From Sweden to Sardinia: Embroidered garments from all over Europe

Guest blog post from The Textile Research Centre, Leiden. The embroidery on Hungarian textiles “wants to talk to you. And when you see the art that fills these clothes, you want to talk, too,” said Daniel Csonka of the Hungarian embassy in the  Hague. The garments are “practical, of course. They are made to be worn. But they are also art,” he said. His first encounter with traditional Hungarian clothing came as a small boy during a school project. His father found him a wrangler’s costume which  included a Stetson-like cowboy hat. He  remembers the pride he experienced as a young boy wearing that hat—and his surprise at how even the colours of the costume communicated something. “The different colours meant they came from different regions of Hungary.” “From Sweden to Sardinia: European Embroidery” , the latest exhibition of the Textile Research Centre (TRC) in Leiden, features over 80 examples of such pride and surprise.  The material used ranges from goats’ hair to satin, silk to flax, while the objects themselves include socks, chemises, shirts, dresses, belts and hats. From Sweden to Sardinia: European Embroidery 30 August - 27 February 2017 The Textile Research Centre, Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HW, Leiden. www.trc-leiden.nl