Blog

Two months ago, we published a blog on fashion during the communist period in Romania. Today, on Sunday, 26 April 2020, TRC volunteer Heidi Stanionyte from Estonia writes about fashion in Eastern Europe and in her country during the period of Soviet domination (1940-1990/1991):

During Communism, people had a limited choice of clothes to buy. As the Cold War, which started soon after the Second World War, became more prominent in the 1950's, salaries remained low and international trade was limited without access to modern, Western clothes. For instance, the Hungarian Statistical Agency reported in 1956 that Hungarian women could on average afford one winter coat in a decade, one simple dress in three years, and an inexpensive cotton dress once every year.

Hand knitted, woollen jacket, Romania, 1970's and 1980's. Donation Radu family (TRC 2020.0347a). The jacket and skirt were made in the style of the fashion house of Chanel. in Paris.

Hand knitted, woollen skirt, Romania, 1970's and 1980's. Donation Radu family (TRC 2020.0347b). The jacket and skirt were made in the style of the fashion house of Chanel, Paris.

Dyeing with woad. Photograph by Shelley Anderson.On Friday, 24 April 2020, Shelley Anderson wrote:

I have been lucky as a TRC volunteer to have been involved in several Intensive Textile Courses. One of the course’s highlights for me (other than being able to get up close and handling some beautiful textiles), is the section on dyes and dying. It is fascinating to see the incredible range of colours, and the sometimes subtle (and often not so subtle) differences that temperature, mordants or materials can make.

I became curious to explore more and bought some small packets of dye seeds in the TRC shop. My madder (used to make a red dye), alas, didn’t grow well, but the weld (also called dyer’s weed, a plant that has been used to make yellow dye since Roman times) did. What really flourished, and is still flourishing after three years, is the woad. (I learned later that woad is considered a weed in parts of the USA, and millions of dollars are spent in eradicating it). In Europe, the leaves of woad (Isatis tinctoria) have been used to make a blue dye for thousands of years. Woad dyed textiles have been discovered in Iron Age burial sites in Hallstatt (Austria), while seeds have been found in a Neolithic cave in France. Centuries later, woad was also used to make blue pigment in illuminated manuscripts.

The TRC in Leiden is currently publishing a series of embroidery charts. Please click here for more charts and information. They are free to use, so enjoy! If you click on the illustrations below, you are directed to a PDF file, much easier to use, to copy, print and/or enlarge.

Lady Curzon wearing her Peacock Dress, which was decorated with beetlewings.The TRC shop sells an assortment of textile related items, including books, magazines, garments, indigo cloth, beads, and embroidery and sewing tools. The shop also sells beetlewings. TRC Needles contains an entry about this spectacular material and its use for embroidery. Actually, it is not a wing, but the casement that covers the wings of a specific type of beetle that lives, among other places, in South and Southeast Asia. This shiny, translucent material has been used for hundreds of years to decorate clothing and other textiles.

Perhaps one of the most famous dresses decorated with beetlewings is the Peacock Dress, which was worn by Lady Curzon at the coronation ball of the Delhi durbar of 1903 (to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII). The dress is now housed at Keddlestone Hall, Derbyshire, England. 

A few days ago we received a photograph of a piece of (Russian) bobbin tape lace worked by Ria Heemskerk, in The Netherlands, who bought a handful of beetlewings in the TRC shop some time ago. She used it to great effect.

Piece of bobbin lace decorated with beetlewings, worked by Ria Heemskerk.

Sample from the TRC Pepin-Cuvelier collection, 1950's, Tachism movement (TRC 2020.1157).On Wednesday, 22 April 2020, Gillian Vogelsang, director of the TRC in Leiden, wrote the following blog about the Pepin-Cuvelier collection at the TRC:

In a previous blog I described how the TRC recently acquired a large part of the Yves Cuvelier textile collection. In this blog I want to announce that the TRC is preparing an online exhibition about a highly intriguing part of Yves and Geneviève Cuvelier's work. We will set up this exhibition with the help of the Cuvelier family, notably with one of their sons, Antoine Cuvelier (Paris).

