Just look at this little Swedish sweetie! I found an image of the traditional costumes from Leksand, Dalarna, Sweden on Pinterest, and I thought, “Oooh! I wanna make that!” Traditional costumes are so bright and colorful anyway, but for some reason I was really drawn in by this particular style. I gathered a bunch of images on one of my Pinterest board called, “Swedish Traditional Costume (Dalarna)” and started drawing up patterns for my 18″ (American-Girl-knockoff) doll.
So next week I’ll begin sharing those patterns with you on ChellyWood.com.
Incidentally, I’m not Swedish. I just love to learn about cultural and ethnic groups, and this turned out to be a very interesting project indeed. The little purse you see strapped around my dolly’s waist is called a “pocket,” and the ladies in Dalarna hand-embroider these. This form of embroidery is called “folkdräkt” or “daladräkt” in Dalarna, and I’ll be showing you some fun embroidery videos as we learn how to make these pocket-purses along with the rest of the outfit.
I’m afraid I won’t be giving away this particular outfit, as it has already been given to the daughter of a friend of mine, fellow author, Jason Black, who wrote Pebblehoof, a book about a girl and a wild prairie horse. I’ve read Pebblehoof, and my oldest daughter (the one who loves Breyer horses) is reading it now. I recommend it to any girls who like books such as Black Beauty, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, and Misty of Chincoteague.