Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume Katwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of Katwijk aan Zee in The Netherlands. After Scheveningen last week, we still stay at the North Sea coast of Holland, but go 16 km to the north. Again a fishing village turned into a beach resort. The costume is very similar to the costume of Scheveningen, except for the lace cap which is smaller than in Scheveningen, and the head iron end ornaments are square and not oval as in Scheveningen.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Goes 2010, 2. zuid-holland, 3. Jansje Hageman , 4. Surprise on the beach 3

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Monday Mood Board: Duck

This morning we had a stray duck on the fence in the garden. She was sitting there for quite a while and did not care that Peggy and I were in the garden too. It was as if she was thinking, let me have a look what those people and that doggy are always doing there in that garden ..... To honor this friendly visitor, here some cute ducks from our European Street Team sellers on Etsy !

For more monday moodboards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. SnowStitched
2. Pepponi
3. HamjArt
4. sabahnur

And a picture of our own visiting duck:

Traditional Costumes : Postage Stamps Holland

This Friday I show you some stamps of The Netherlands that have some connection with traditional Dutch costumes. The stamps above are from the summer stamps of 1974 (of designer J. v.d. Toorn Vrijthoff) and they show the Dutch author Herman Heijermans and the actress Esther de Boer – van Rijk in her star role as Kniertje in the famous 1900 play "Op Hoop Van Zegen" (Dutch for "Trusting Our Fate in the Hands of God") of Herman Heijermans. The play is taking place in a North Sea fishing village, and Kniertje is wearing a typical North Sea traditional Dutch costume.


This stamp is from the local post service in North East Friesland for the winter season in 2000. It shows 3 couples in traditional Friesian costumes glide skating, a typical old Dutch way of skating.


The next stamps do not show traditional costumes as such, but more typical (Dutch) historical costumes. Because I like them too, here some pictures and a short description.
This stamp is of 1996 and commemorates 200 years of the province of Noord-Brabant. In 1796 Noord-Brabant became the ninth province of the Netherlands; this fact was celebrated with roll of drums and flag throwing in historical costumes.


This lovely milkmaid is a historic ornamental stone on a house in Alkmaar. She is in the 1975 Child Welfare Issue together with some other ornamental house-stones. She is wearing a typical 16th century farmer's wife costume of North-Holland. I found this picture of her on Flickr (Sierag):


This lovely set commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Child Welfare Issues in 1974 and shows early photographs. They are from an old photograph album of around 1900 of Gerardus van Bruggen and Cornelia van Nes with their ten children (living on a farm in Haarlemmerliede). The kids pose in their Sunday clothes looking like small adults: Gerrit with a hoop (30 ct), Dora holding hands with her little brother Jo on a chair (35 ct), Sjaan and Ans (6 and 5 years of age) standing beside a chair (45 ct), and Cornelia sitting beside a decorated travelling box (60 ct).

Button Wednesday : World's Largest Button Mosaic

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


GhismoMcPlush on Flickr
This Button Wednesday is about World's Largest Button Mosaic according to Guinness World Records. They state: "The largest button mosaic measures 720 ft² (66.89 m²), containes 296,981 buttons and was made at Maritime Square, Tsing Yi District, Hong Kong, for the "Springroll • Love • Mosaic" project between 23 and 28 July 2006." I found that intriguing and searched for the mosaic on the net, and found some great pictures of it on Flickr. Kelvin Hui Photography on Flickr
Tsing Yi is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. The island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost all its natural shore. Three major bays or harbours in the northeast have been completely reclaimed for new towns. Tsing Yi means "dark clothes", but is also a kind of fish, probably blackspot tusk fish, once abundant in nearby waters. People named the island after the fish. So, that's where the fish are coming from in the Maritime Square shopping mall.
contradiction on Flickr

gelsen.pua on Flickr
I would love to see this mosaic in real life !!


Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here in the comments so that everybody can enjoy it !!

