Inspiring Crafts From History: The Norwegian National Dress

This last weekend was Norwegian Independence Day, 17th of May. This year commemorated 200 years of the Norwegian Constitution. It was a big deal for Norway, and that meant that the usual Norwegian Independence Day celebrations were especially grand this year.

Perhaps you are thinking that my blog-versation today isn’t the usual post of tutorials or ideas. You’d be right. Don’t worry though, I am not going to bore you with the ins and out of the Norwegian Independence Day.  However I thought that looking at the past might give inspiration for the present.

A Little Bit Of History

During 17th of May, National dress is worn and children are allowed to eat as much ice cream as they want. People parade the streets in their national dress, the “Bunad”, and in Bergen it inevitably rains some of the day. People fly the flag with pride from their flagstaff's and balconies. I personally don’t do any of this, except maybe eat ice cream, because who needs an excuse to eat ice cream. The Bunad, or Norwegian national dress hasn’t really changed much in the last two hundred years.

It all started as folk dress or farmer’s wear. It was different in different parts of Norway, each province having their own dress. In or around the 1800’s, Norway was griped with a national romanticism, suddenly it was important to have a national dress to go with their newly found national identity. 

Above you can see examples of Bunad’s from all over Norway. People tend to wear the bunad from the area they were born, raised or where their grandparents come from.

The Bunad was a status symbol, it indicated marital status, wealth and status in society. Even today, a Bunad can easily cost 30,000kr (about £3,000, 3,700 euro or $5,000), they are usually a conformation gift to teens, and its usual that they can be taken out at the sides so that they last a lifetime.

The Inspirational Folk Art

They are artisanal pieces of clothing. They are usually highly embroidered and the silver pins, and decoration are what make these outfits so expensive.

Above is an older piece showing the incredibly impressive embroidery from a bunad. Below is edging on a bunad skirt. Its this craftmanship that is so inspiring.

The silver jewellery, clasps and embellishment pieces are also highly decorative. Like other folk art of the middle ages from other countries, craftmanship was highly prized. Women embroidered their clothing during their free time, taking pride in embellishing things. Its a shame that we can’t say the same today, but we live such a fast paced life that taking time to embroider, knit or make clothes has become just hobbies for those inclined to do so.

I am one of those inclined to do so, I love trying to bring that embroidery and handcrafted feeling to my home. I suppose in that way I am more old-fashioned even than the 1950’s, when modern fabrics, mass produced clothing, home decor and machinery was all the rage.

Here is one such item, the pillow I made with the word Home embroidered on it. Its not a difficult thing to do, so long as you can sew then you can embroider.

I hope that this post has inspired you to embroider, to make something for generations to come to enjoy like the Norwegian national dress, or in fact any countries national dress. Take pride in your handiwork and make everything to the best of your ability.

Please subscribe and comment below, tell me about your handcrafts or embroidery projects. I’d love to hear about them.

Until next time,

Davita