Antique blouses from the Kalotaszeg region of Romania

Beautiful detail in these antique blouse from one of the Kalotaszeg villages in Transylvania. Romania.  Fine cotton, beautifully smocked/pleated and embroidered over the pleats. One supplier tells me that they used to place  still hot freshly baked bread over the freshly pleated garments to keep the pleats in place. A load of bread instead of an iron! 

Embroidered shoes

Heels apart I love these shoes, embroidered using the traditional Kalotaszeg technique. This photograph was taken in the Ethnographic museum in Budapest just before christmas. Not a very good picture I am afraid as I wasnt able to loose the reflection from the glass display cabinet.
Jeremy at Tezla shoes has agreed to make some trainers from embroidered fabric. We're using a variation of traditional Kalotaszeg motifs hand embroidered on vintage linen. Watch this space!

Hungarian Embroidery (2) Kalotaszeg

Kalotaszeg is a region in Transylvania which was once part Hungary. This area has retained many folk traditions and is famous for , amongst other things its embroidery.

The traditional embroidery from this area is called "written" embroidery, the designs were originally drawn in freehand by the writing woman of the area, who were skilled and memorised many designs. The embroidery was traditionally done on home loomed hemp and in one colour using wool or cotton thread, most commonly red or blue or white.

The second from top image is of one of our cushions, drawn by a writing woman on home loomed vintage hemp and embroidered in cotton. This is a traditional design but embroidered in a non- traditional coloured thread.

The other images are Kalotaszeg embroidery patterns . I was lucky enough to find a book containing hundreds of these, we will be trying some more out soon.

Kalotosezeg embroidery

Kalotoszeg is an area in Transylvania, Romania, most of which was at one time Hungarian. Folk traditions in this area are still abundant. I have been commissioning and sellling cushions embroidered in the traditional " writing stitch" for some time now and they are lovely. This type is called "writing stitch" , as the design is first drawn onto the fabric by the "Writing-Woman." These women drew hundreds of patterns free hand from memory for half their village. I am lucky enough to have found a few experts. Traditionally the pattern was first drawn onto the fabric with a goose feather dipped in water mixed with Soot. Now they use pens! Traditionally embroidered in red ( for marriage gifts) blue or black ( for funerals).

This evening I visited an embroiderer, originally from the Kalotoszeg region, I saw many things woven and embroidered by her mother and grandmother. It was explained to me, that under Cecescau the electricity went out at 20.00 in the evening and they wove and embroidered by candle light as recently as 20 years ago!