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume Scheveningen, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of Scheveningen in The Netherlands. The Flickr Favorites posts were so far all about the traditional costumes around the former inland sea Zuiderzee (now Lake IJsselmeer); now we go to the North Sea coast of Holland. Scheveningen developed from a small fishing village into a big seaside resort and part of the city of The Hague. The costume is a very solid one and mostly dark colored, except for the Sunday shirt and shawl which are often soft blue, lilac, beige or soft green. The cap (called "mop muts" in the Scheveningen dialect) is from lace and stands somewhat at the back of the head, so that it often seems as if it is coming down. It is fixed with two upright pearl-pins, there, where the silver head iron ends in the beautiful golden oval ornaments. The black cape has a very low neck
at the back to make room for the cap.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Klederdracht, 2. Traditional Scheveningen Dress, 3. Scheveningse haven, einde van de staking, een gedeelte van de vloot vaart uit. Afscheid van moeder en zusje 12 juli 1938, 4. Traditional clothing


This Scheveningen costume is very dear to me because my grandma came from Scheveningen and I remember her and her friends all wearing traditional costume. I actually inherited her costume and I do wear it sometimes at special occasions :)
And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Monday Mood Board: Peonies

This weekend the peonies started to bloom in the garden. It's a pity that we had so much rain yesterday, because they are so soft and suffer a lot from the rain. But I took some pictures, and here some gorgeous peonies from our European Street Team sellers on Etsy !

For more monday moodboards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. bidesign
2. PetitVillage
3. OneLittleHouse
4. aldonasuneviciene

And a picture of my own peonies:

Traditional Costumes : Postage Stamps Holland 1960

This Friday I show you the children charity stamps of The Netherlands of 1960.




Children charity stamps are distributed each year by the Dutch Post and you can buy them at every post office in The Netherlands. There is an extra charge on the stamps, which is intended for cultural, social or health projects. In 1960, the children stamps were designed by Jeanna Bieruma Oosting, one of the most prominent Dutch graphic artists in that time. The rather realistic colored line drawings of children in traditional costumes are placed in front of loudly colored backgrounds. Funny enough, just like the rejected designs of Hubert Levigne from only two years before, she gives only a bust view of the kids (face and half-face).



The stamps depict some traditional costumes from around the former inland sea the Zuiderzee (now Lake IJsselmeer), and very appropriately the first sale of these stamps started in the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen. The children portrayed are Aaltje van Rie from Marken (4 ct), Jannetje Kwakman from Volendam (6 ct), Magda van Halteren from Bunschoten (8 ct), Janna Marijke Atema from Hindeloopen (12 ct) and Dittie Klein from Huizen (30 ct).



I think this 1960 series is a very charming set, lovely designs with children very well taken into consideration.

Button Wednesday : Halina, The Button Sculptor

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



This Button Wednesday is about the button sculptures from Halina. Halina's father was a tailor and pattern maker, and the family came directly after the war to the USA when she was eight years old. Due to language barriers and finances, the family made most of its own basic clothing. Self-dependence and recycling are Halina's main drives in life. She loves buttons because they were her first real possessions and they came from her dad. They came in all shapes, sizes, and colors and she says she loves the sound of them when piled high or when falling from of her hands like a waterfall. She started with flat images, sewn onto clothes and bags, but it developed quickly in a wish to make it 3D. She experimented with a lot of materials to form the body of her sculptures; different battings, recycled plastic containers, glues, fabrics, scissors, tapes, and threads until she figured out what works best for her projects. And the result is stunning !! It's fantastic to see that she is using the same technique as I do with my own button art; she sews the buttons together like I do. A clear evidence that two people who live miles and miles apart and don't know of each other, will develop the same technique by using and studying the same material. The expression though is our own, and Halina's sculptures are one of a kind ! You can read a lovely interview with Halina by Halina's man Robert here. (All pictures are from Mel Mashman on Flickr.)



Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here in the comments so that everybody can enjoy it !!

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume 't Gooi, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of 't Gooi in The Netherlands. The area is also called Gooiland, and lies in the southeast of the province of Noord-Holland. Its traditional costume is often described together with that of Eemland, the neighbouring area in the northeast of the province of Utrecht, because of their similarities. The most remarkable part of the costume is the lace cap; there are two types, the round one and the square one. Both look very much like the cap from Volendam, but with smaller wings. The wings are pinned onto the cap in the squared type, giving it a squared appearance. The costume itself is a dark stiff version of a late 19th century fashion.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago ..., 2. Optocht, 3. P1030672, 4. 14 september 2010, Laren


And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Monday Mood Board: Sewing

This weekend I finished my second custom order, a summer dress. And today I am starting with a summer skirt and top. I am so happy when I am busy, and can make other people happy with my sewing creations. Therefore, here some gorgeous sewing pictures from our European Street Team sellers on Etsy !

