Andrea Schewe Design
  • Home
  • Costumes
    • Reader's Gallery
    • Fantasy Costumes
    • Theatrical
    • Historic >
      • Easier to make
    • International
    • Costumes for Kid's and Babies
  • Crafts
    • Home Decor >
      • Pillows
    • Fashion Accessories
    • Doll Clothes
    • For Kids and Babies
  • Blog
    • Past Blogs by subject >
      • My patterns by number
      • Sewing basics
      • Personal sewing Projects
      • Fashion History
      • Fun and funny stuff
      • Guest Bloggers
      • Crafts and Home Dec
  • Links
  • Contact

Traditional Swedish lady's bags

6/7/2017

3 Comments

 
Picture
I've known, since I can remember, that my maiden name, Soder, is the Swedish word for south and that my Grandpa Soder was 100% Swedish, which makes me 25% Swedish, but not much more than that until three years ago when a third cousin of mine living in Sweden decided to research the family. Through Facebook he found one of my sisters and because of that I visited him in 2014. Turns out our great-grandfathers were brothers. My great-grandfather was number 10 or 11 of a very large family. And because of that probably wasn't going to inherit any land, so he ventured off to find his future in America.

​Visiting Sweden was so meaningful for me. Before this I didn't know anything about my European ancestors who all immigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I became interested in Swedish culture which, of course, includes the traditional clothing called 
folkdräk.

I wrote a blog about this three years ago. Click here to read it.
Picture
Because of that blog I found out that one of the technical illustrators at Simplicity, Carina Saraco, is much more Swedish that me! She was born in Sweden and came to the US as a young girl. So, she has close relatives still living there and can speak Swedish, which I wish I could do.

Surprisingly that blog is still read A LOT! And I still get occasional comments and questions. So, when a woman wrote in a about a week ago asking about the little purses that are worn at the waist, I went straight to Carina to see if she could help me out.
Picture
And she went straight to her sister who owns one of these bags and knows quite a bit about folkdräk. This is her bag. These are sometimes call hanging pockets. 
Picture
Picture
This is what Carina's sister had to say about her bag.

This is the "bag" ...part of national-dräkten of Sweden which was given to me by my father Eric-Olof's sister Henny. Faster Henny had the costume made when Silvia became Queen of Sweden. Since she grew up in Germany, Silva had no home province (each of Sweden's 25 provinces has a distinct folkdräkt and tradition suggests you wear your home "dräkt"), hence the beautiful dräkt was created for her to symbolize the beauty and strength of Sweden. Blue and yellow (sky and sun ... same colors as the flag), daisies, and gorgeous handiwork in the accessories.
Picture
Here is Queen Silvia, on the right, wearing this dräkt. I think she is with her daughters and granddaughter. Please correct me, if I'm wrong.
Picture
But, Swedes who do have a provincial dräkt will wear that when the occasion arises. This one has a different style of bag that hangs from a strap around the waist. These bags or pockets seem to be integral to completing the outfit.
Picture
Even, Kirsten, the Swedish American Doll (alas retired) sports one of these bags. She carries a spoon in it. Years ago, people brought their own spoon along when they went to someone else's home for dinner.
Picture
Here is the bag and spoon that came with my Kirsten!
Picture
I think there must be many different designs for these bags, because I came across artwork for a variety of different loose pockets ... so beautiful.
Picture
All the Swedish embroidery is so pretty and colorful. I would love to wear a hat like this with all the appropriate clothing.

So, thank you Carina and sister.

And I hope the 4-H leader who wanted to learn about these bags reads this blog!

​I'm taking a break for the rest of June. See you all in July. 
​
3 Comments
Kate Huntress-Reeve
6/7/2017 06:15:10 am

I once went to a little museum in Warwick, where they were having an exhibit on the development of pockets (largely in England.) There were hanging pockets on the outside, like these, moving on to hanging pockets under dresses and coats, reachable through openings in seams, on up to modern-day pockets. None was as pretty as these, though - what gorgeous embroidery!

Reply
Ellie
6/15/2017 10:16:28 am

There are some very pretty Western pockets from history! My favourite are from the 18th century, when women would often embroider their pockets lavishly. There are lots of examples on the internet: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=18th+century+pockets&t=ffab&iax=1&ia=images

Reply
Barbara LaValle
6/20/2017 02:28:40 pm

This is interesting. About half of my ancestors came from Germany, and I know a very little bit about their traditional dress, which they call "Tracht". (Very similar to the Swedish word.) The German Tracht, which is dirndls for women, is similar to the Swedish traditional dress. With dirndls, the absolutely necessary finish is the apron. A lot of people in Bavaria wear a necklace called a chiarivari with their dirndl. I don't know how they carry their stuff. More research needed.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    From Andrea 

    I am a commercial pattern maker who is now "sewing over 50"!
    I love to sew and hope to encourage others to come back to sewing.
    The water is fine!!

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Archives by Subject

    To search for blog posts in specific categories, use the drop down menu above by hovering over the word "Blog"

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Andrea Schewe participates in Amazon's associates program.