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.

Flickr Favorites : Traditional Costume North-West Veluwe, Netherlands

Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of the North-West Veluwe in The Netherlands. The North-West Veluwe is an area in the north-west of the province of Gelderland along the former Dutch Zuiderzee (but now it lies inland, because of land reclamation). If you have followed this traditional costume series on my blog, you will have noticed that all places and islands around and in the Zuiderzee had their own distinctive costumes. The original North-West Veluwe costume contains an ear ornament usually made of precious metal (locally called ‘oorijzer’, lit. ‘ear-iron’) and a colorful small cap with red flowers and lace. The female attire going with it, was mainly dark in color but with a red checkered scarf crossed over the kraplap (i.e. bodice). From the beginning of 20th century the old traditional costume was gradually replaced by the costume of the North-East of the Veluwe, because lots of the girls from the North-West Veluwe started working in the houses in the cities of the North-East Veluwe (like Kampen). The last woman who was wearing the old costume of the North-West Veluwe was Wijmpje Frens-Wouters, who died at the age of 102 in 2007.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago - 'er zijn verschillende manieren om oud te worden , dit is er ook een van ...', 2. Eibertje, 3. Klederdracht, 4. Op en top Holland

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Etsy : New Brooches & Industrial Sewing Machine

This week I made more pieces in my "double buttoned embroidered" jewelry line. But this time I used the small branches, so I made a type of toggle buttons. Embroidered them again with silk floss and a lovely button. I so like making these girly woodland pieces !

Most of the new creations are now in my Etsy shop: P8 Button Art, but there is more to come !

And I played the whole week with my industrial sewing machine, hubby bought it for me from an old man in Kiel who buys and repairs those monsters as his hobby. I had to get used to the speed of the machine and how to get it even, and learned a lot about threads, tension, and spooling. There's no tutorial handbook, so I had to find it out for myself. And I am still very careful for my fingers because it is a real monster, it goes easily through 2cm (almost 1") thick leather like butter....
Here some pics of my new playmate:

Etsy : New Business Cards

This week I did not do much, did not sew a thing, but got a good idea for the EST winter swap. So, that's what I will do next week, working on the winter swap. Back to this week, I did some necessary administration and was happy about the fact that Etsy transformed my P8Accessories shop from dollars into euros. And I got my new business cards and postcards for my P8 Button Art shop on Etsy ! I think they are fantastic, and will tell you the story a bit. Some time ago I got a lovely email from Stacey DeLooze that she liked my button creations and if she could use them for a photo-shooting of her UK based music band DeLooze. I listened to their music and liked the idea very much, wanted to see my creations in a completely different setting and we had a deal. And here's the result; I think they are extremely cool. Buy something in my Etsy shop and you get them in your own hands :))

Buttons : achtmalacht

I am so happy to announce that my button creations are now for sale in a real, non-virtual, shop ! My friend Annette from PaperPower, who is one of the initiators, asked me kindly to be part of this adventure. This Saturday is the grand opening from achtmalacht (i.e. 8x8) in Eckernfoerde, Germany. When you happen to be in the area, come and have a look, and a glass of champagne.

Fabrics : Mourning Kraplap

I got a request from a customer on Etsy to make her a kraplap like the one above, but then from fabric and fitting to black clothes. She said: "create your ideal mourning kraplap for me !" after she had read my blogpost about the kraplap. After some searching through my traditional costume books, I got lots of inspiration and made a pattern based on the kraplap from the traditional costume in Staphorst in The Netherlands.
(Mourning Costume, Staphorst - from my postcard collection)

I still had some black and white fabric from Staphorst which is actually used at mourning and decided to sew the kraplap double so that it was wearable on two sides. For the other side I chose a black traditional German fabric with stripes and pink roses, which could be seen as "light mourning".

And this is the result. I like it ! Now I hope the customer likes it too.....

Tid Bits: Flickr Favourites

Inspired by the European Street Team challenge of last week for which I made wooden buttons (sawing, sanding, drilling & oiling) and made those into a necklace, my flickr favourites of today are all about wood.
For more flickr favourites see here.

1. Banksia Ring -1, 2. Stairway to Heaven , 3. Biscuit box angular jasmine leaf wooden necklace, 4. Wood Shawl Pin & Ring

And here's a picture of the wooden buttons and the necklace I made of it for the challenge:

Challenge : Overview 5

The European street team of Etsy organizes weekly challenges in order to stimulate its members to create other things as usual.
I enjoy these challenges very much; so here again an overview of my entries in the last 11 challenges (I only missed one week because of the hospital stay):



Burst of Colour Messenger Bag
Challenge by JaneBoFelt: Burst of Colour


One Hour Post Dracula
Challenge by toosis: Tim Burton Style Gothic Fantasy


Peppermint Molecule
Challenge by dinafragola: Food


Autumn Leaves on a Hat
Challenge by Sumikoshop: Fall is coming

Enchanted Palm Frond Pouch
Challenge by BlueTerracotta: The Enchanted Forest


Old School Hat
Challenge by alatvian: Old School


Life on Mars Neck Warmer
Challenge by Serpentaires: Life on Mars


Blue Bow Fragola Hat (for dinafragola)
Challenge by LeelaBijou: This one is for you

White Xmas Hat
Challenge by swiedebie: All I Want for Christmas

Back to Nature Necklace
Challenge by Ravenhill: Back to Nature

Purple Gnome Hat
Challenge by Jealousydesign: Gnomes and Trolls

Challenge : Overview 4

The European street team of Etsy organizes weekly challenges in order to stimulate its members to create other things as usual.
I enjoy these challenges very much; so here again an overview of my entries in the last 14 challenges:



Caffeine Molecule
Challenge by binkaminka: Insomnia


Chocolate Molecule
Challenge by Leelabijou: Inspired by a Movie ("Chocolat")


Cute Birdie Brooch
Challenge by carmenesque: Birds


Serotonin Molecule
Challenge by antigoni: La vita e bella

Baby's Breath
Challenge by alatvian: Cheap and Gorgeous


Black Orchid
Challenge by vilte: Wild versus Elegant


The Audrey Hepburn Pouch that never was ...
Challenge by meltemsem: Audrey Hepburn


Pastel Silk Pouch
Challenge by AmandaYuDesign: Pastel Color

Kraplap Bodice in Jade-Green
Challenge by kraplap: Traditional Costume

Checkmate Bracelet
Challenge by StormsHandicrafts: Checkmate

Dots Messenger Bag
Challenge by staroftheeast: Dots

Retro Flower Messenger Bag - Green
Challenge by iragrant: The colours which make you happy

Square Dot Messenger Bag
Challenge by LaTouchables: The Hidden Site

Honeycomb Amulet Bag
Challenge by steinschmuckdesign: Mystic

Tidbits : Lawnsign

I ordered a week ago a lawnsign at VistaPrint and it arrived today. Had no idea what to expect, but for the money it's a very clever solution. It's from plastic and has metal legs. I think it looks pretty cool along the road before my house; hope that tourists like too what they see and come into my little shop/atelier !

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.