For more monday moodboards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. PetitVillage
2. voilacreations
3. swiedebie
4. shashamane

And a picture of my summer dress custom order:

Traditional Costumes : Postage Stamps Holland 1958

If you have looked into my vintage shop P8iosities on Etsy, you know that I collect postage stamps. I started as a kid and collected each stamp I could get. This became much too much, and finally I decided to collect only stamps with traditional costumes on it. Each Friday I will show you some stamps of my collection in this blog. We begin with the stamps of The Netherlands.




The series of stamps I will show you today is the 1958 summer stamp series. Summer stamps are distributed each year by the Dutch Post and you can buy them at every post office in The Netherlands. There is an extra charge on the stamps, which is intended for cultural, social or health projects. In 1958, the summer stamps had to show the traditional costumes of different areas in the country. The designer Hubert Levigne was asked to make the stamps. He made two engravings of the provinces of Zeeland and Overijssel which were intended to be printed in one color. His engravings were rather stylized with an emphasis on one aspect of the costume and dominating lines.



However, the Dutch Post and the designer did not agree; the Dutch Post found Levigne's designs too expressionistic, not colorful enough and not realistic enough. Finally they took the assignment from him and gave it to five different designers: P. Wetselaar (4 ct), W. den Ouden (6 ct), C.R. de Josselin de Jong (8 ct), J.R. Mensinga (12 ct) and A. Sins (30 ct).


These five designers have made a very harmonious series together, more realistic and with dominating color spaces of delicate nuances instead of lines.
4 ct: Walcheren, Zeeland
6 ct: Marken, Noord-Holland
8 ct: Scheveningen, Zuid-Holland
12 ct: Friesland
30 ct: Volendam, Noord-Holland



I like the 1958 series very much, but I must say that I like Levigne's designs even more; somehow they look much more modern. It's a pity that they were never realized.

Source: Postzegelblog

Button Wednesday : Bluffs

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This Button Wednesday is about "Bluffs". Bluffs is made by artist Tara Donovan. Tara is an artist from New York and her works feature found objects like buttons, shattered glass, fishing line, drinking straws, etc. She takes very simple objects and transforms them into something much more beautiful and complex. Bluffs is a sculpture piece completely made of simple buttons. Since the buttons are white, cream, and clear, it gives a very icy feel, like you have just stumbled upon a winter castle. Or it might be some spiraling coral, or crystals that have grown from the floor of a cave, or a mountain range carved into peaks. When light shines through it, it turns a dusky pink/mauve color. The varying densities within the piece make for an infinite scale of saturation of this color, which changes subtly with point of view. Here a lot of pictures to show you this wonderful art piece.







Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here in the comments so that everybody can enjoy it !!

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume Staphorst, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of Staphorst in The Netherlands. Staphorst is a town in the eastern Netherlands. It is one of the most religious towns of the Netherlands, with a lot of people attending Calvinist church. Staphorst grinds to a halt on Sundays. Many people are still wearing traditional dress. If you follow this traditional costume series on my blog, you will notice that The Staphorst costume looks a bit like the North-West Veluwe costume. This is caused by the fashion influence of the 16th century; both costumes are very much the same as in the 16th century. The costume for women is pretty colorful. There are daily and Sunday costumes, both for in and out the mourning period. When they are not in the mourning period the so called "wild colors" are worn. The black satin daily hats are then decorated with red, white, blue and yellow painted dots. The kraplap (or bodice) is often decorated in the same way or sewn from some lovely flowered fabric. That painted dot decoration is very typical for Staphorst (called "stipwerk' in Dutch). The Sunday cap is from lace and is worn above a silver head-iron.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.
1. Staphorst in Utrecht Veemarkthallen (11125), 2. 200 year Staphorst, 3. DSC_0019, 4. costum albastru


And two picture postcards from my own collection.