This project was a reproduction kit I bought some years ago and made. It’s from a design that was found in the south of Sweden. The fabric is a thick wool felt, really nice to feel, but less easy to push the needle through. I so loved working with the wool threads though! This is the project that brought me to crewel work which I really enjoy.
The size is about 20 inches square, so there is quite a bit of stitching in this!
This should be made into a pillow, which I still haven’t done! In the old days, the embroidered pillow was meant to be used as a riding cushion, since there were no stuffed seats.
I love the naive folk art quality of the designs they used. Color were, of course, limited, but they made imaginative use of them to give the embroidery lots of life and fun.
Below is a selection of various antique wool embroidery from the Nordic Museum in Stockholm.