Traditional Hand Crafts of Dubrovnik

Greetings from Denver! Yes, I’m traveling again, and this time I’m teaching for the Colorado Quilting Council. It was 17 below the morning I left Wisconsin, and I arrived to 16 above ~ quite an improvement! I’ve had a lovely visit so far, and I’ll share some of the fun in a future post. But now, as promised, I’ll continue my series of posts on my recent trip to Italy and Croatia with a port I know you’ll enjoy reading about!

(just a short note for those of you who are new to my blog this week, my grandson and I recently returned from a cruise. This is my third post about the sites, art and fiber we’ve seen. To read the previous posts please click here and then here!)

Prior to this trip I didn’t even know where to find Croatia on the map. After visiting two cities there I’ve added it to my list of favorite destinations. The Sea Organ in Zadar is one reason, but the traditional fiber art of Dubrovnik is at the top of the list. We began our day there with a fascinating tour of the old walled city of Dubrovnik. Our guide Lydia actually lives in an apartment that is on the second, third and fourth floor of a building there that’s been in her family for generations. She led our tour with the passion only a native can have.

Next we headed outside the city walls to Konavle and an atelier owned by Antonia Ruskovic. Atelier is a French word for the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts.

Antonia is not only an artist in her own right, but she is preserving and sharing the traditional folk arts of her area, and the visit to her home and studio is a memory I will long cherish. Upon our arrival we passed through the shop on the ground level and climbed the stairs to find a warm and friendly room where Antonia served us muffins and tea.

Then she began to explain the traditions of the women in her town. Traditionally they began to sew the items they would wear for the rest of their life when they were in their early teens. They began by making a “shirt” (we’d call it a dress), and it was made large enough to wear while pregnant, and accomodate any size they might become as they matured. This dress was then cinched with a wide and then a narrow belt that were both tied tightly.

Next came the apron, and when the corners were tucked into the tightly secured belt, they had a “bag” for anything they needed to carry.

She then explained the “staff”. These were made by the young men of the town in order to attract a girl. When she chose a boy as a suiter he gave her his staff. And why was that such a big deal? You’re going to love this! The staff was tucked into the belt at the girl’s side. She could then take a clump of wool roving in her left hand and hold it against the back of the staff. With her right hand she would pull a bit of wool out through one of the decorative holes and twist it into a yarn as she walked around town. This is something the women would do throughout their lives. Nothing was wasted – not even time.

And here are some more of the staffs and a sample of the wool roving:

The wool would be knit or woven into clothes for the cold winter months (which we were experiencing that day in Croatia).

At this point you may have noticed the collar with tassels Antonia is wearing, as well as the framed collars hanging throughout the room. She told us that the women wore these embroideries all the time, and the girls would make them for every season of their lives. The colors and patterns are very specific and they depicted many things: their marital status, stages of motherhood, celebrations, times of illness and even mourning. They were all hand embroidered with silk threads ~ and that brings me to the art of silk production in Dubrovnik. But I’m afraid this post is getting a bit long, so I’m going to leave you wanting more 😊.

Join me next week for “silk production in Dubrovnik!

Oh, one more thing. I hope you’ll find this little extra story interesting. Atonia said that these women were very superstitious and that many things needed to be done with odd numbers ~ like the number of stitches in the collars. Then she told us the women would make great big pots of stew from grains for gatherings, and it was important that there was an odd number of grains in the pot. A pot of stew could hold hundreds of grains and most of these women were uneducated and unable to count very high. So how did they do it??? They put all the grains in a pile and whisked them into the pot two at a time with their fingers. When they got to the end of the pile they could add just one more to make the number odd. Brilliant!