![\"basket](\"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/hardanger-fabric.jpg\")
Hardanger or Olso fabric<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
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Linen fabric<\/p><\/div>\n
Fabric count Does 22 count fit within that range? No, it doesn’t. 22 count is much, much larger; even double the scale of some Hardangersaum.<\/p>\n Traditional, early-style Hardanger was fine, delicate and dainty because it was worked on such a high count of fabric. Working on 22 count changes the scale completely and takes away the fine, delicate, and dainty nature of it.<\/p>\n Fabric fibre Fabric weave “Hardanger” or “Oslo” fabric uses a double or basket weave. The threads are paired, and go over and under each other in pairs.<\/p>\n There is no historical evidence that I know of that points to a double weave linen being used for historical Hardanger embroidery.<\/p>\n Product history<\/strong> This is how we came to see Mountmellick silk<\/a> being marketed for Mountmellick embroidery (actually, Mountmellick embroidery only ever used white, sturdy cotton thread with no shine!), and Oslo fabric being marketed for Hardanger embroidery. It was because of opportunistic thread and fabric companies wanting to sell more of their products!<\/p>\n Given that Hardanger embroidery had been around since the 1700s, a fabric that only started being produced in the 1800s (mass production of cotton started in the nineteenth century) could not have been traditionally used that many years before. Of course, here I am talking about a mass produced product, but we have no evidence that this sort of fabric was produced on home looms either, due to the historical record found in museum collections.<\/p>\n So please, can we now put to rest this idea that Hardanger fabric was traditionally used for Hardanger embroidery and is supposed to be used for Hardanger embroidery?<\/em><\/p>\n If you would like to know what should be used, particularly for early-style Hardanger, please see my earlier post on what to use<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I hear it all the time: “Hardanger fabric was traditionally used for Hardanger embroidery.” (Or something like that.)<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n It wasn’t.<\/p>\n Hardanger, or Oslo fabric is a 22 count cotton fabric. It was NOT used in traditional Hardanger embroidery.<\/p>\n Let me explain how I know this to be true. <\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>When I was in Norway, I spent some time studying old, historical examples of Hardangersaum in museums. The count of the fabric used was anywhere from about 35 count up to 55 count. Let me say that again: 35 – 55 count.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Linen threads and fabric were traditionally used for early-style Hardanger. Cotton didn’t grow well in Norway, due to the climate. Linen did grow there. They therefore used linen for their thread and fabric. They did not use cotton fabric.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>All the historical examples that I saw in museums were on a plain weave linen. A plain weave means single threads going over and under each other in a normal, regular weave.<\/p>\n
\nThe fabric that many believe is the right one to use for Hardanger embroidery only started to be marketed as such in about the early 1900s. In the early 1900s many thread and fabric companies started to see opportunities in the marketplace for using their products in ways they might not have been used before.<\/p>\n