Seto Bobbin Lace

Teacher: Sigre Andreson

Image

Sigre Andreson graduated from the UT Viljandi Culture Academy with a degree in Native Textiles (2016) and an MA in Heritage Technology (2019). She lives in Setomaa in southeastern Estonia, one of the most fascinating areas of traditional culture in Estonia. She has worked as head of the Seto Museum in Obinitsa and established the Seto Handicraft Kogo (2006), an organisation that unites Seto artisans, of which she is a board member to this day. She has been the project manager for several traditional Seto handicraft books (tablet-woven belts, crochet lace, bobbin lace) and is the author of a pattern book for Seto men's socks. She works as a handicraft teacher at Meremäe School. She also organises rural life and handicraft workshops at the nearly 150-year-old Rikka Ivvan Farm.

Image

In Setomaa, bobbin lace has been made of fine white linen and coarser red, sometimes also blue, cotton thread as well as colourful woollen yarn. The Seto bobbin lace is characterised by chain lines made of coarse red cotton thread. These chain lines, which can be one-, two- three- or even fourfold, form geometric shapes on the white linen ground, and look like belt patterns or embroideries. An essential difference from the ordinary use of outline thread is in the mechanism of leading the thread: the thread is not woven through the ground lace threads, but on the contrary: the two coarse red threads pull the white ground threads together, forming a twine that looks like embroidery. Bobbin lace of Setomaa was mostly used to decorate the long-sleeved shirt and the headscarf. It has also been added to textiles used in wedding ceremonies, like shaft bow scarves and bridal scarves, as well as the decorative towels hung around the icon shelf at the homes of Orthodox Setos.

Image

In this workshop participants will get to know about Seto bobbin lace. During the two-day workshop a bookmark of bobbin lace will be made.
The participation fee includes the use of tools (bobbin lace pillow, bobbins and needles) and the cost of all necessary materials (linen and cotton threads) for the bookmark. The workshop is suitable for participants with previous bobbin lace experience.