Last night I got back from a trip to Eastern Europe. Grab a pillow and get comfortable: I will show you some of the fabrics that I saw in Moldova and Romania. There was pattern everywhere. There were woven rugs on the walls and on the floor.And there were stripes.
Rugs overlapped
These rag rugs were all on the floor in one room, making an impromptu quilt.
Clothing in a market stall:
This woman was selling her knitting at the market and her dress was historical.
There were lots of women dressed in more everyday scarves and patterns.
Textiles are part of homes and restaurants.
And there are glorious textiles in the churches.
I love the cacophony of patterns. Harmonious cacophony!
The past and the present are woven together.
What a treat! The colors, the patterns, the primitive design! Thanks so much for sharing
Sharing helps me remember all the great things I saw. Thanks for looking!
Fantastic. And I love the stairway!
The stairs led down to a dining room with delicious food at the eco hotel in Butuceni (Old Orhei, Moldova).
Gorgeous! Thanks for the visual feast. Lucky you — I imagine you came home with loads of fresh inspiration for your own work.
I saw SO much – I think it will take a long time to absorb it all.
They certainly aren’t afraid of color! It’s striking to see the yarns atop the loom. Thanks for sharing all the photos.
I loved seeing the layers of color and pattern. There were patterns within each piece of fabric, but they combined to make even more.
So good to see all of these and the art lives on, whether poor or not, art is part of these people’s lives. Happy you got to go there and see all of this color and pattern!
Luckily wealth does not have a monopoly on beauty! In Moldova it actually seemed vice versa.
gorgeous ! reminds me of Turkey
Many people in Moldova go to Turkey when they want beach time.
Too beautiful and amazing for words!
And if I did use words they would have to be in Romanian and Russian!
These are wonderful, Julie.
Inspiring!!
Thanks, Kassana. Nice to hear from you.
The wonderful variety of patterns, color and handmade items was fascinating. My sister and I grew up in SW MI from 1948 until 1957 and were very much like twins.. So to celebrate our friendship as sisters, a month ago before she left, I created two Ukrainian Babushka fabric dolls. I used ideas for designing their outfits from Jackie Kennedy’s book IN RUSSIA. The bodies painted with acrylic and outfits in blue the other purple. Two home made fabric baskets with tiny dolls, each sister doll had a necklace with a Ukrainian picture of Christ Jesus, and they have crosses around the neck two… Hand painted kerchiefs…Love you work,,, atk
Those dolls sound amazing!