Despite the silly amounts of projects I have on the go or in the design phase right now (as I discussed in my last blog post), I decided to do a bit of mini experimentation with a hardanger kit. I bought it in Bruges, Belgium about 2 months ago while I was there for the Wounded Warriors Battlefield Bike Ride (luckily for me there was a needlework shop right next to my hotel). It’s a traditional Scandanavian craft [a viewer of the video corrected me, in the video I said it was Danish but she said it’s actually from the Hardanger Fjord region of Norway]. Despite me not really being into some traditional crafts, I wanted to try it out as it looked interesting. This morning I saw a neat image in a blackwork Facebook group I belong to of someone combining hardanger with blackwork, and I thought it was really pretty so it spurred me on to trying out the kit I had.
As I explain in the video, the instructions weren’t overly clear for someone who’s never done it before, but I think I’ve generally figured out what to do. I’m still not 100% sure if I’m doing it correctly, but it is starting to look pretty so at the very least I’m learning something.
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to let me know below!
6 Responses
Anna
Hardanger oreginated in Persia .The Danes caught on to it later in history.
Dana Batho
Good to know, Anna! 🙂
Inger
Hi, love your different videos. I really want to try this, and all kind of stiches. I often find myself looking at diffrent stiches, but I’m mostly not do any of them. I have a lot of floss and diffrent fabrics but I just planning and try to decide what to start with and never acctually get started. I hade done a couple of blackwork, but in color, really fun to do. Got to stop planing and just doing!
By the way, Hardanger fjord is located in Norway. Read about it here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardangerfjord
I found this at Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardanger_embroidery
“The exact origins of Hardanger embroidery are not known but it is thought to have its beginnings in ancient Persia and Asia. During the Renaissance, this early form of embroidery spread to Italy where it evolved into Italian Reticella and Venetian lacework. By 1700, variations of this type of embroidery had spread to northern Europe where it developed further into Danish and Dutch Hedebo, Scottish Ayrshire work and Ruskin lacework as well as Norwegian Drawn Work, as it was then called.”
Dana Batho
Haha yes, that’s sometimes the problem — too many options so you don’t know where to start. And I’ve updated the article, thanks Inger! 🙂
Elsie
When you finish we’d like to see it. I know it’s new to you, but still…
Dana Batho
Hahah hi Elsie, thanks for your comment! Actually I did finish it, I put it into a second post. Even though it was my first time doing hardanger, I think it turned out really nice! Here’s the link to part two — https://peacockandfig.com/2015/09/hardanger-experiment-complete/. Happy stitching! 🙂