My Flickr Favorites: Traditional Costume Axel, The Netherlands

Today we stay in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the province of Zeeland and move a bit to the east to the town of Axel. The costume looks a bit un-Dutch because of the silhouette and the exuberant pearl embroidery. The most striking part is the kraplap (bodice) with shawl, seen in most of the Dutch costumes, but here they are very different. The kraplap is embroidered with a very colorful pattern of glass seed beads, and the shawl is stiffened with paper inside to make the shoulders stand up like wings. The headdress is a small lace cap over a head-iron ending in golden spirals.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.
1. Zeeuwse Klederdracht, 2. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago, 3. Terneuzen 09052009 DSC_0213, 4. Terneuzen 09052009 DSC_0211


And two picture postcards from my own collection.

My Flickr Favorites: Traditional Costume Cadzand, The Netherlands

Today we move further along the North Sea coast to the most southern western part of The Netherlands till we reach the town of Cadzand in the region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the province of Zeeland. In the 17th and 18th centuries some French Huguenots fled to Cadzand, which is still "visible" nowadays in the large number of French family names in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The costume looks very sober; it is a fashion costume from around 1880, mostly in black, dark blue, dark brown or dark green. The small cap is much older; it is made of lace from Mechelen in Belgium and a small carcass to stiffen it, and is worn over a simple black under cap. It has no head iron, so no place for showing off your wealth in gold or silver, and it is tight to the face, so that there was no place for earrings too. That's why they wear the so-called golden cap-rings hooked into the black under cap :)

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.
1. folkloristishdag ijzendijke18072009 DSC_0215 crop 2, 2. Molens en Klederdrachten in Nederland 20, 3. folkloristishdag ijzendijke18072009 DSC_0054, 4. DSC_0007 crop

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume Zuid-Beveland, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites we move a little bit to the east from the former island of Walcheren to the former island of Zuid-Beveland in the province of Zeeland. The costume looks a bit similar to the one of Arnemuiden on Walcheren, especially the kraplap (bodice) and the shawl. The cap is very different. It has a very large oval egg-shape, at least if the wearer was part of the protestant population. It has a trapeze shape, when the wearer was part of the catholic population. Actually, the basic form of the protestant and catholic caps is the same, they are only stiffened and folded in another shape. Characteristic for the Zuid-Beveland costume is also the very large golden end plates of the head-iron. The first row of the mosaic shows the protestant costume; the second row shows the catholic costume.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. [Three Dutch women.], 2. Zeeuwse Klederdracht, 3. Antonia Chamuleau and Mattheus de Baar, 4. Terneuzen 09052009 DSC_0255

And two picture postcards from my own collection (the first one is the protestant costume, and the second one is the catholic costume).

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume Arnemuiden, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites we stay along the North Sea coast on the island of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland. We go to the city of Arnemuiden, where the costume differs from the rest of Walcheren. The costume from Arnemuiden was very similar to the costume of Walcheren in the past, but it changed more and more similar to the costume of the island of Zuid-Beveland (will be dealed with in two weeks), especially the kraplap (bodice) and the shawl. The cap is a different one and very special; it is made of an under cap from white embroidered batiste, followed by a small blue intermediate cap and crowned by a white embroidered batiste over cap in the form of a double shell. The under cap is attached to a head iron with golden spirals.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago ..., 2. Traditional-costumes-of-Arnemuiden,-Holland-(back), 3. Goes 2010, 4. Garnalenpelster in zeeuwse klederdracht

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume Walcheren, The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites we descend even more along the North Sea coast until we reach the island of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland. The costume from Walcheren is colourful and girly with deep cut jackets and bodices underneath; it has a white lace cap with a tail for the little girls and a small fitting white lace cap for women. The latter cap is held on the head by a visible ear-iron. In some area's of Walcheren (around the city of Middelburg) the women keep their girl cap with the tail.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Klederdracht, 2. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago, 3. Terneuzen 09052009 DSC_0294, 4. Schorten

