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Many areas in Sweden developed their own specialised embroidery designs in various combinations depending on material, stitching, colours and practical uses in the 18th- and 19th centuries. Three of these local county embroidery styles have been discussed in earlier historical essays and here the aim is to share the history of three further local specialities. As in earlier texts the knowledge and experience of the subject is based on my own reproductions of details from these embroideries, together with a brief history and material analysis of each type known from previous research and museum collections’ notes.
The above embroidered original and reproduction are both showing Långsöm a type of design done with one-sided satin stitching, introduced in Hälsingland – mid Sweden – around 1840. However, at the turn of the century 1900 this sort of embroidery started to be called Delsbosöm (stitching from Delsbo) by the contemporary Handicraft movement “Hemslöjden”, for the reason that the technique was most popular by the women around the town Delsbo in that particular district. These textile decorations were primarily used to embellish pillow-cases, table cloths, wall-hangings and bedlinen. Furthermore, during the 1960s a substantial number of patterns cut in paper and birch-bark depicting stars, flowers, crowns, birds and baskets were rediscovered in Delsbo – ones used for sketching out the desired motifs on the fabric. The used motifs belong to an often replicated combination of patterns in Swedish folk art, but the inspiration/origin of the actual design in the Delsbosöm is uncertain.
Above-depicted detail of the wall-hanging embroidered 1848 and reproduction of the same Blekingesöm, belong to a more free embroidery style which make one think of inspiration from East Indian fabrics and porcelain. While this stitching design is considered to have been introduced in the 1780s within vicarage families in the district of Blekinge in southern Sweden, it is highly probable that East Indian influences can be taken into account. The Swedish East India Company (1731-1813) had been trading for more than 50 years at this time and had had good opportunities to sell/spread their goods to influential groups of the society – from the kings and nobles, wealthy bourgeois, priesthood and comfortable farmers.
Furthermore the combination of stitching, advanced design of the motifs and large size embroideries demanded a trained hand, and this often meant professional female embroiderers who stitched these decorative interior textiles, searching their presumptive costumers by walking around to farmer’s homes, town houses etc. The embroidery design was extremely popular, with a peak around the 1790s to 1840s. The structure of the used colours also differ from other Swedish local folk embroideries; while pink, red, yellow, light- and dark blue cotton dominate in the Blekingesöm. In contrast with most other Swedish folk art embroideries including contrasting red, yellow, white, black, green and blue, or one/two colours only.
The two final images are depicting Hallandssöm or the stitching from Halland (in southern Sweden), both showing variations of tree of life in strict shapes with the stitching following the threads of the linen fabric. The technique was of use for household linen like pillow cases, but also for decorative wall-hangings, first and foremost during festivities to adorn the farmer’s walls and ceiling in the main room. Most preserved textiles of said type originate from mid 19th-century and following decades, dominantly embroidered with red or strong pinkish cotton thread – named as Turkish red.
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