Early-Style Hardanger

By Yvette Stanton

Taking you back to the Norwegian fjord where it all began...

Early-style Hardanger is not often seen outside of Norway, but is quite distinct from contemporary Hardanger. This historical style of embroidery has traditionally been used on the women’s clothing in the Hardangerfjord region, and was designed to emulate needle-made lace of the 1600s and 1700s.

To research for "Early-Style Hardanger", Yvette Stanton travelled to Norway, studying historical examples of Hardanger at the Norsk Folkemuseum and the Hardanger Folkemuseum. In Bergen, she joined in the celebration of Syttende Mai (17th May) or Norwegian Constitution Day. On this occasion, many Norwegians dress in bunad, or folk costume, to enjoy the festivities. Because of this, Yvette also saw many examples of early-style Hardanger in current use on traditional-style clothing.

This book inspires you to create traditional-style Norwegian whitework embroidery, and demonstrates how to do it in bite-size portions, thereby allowing you to feel the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment of making your own beautiful embroideries.