an idea of the natural beauty from the trailer of Katalin Varga here

At the end of May I travelled from Budapest to Transylvania. First stop was Sibiu and then
Malancrav, a Saxon village in the heart of Transylvania. There are a number of Saxon villages in this area, they are well  know for their fortified churches.  The Saxon villages in Romania have had a dwindling population since WW2 but particularly since 1989, 90% of the population left, most returning to Germany. Many of these villages were left almost desolate with buildings declining into a  terrible state.

The images above are of and from Apafi Manor in Malancrav.  The manor was bought by Prince Charles and was painstakingly  restored by the  Mihai Eminescu Trust (MET). You can read more about it here. Its available to rent via the MET as are a number of beautifully restored village houses.

A word of caution; the MET are very good at restoring houses but  I wouldn't recommend staying in one of their village  houses.There was a lack of information, for example, we know there was a weaving house but we couldn't find it, no walking maps in English etc, no local produce available. The MET are missing a trick here, there is so much more they could do to make this a better experience.  There are much better places to stay to gain an insight into village life in Transylvania. Here are two of them;

Valea Verde/ has the option of staying in a village house. Jonas is knowledgeable  and  passionate about the village and its people.

Count Kalnoky Estate