Category Archives: Norwegian Textile Letter

Christmas Greetings and Bunads

A Christmas-themed article has been added to the current issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter, “God Jul! (Norwegian Textile Style.” It highlights the great collection of the Norsk Folkemuseum, and of course, some wonderful textiles in their collection. The museum celebrates the holiday season sensationally. There is a whole section of their website, “Juletradisjoner gjennom 1000 år” [Christmas Traditions Throughout 1000 Years]. I wish I could visit the rooms personally this month.

This is the 1905 reconstructed apartment, my favorite.

Did you hear about the recent addition of “Traditional costumes in Norway, craftsmanship and social practice” to UNESCO’s representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity? (Note: the site takes FOREVER to load.) It just happened on December 5, and there was a great celebration by bunad fans all over the country on December 6. The event was carried live on Facebook. If you can speak Norwegian, you might want to check out the replay here, here.

Another worthy designation this year was the joint Norway/Sweden entry: Summer farming at fäbod and sewer: knowledge, traditions and practices related to the grazing of outlying lands and artisan food production. There is a very interesting film about this, with English subtitles. 

Thank you for your ongoing interest in the Norwegian Textile Letter. The newsletter is a labor of love for me. My goal is to publish new articles and translated older articles about Scandinavian textiles that will be available to interested readers now and researchers of the future. There will be lots of great textile articles in 2025! 

Happy holidays,

Robbie LaFleur

Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation
to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk! 

The Fall Issue with Corrected Links

Today, the only thing more annoying than sending out a post in which all the links acquired a mysterious arrow in the coding and didn’t work is listening to the squirrels playing chase games inside our eaves. Here are two charming weaving patterns with squirrels that I saw in the archives of the Norsk Folkemuseum last month. I will not be weaving these squirrels. And I apologize for the inconvenience of broken links. For sure the links work on the issue main page – norwegiantextileletter.com.

A Week to remember: The Norwegian Textile Symposium in Skien. Magnhild Peggy Jones Gilje describes a meeting packed with programs and classes on traditional textile techniques.

Viking Weaving on Minnesota’s North Shore. Holly Hildebrandt is enthusiastic about a class at North House Folk School from Melba Granlund. She made her own warp-weighted loom.

Walborg Nickelsen: A Designer Influenced by Frida Hansen. The mystery designer of transparent tapestries in three museums is identified through searching the archives of the Norsk Folkemuseum.

From WOW! to HOW?: Weaving at the Karin Larsson Exhibit. This summer and fall, volunteers from the Weavers Guild of Minnesota demonstrated rag rug weaving at the American Swedish Institute during the run of the Karin Larsson “Let the Hand be Seen” exhibit. They drew inspiration from Karin Larsson’s beautiful textiles and an unusual rug 14 meter long rug in the ASI collection.

Guiding Students to a Satisfying Outcome: An Interview with Christine Novotny on Teaching Rölakan. A weaving student became a weaving teacher, passing on a traditional Swedish weaving technique.

Weaving is Life: An Exhibit of the Weaving of Marta Kløve Juuhl. Marta Kløve Juuhl’s accomplishments during her long career as a weaver were celebrated at Ullveka — Wool Week.

Skillbragd Puzzles: Overshot Coverlets in the Vesterheim Collection. Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum Curator Laurann Gilbertson ponders the weave structures of coverlets in the museum.

Tribute to Anne Kjellberg, 1945 – 2024. Norway’s museum community lost a leading figure in the world of textiles, costume and textile history with the passing of Anne Kjellberg in July of 2024.

2024 National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition. See the ribbon winners in this exhibition that showcases the self-expression of contemporary artists who create folk art rooted in Norwegian traditions.

Book Review: Pick-Up Bandweaving Designs: 288 Charts for 13 Pattern Ends and Techniques for Arranging Color. Are you a bandweaver? Do you celebrate Christmas? Get this book on your list!

Book Review: Winter Knitting for Little Sweethearts. If you knit for children, you will want to get buy this book from two Norwegian designers and make the darling sweaters and other projects.

Thanks for reading! Please share comments and questions and article ideas with me, at lafleur1801@me.com.

Robbie LaFleur

Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you for all your appreciation along the way. Tusen takk!