December 05, 2019

The Kirsten Project | Saint Lucia through the Ages

December 05, 2019/ Jessica Quirk

Kirsten’s holiday story Kirsten’s Surprise centers around her family’s tradition of celebrating Saint Lucia’s Day - a solstice celebration of light honoring Santka Lucia. The holiday took hold during Sweden’s Catholic period somewhere between 1000-1500 and is still honored today with parades and family celebrations on December 13th. If you’re thinking, wait! the winter solstice is on December 21st! (my birthday!), you’re right. There was a change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar for Sweden (and the US/UK) in the mid 18th century, which essentially pushed the calendar forward to account for leap days.

In Sweden, the eldest daughter in each family wakes before dawn and brings a breakfast tray to her family members in the dark, wearing a white (night) gown, red sash at the waist and a crown made of lingonberries and branches with candles glowing. Kirsten’s family celebrated St. Lucia’s day as the start of the Christmas season but her Swedish American cousins have since lost the custom. After a snowy all night adventure to town with her papa to retrieve the family’s trunks and Swedish heirlooms, Kirsten is able to play the part of St. Lucia on December 13th.

For my Saint Lucia costume I’m taking my cues from the artwork in Kirsten’s Surprise, illustrated by Renée Graef but looking through historical photos and illustrations made me so excited for my family’s own St. Lucia’s Day breakfast! Click on any image to view larger!

November 13, 2019

The Kirsten Project | Changes for Kirsten

November 13, 2019/ Jessica Quirk

Changes for Kirsten costume by Jessica Quirk

Ch-ch-changes! As we move into colder weather, it’s time for another look from The Kirsten Project - this time with her winter Scandinavian outfit from Changes for Kirsten. If you haven’t had a chance to see my background research on Kirsten’s skirt, sweater and knitted accessories or my original Kirsten Project post you’ll want to check those out. This look was practically plucked from the museum and was such a joy to recreate. Let’s jump in, shall we?

She wore all her flannel petticoats, her warmest skirt, and two pairs of wool socks, but still trembled with cold. - Changes for Kirsten

Kirsten’s winter story is set in 1850s Minnesota, but her old country outfit is distinctively Scandinavian - specifically Norwegian. Why not Swedish? As you know Norway and Sweden are neighbors and although there are regionally specific costumes, there are also a lot of similarities and overlaps between the bunad, or folk dress of the two nations. For example, both countries have bunads with red, green, black and white color schemes (just have a look at the famous artist Carl Larsson and his work “Kersti’s Birthday Party” featuring his daughter and her friends in their regional dress). So while not a Swedish folk costume to a T, Kirsten’s winter outfit absolutely captures a Scandinavian essence.

Political borders aside, my best guess is that pieces of Kirsten’s winter look, like the fana cardigan sweater and the Tecnica après ski boots were popular fashion trends of the 1980s when her character was developed. Maybe someone walked into the office one day wearing them and the design team turned to say now THAT’S what Kirsten’s winter look should be! Who can blame them? I love the high contrast black and white, punched with pops of red and green and think the entire look is one of the most memorable from the entire early Pleasant Company catalog (I’m still pining for a doll’s sized version but keep losing eBay auctions in the final minutes!)

Changes for Kirsten Pleasant Company Catalog

Hat, Scarf + Mittens

Thanks to this project I’m back on a knitting kick again! I knit all of my winter accessories myself and really loved every second of it! The hat is a copy of the doll’s hat and I think it’s very close! I actually made three versions of this hat. On the first I asked for feedback (you guys suggested alternative male and female figures instead of just girls), the second was destroyed with a dying mishap and this is the third! I made it roomy enough to fit my big braids underneath but it still works for everyday wear! Speaking of, a huge plus to making this costume is the modern wearability of the pieces. I foresee myself getting a lot of use out of them!!

My scarf isn’t anything too fancy - just one very long tube of red stockinette knitting. I don’t like purling very much but in the round I can fly with a metal tipped circular needle. I used size 8 with worsted weight yarn and it took two skeins. No pattern! I found some original examples here and here!

These mittens were made using the Selbu pattern from Skeindeer Knits (read more on the history of the selbuvotter here). It’s really well written and fast to knit. Again I used worsted weight yarn and US size 4, 9” circular needles and matching DPNs for the fingertips and thumb. Magic loop just doesn’t work for me and I find the small circulars to be really fast! I’ve since finished four more pair of mittens!

Sweater

My fana style sweater, with it’s selburose stars, checkerboard hem and cuffs and black and white stripes, is what kick started this project for me. I had a little money left over from my first round of backing when I saw this original Pleasant Company cardigan on eBay. The price was too good to let it go and the rest is history. It’s a girl’s XL and thanks to that 80s silhouette, roomy enough to fit me!

Skirt

As I referenced in my research post, Kirsten’s skirt is very similar to the overskirt of the Setesdalbunad. I chose to go with extant examples and historical photographs and do two red stripes instead of one for my version skirt.

The skirt is made from a lovely lightweight wool I bought from Burnley and Trowbridge. I cut a narrow strip for my waistband and then split the remaining yardage in half. I sewed up those side seams and then gauge pleated 10 feet worth of fabric into my waistband. At the hem I appliquéd stripes of red and green wool that I sourced from second hand pencil skirts bought at the thrift store. If you’re looking closely those are burrs decorating my hem… I walked around through the woods for a while to find the perfect spot to take these photos!