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume , The Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites we descend along the North Sea coast until we reach the islands in the south of the province of South-Holland (Rozenburg, IJsselmonde, Voorne-Putten, Hoeksche Waard, Goeree-Overflakkee) and in the north of the province of Zeeland (Schouwen-Duiveland, Sint Philipsland, Tholen, Noord-Beveland). The costumes of these islands all differ a bit, but this is very difficult to see for outsiders. The most striking part is the long lace cap with the head iron ending in large spirals with lots of jewelry attached to it. The dress they wear is often an old fashioned dress from around 1900.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Zeeuwse Klederdracht, 2. Joke Terlouw, 3. My greatgrandfather en -mother and my grandfather with sisters, The Netherlands, 4. Goes 2010

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Traditional Costumes : Dutch Costumes on Postage Stamps

This Friday again some non-Dutch stamps with Dutch costumes :)) We start with a cute Dutch boy from the Netherlands Antilles, published in 2008. The costume of the boy must represent the man's costume of Volendam. The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of six islands in the Caribbean Sea. Aruba became a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986, followed in 2010 by Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire joined the Netherlands as "special municipalities". The name "Netherlands Antilles" is still sometimes used to indicate these last three islands.



The next stamp is from Suriname and shows a Dutch woman in the costume of Volendam waving to a Surinamese woman in the Creole costume called koto missie. This stamp was published to commemorate the first KLM flight between Paramaribo and Amsterdam in May 1949.



This third stamp is from 1965 and published by the former German Democratic Republic and shows a statue of a Dutch woman of Putten in the traditional costume of the Veluwe. It is a World War II Memorial to commemorate the victims of the German raid on the 1st of October 1944, in which the entire male working population (between 15 and 50 years of age) of Putten was deported to several concentration camps, as a revenge act against a Dutch resistance attack on a German Wehrmacht vehicle nearby on the 30th of September. From the 660 deported men, only 107 men survived the war.



This fourth stamp is a very fancy one; it's from Umm Al Qiwain (one of the United Arab Emirates) and part of a 1972 series of dolls in traditional costumes of the world. It shows a doll in the costume of Volendam and it is a hologram.



This last stamp sheet seems to be from Mordovia or Mordvinia, a federal republic of Russia. However, these are forged stamps issued by anonymous private companies operating outside Russia. Among other typical Dutch things, it shows a Dutch woman in the costume of Walcheren in Zeeland and a pair of typical Dutch wooden shoes.

Etsy : Earrings

This week's earrings are these "Zeeuwse knopjes" by EST member Annemiek from TwoTreesBelgium on Etsy. Annemiek was born and grew up in Zeeland in The Netherlands. Her grandmother still wore the traditional costume of her region. The traditional jewelry and other items typical to Zeeland inspired her to make a series of ceramic 'Zeeuwse' items. And needless to say that I love her Dutch folklore jewelry line ! So, I had to have these Zeeuwse knopjes for my ears :)

I will shows you here some more of her Dutch folklore jewelry, but Annemiek makes much more than that; story bowls, animals, roses, and the most beautiful buttons (but I will tell you more about that in a future blog post). So visit her shop to see all these beauties !

Bags : Tiny Baskets

This week I finished six tiny baskets with traditional costume couples from The Netherlands. I found these tiny cross stitch patterns in a vintage embroidery book and I loved them. When I was a teenager (ahum, pretty long time ago) I had my legs several times in plaster (don't ask, but I was a fanatic sporter), and it is from that time on that I started to make cross stitch embroideries. I think I did not make any cross stitch anymore in the last 20 years or so, but when I saw these charming couples in folk dress, I had to make them.

And then I bought this gorgeous vintage linen tablecloth on a flea market in the nearby town, beautifully coarse and stiff. Perfect for making baskets. I lined them with remnants of an old fabric I bought once in Staphorst (must be at least 30 years old); I bought lots of this fabric back then to make me bed clothes from it. So, the whole set has a real vintage and traditional flair.