Sample from the TRC Pepin-Cuvelier collection, 1950's, Tachism movement (TRC 2020.1190).

The Pepin-Cuvelier collection at the TRC contains nearly 200 abstract, ‘painted’ samples from the 1950's that belong within the Tachism art movement. This was a French artistic development that arose in the late 1940’s and was very popular in the 1950’s. It is part of a movement that is generally known as Art Informel and is very similar (but not identical) to the American Abstract Expressionism.

Art Informel is characterised by ‘spontaneous’ brushwork, drips, blobs and scribbles. It should be noted that some of the designs on the textiles are extremely abstract and consist of lines and blobs. Others are more structured and include checks and lines. There are also examples that are less abstract and for which we can detect the source of inspiration (such as a landscape or flowers).

On Wednesday, 22 April 2020, TRC volunteer Heidi Stanionyte from Estonia wrote:

Muhu is an island in the Baltic Sea and the third largest island of Estonia. The island is well known for its distinctive regional costume and special handicrafts. Distinctive Muhu slippers or shoes (pätid in Estonian) have been made and used for hundreds of years and are considered an important part of dress. Nowadays, the shoes are worn together with the rest of regional costume, but also together with work and everyday activities. The shoes can be worn by men and women.

Pair of Muhu Pätid shoes, Estonia, early 21st century (TRC 2020.0011a-b).

The Muhu shoes in the TRC Collection (TRC 2020.0011a-b) were made by Triinu Traumann, who is from Muhu island and currently lives there as well. She emphasizes the importance of Muhu shoes for local culture. The shoes are embroidered, and Traumann learned to work Muhu embroidery, not only at a local handicraft club, but also from her grandmother and from school lessons. She told that actually living on the island provides much inspiration. Especially learning from the local masters and continuously practicing help to improve her skills.

On Tuesday, 21 April, Beverley Bennett and Susan Cave wrote in connection with the current TRC exhibition on American Quilts about the introduction of the so-called Crazy Quilts in the late nineteenth century:

By the last decade of the 19th century, cosmopolitan women began abandoning their familiar quilt patterns. The simplicity and order of the Log Cabin quilt gave way to the disorder and complexity of the Crazy Quilt. It was all about adorning their Victorian parlours in a new aesthetic era where design became the major focus rather than the traditional utility. Oriental rugs, exotic jardinières, bric-a-brac, stuffed animals and talking budgerigars cluttered up their interiors along with heavily carved dark furniture.

American crazy quilt, late 19th century (TRC 2019.2925).

The 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia welcomed exhibits from all over the world (including embroidery from Holland!), but many of the ten million visitors were most fascinated with the exotic of the Orient, namely the Japanese Pavilion. Fans, paper lanterns, ceramics, painted birds on velvet textiles were embraced by quilters, artists and designers alike who found the asymmetrical designs fresh and exciting. Within a few years, those designs were embroidered all over Crazy Quilts.

On Friday, 16 April 2020, Beverley Bennett and Susan Cave wrote:

The Log Cabin pattern is one of the two most popular patchwork designs of the nineteenth century. The other is the Crazy Quilt which we will deal with next week. The Log Cabin is a family of patterns rather than one single design. It is simple to construct and there are an infinite number of variations. The TRC has several examples of this quintessential American design, but only one from the 1880’s era (TRC 2019.2404). The more recent TRC examples show a continuum from this early time, always reflecting when they were made by the fabric used.

Log cabin coverlet, USA, 1880's (TRC 2019.2404).

The actual design evokes the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, who promoted the pioneering values of the American frontier. The logs, stacked around the central fire of the household, signify a land built from hard work, humility and freedom. Millions were made in the late 19th century as the blocks were easy to construct. Women who could neither read nor write could easily work out patterns based on the light and dark of their fabric. Some women dyed fabric with leaves, berries or vegetables to get tone. The fabric scraps might have come from pyjamas, dressing gowns, or old shirts and dresses.