Boots

While every other aspect of Kirsten’s costume can firmly be traced to Scandinavian cultural origins, these boots are one piece I couldn’t nail down other than the fact that they are definitely in the artwork for Changes for Kirsten (by the wonderful Renée Graef! Hi Renée!!)

I considered the fur boots worn by the Sami people of Northern Scandinavian, but those have a curled toe. I looked at Native American examples from the US, but I couldn’t find anything that was identical. I looked up mountain men (Kirsten and her family are trappers in this book), but nothing there either. One thing I’m sure of? The boots from the illustrations are Tecnica après ski boots, the very same sold in the catalog, and they were a big trend in the 80s. See the eighties theme happening here?!

I found my boots on eBay and then made some alterations so they more closely resembled the cover art. I painted one of the yellow leather ties red (with leather paint) and stitched on vintage green Scandinavian ribbon under the cuff. This is one bit of my costumes I wanted to save for the final reveal because I was SO PSYCHED when I figured out the brand and then found a pair in my size. They’ll be great snow boots for winter!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of The Kirsten Project! The more I research Scandinavian culture the more I want to visit and incorporate the designs into my own life. You better believe I have a St. Lucia Day breakfast planned in my home too! I’m so inspired by everything I learned during this project.

Thank you to everyone who has financially backed my costume work or cheered me on from the sidelines. It’s pretty amazing to work on something, put it out into social media ,and have nothing but positivity surrounding it. There’s something really joyful about sharing a childhood nostalgia with others. We all seem to remember how it felt to find the Pleasant Company catalog in the mail, turn the pages of the books and in cases like mine, dress up like my doll for so many happy days of my girlhood. So much of who I am was formed in those days - , a pioneer/homesteading spirit, a make do and mend attitude, a love for historical costumes and embracing anything and everything “old fashioned”.

The Kirsten Project - Changes for Kirsten - Costume by Jessica Quirk

November 13, 2019

The Kirsten Project | Selbuvotter

November 13, 2019/ Jessica Quirk

Now that we’ve seen some of the classic elements of Norwegian knitting from the Fana sweater, let’s have a look at Selbuvotter, or mittens from Selbu, Norway!

I’ve found a couple different origin stories for this classic black and white mitten, but the one I like best is the story of Marit Gulsethbrua Emstad, a young girl who knit up both black and white wool from her family’s sheep using the 8 pointed star on the back of the mitten. She wore them to church on Sunday in the 1850s and a fashion trend was born. They grew to such popularity worldwide, that by the 1930s over 100,000 pair were exported a year! This motif became known as the selburose and later an icon of Norway in it’s quest for independence. This article from The Atlantic goes into even more of the story and I highly recommend it for more background!

I also found the following press piece that appeared in at least fifteen papers in 1938, including The Los Angelos Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Indianapolis Times, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis and more. The eye catching title of this article was Romantic Story in Knit Mittens and reads as follows:

The black and white Norwegian mittens which have for the last few seasons decorated the hands of American skiiers were original intended for a far different purpose. They were first made in accordance with an old marriage custom and owe their fine workmanship to the intense rivalry amoung the young girls who knit them, says an old tradition of the beautiful Selbu district of Norway. According to this story, girls of the valley were once expected to knit a pair of mittens for each of the guests attending their wedding.

They began the task very young, competing with each other to produce the finest designs. Typical Selbu patterns, such as the large eight-pointed star, an angular figure of a woman or a reindeer, are now knit by women in other parts of Norway and will be included in the handicrafts displays arranged for the great Oslo Exhibition of Norwegian life, which will open in Oslo May 12 and continue to Sept. 18

Socks and sweaters too are knit in Selbu patterns, and with the increasing popularity of skiing, these Norwegian articles are fast achieving international fame.

The above red caption is Google translated (questionably) as follows: “It was no easy matter for a self-made woman to marry in earlier times. According to the wedding traditions, an engaged girl had to start knitting well in advance of the wedding. First, they were to knit neat self-stocking socks for the groom and several pairs of socks for the closest male relatives of the groom. As if that weren't enough, all the men who were guests at the wedding separated a couple of self-propelled women home. These were knitted by the women who were invited to the wedding and delivered to the bride a few days for the guest room. All the mittens were hung on a pole riding a snow on the bridal ceiling while the wedding lasted. The woman knew that all the wedding guests and others would evaluate and comment on the work - it could be honored. so a good impression of the mittens was important and they were knit with file and care.”

If any Scandinavian readers out there want to add in, please help me in the comments! Regardless of where the trend of Selbuvotter started, we know for sure these design elements are what inspired Kirsten’s woolen sets!

For my Changes for Kirsten woolens I took on knitting my own mittens and hat using many of the motifs above - the selburose, alternative male and female figures and the 4 pointed flower with vines. I copied Kirsten’s hat directly from the doll’s version and used the Selbu knitting pattern from Skeindeer Knits for the mittens! They are so fun to make! I can’t wait to show you the completed costume tomorrow! Stay tuned!

August 26, 2019

The Kirsten Project | The Art of Carl Larsson

August 26, 2019/ Jessica Quirk

Thanks to a tip from the Kirsten series illustrator, Renée Graef, I have been spending a lot of time looking at the work of Swedish artist Carl Larsson. I’ll be sharing more of his pieces as they apply to different portions of my project, but I picked out these specific works because of their pastoral quality. I can only guess which pieces the team at Pleasant Company used while they developed Kirsten, but they certainly inform what farm life like may have been like for Swedish immigrants in the 19th century.