Jane Addams, “Husfliden: A Herstory.” Originally published in Vesterheim Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2023.
Handcrafts and textile production were essential survival skills in pre-industrial Norway. Addams describes how the availability of machine-woven cloth gave many rural women the time to produce goods to sell. During the National Romantic era, beautiful textiles became symbols of national identity.
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Addams’ survey of women and handcraft history even describes the movement of Norwegian traditional craft to the U.S.
“The Norwegians who moved here in the Great Migration hoped to rise above the social status they left behind, so in the interest of assimilation they quickly adopted the “American” aesthetic. It is the later generations who, realizing what they left behind, picked up the pieces to form a uniquely Norwegian-American identity.”
Jane Addams is a first generation Norwegian American with a long family history in the woolen mills of Norway. She has designed Selbu mittens for yarn stores and fashion brands and enjoys studying and teaching this rich textile heritage. She recently led the 2025 Vesterheim Textile Study Tour to Norway focused on bunad history and handcraft. Jane is currently a graduate student of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse studying the effects of climate change on traditional dye plants and lichens, and will teach a lichen dye class at Vesterheim in Summer 2026.
Below: Jane Addams’ lichen-dyed yarn; mittens of her own Selbu-style design; and a tintype of the author in her Fana bunad. Photos courtesy of Jane Addams.
October 2025
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