And they are for sale in my P8Accessories etsy shop ! There are more little baskets in the make .....

Button Wednesday : Coins

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. 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 via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


This Button Wednesday is about coin buttons. There are real coin buttons and fake coin buttons.
Many coins were made into buttons. If the dates of the real button coins are a criterion (some dates go back to the 17th century), this is already a very old habit. The face side of the coins is the front of the buttons, and a shank was soldered onto the reverse side. This can still be seen in the traditional men's costume from Zeeland in The Netherlands; the men wear trousers with a flap in the front, and the flap is closed by large silver coin buttons; often 18th century old silver guilders or English coins. See this lovely old postcard from my own collection:

Later in the 19th century, small silver USA coins were made into buttons for use on men's vests and given to young men reaching their 21st birthday, the so-called "Freedom Buttons". The earliest silver buttons made by Native Americans in the American Southwest were made from silver coins and they were often used as currency too.

Metal buttons made to resemble coins were made in the 20th century; they are often Austrian in origin, and they are very popular in Bavarian and Tyrolean traditional costumes. These buttons have blank backs (see the picture below). Some coins even depict antique Roman and Greek coins. I only have some fake coin buttons in my collection, but I must say that some are really pretty.


And here two lovely DIY's for coin buttons:
Craftzine: Coin Button
curbly: DIY Coin Buttons



!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Inspired by a bonnet I made based on a traditional Dutch pattern, my flickr favourites of today are all about traditional headdresses.
For more flickr favourites see here.

1. Alsace girl (France), 2. the brelot (France), 3. Buckeburg (Germany), 4. Zeeland (The Netherlands)

Traditional costume : kraplap

After making my bodice / kraplap for the traditional costume challenge from the European Street Team on Etsy, I thought it would be interesting to show you some pictures of bodices / kraplappen from traditional costumes in The Netherlands. Originally the kraplap was a part of the underwear, but in many parts of The Netherlands it has developed into an important decorative part of the outerwear; often very visible and showy, but also sometimes hidden under shawls only revealing a small part under the chin.




In Marken it is worn above all other clothing parts and made from antique pieces of the most beautiful chintz (calico cloth printed with flowers and other devices in different colors).



In Urk the kraplap is more voluminous, mostly made from satin and often embroidered with flowers.



The best known kraplap is the one from Volendam, tucked under the typical short sleeve jacket, often with the most beautiful flower embroidery.



In Walcheren, it is also tucked away in the short sleeved jacket but with lots of folds and more visible because of the more open form of the jacket.



The kraplap of Bunschoten-Spakenburg is the most striking one; it's made of a handpainted cotton and fully stiffened, which makes it look like a giant collar; the red checkered vertical stripe in the middle, is the shawl folded into a strip only in such a way that the kraplap is fully visible.



In Staphorst it is often made from a black woollen muslin with flowers or from black satin handpainted with "stipwerk"; a special painting technique only used in the Staphorster costume. The flowers and stipwerk is dark coloured when the wearer is in mourning (blue and purple on black), otherwise the colours are pretty bright (red, green, yellow etc.). The checkered shawl is covering quite a part of this stunning piece. Which is very much the same situation on the Veluwe, where the kraplappen are not so very brightly patterned.




In Arnemuiden and on Zuid-Beveland the kraplappen are very similar, and also very much covered by the shawl. Often the shawl is made of the same fabric as the kraplap.




The most decorated kraplap is the one of Axel; it's ingeniously embroidered with glass beads and sequins leaving almost no space of the fabric to be seen. The scarf, which is folded and stuffed like a pair of wings, is covering the fabric, leaving the embroidered part visible as one big front jewel.


I hope you enjoyed this little tour through some of the traditional costumes in The Netherlands. All the pictures are postcards in my possession.