MMM 2015, Day 3: Hungarian embroidery – Róza peasant top, with black/red Vezas design

Me-Made-May, day 3!

Sundays during Me-Made-May are Hungarian embroidery days, which is very exciting as I’ve been basically obsessed with researching traditional Hungarian embroidery for the past couple of months. Not my first foray, but definitely my first attempt to try something way out of my usual comfort zone, following a design based on traditional shapes and stitches. Today’s post features two designs produced by Kate & Rose Patterns, a small company created and run by a Hungarian native now living in New York. The blouse is the Róza, and the embroidery is the Floral Geometry design. My grandparents on my dad’s side came to Canada in the late 1920s, joining a wave of immigrants from Hungary. Granny & Grandpa lived about 30 km from each other in Hungary but only first met in Montreal, where they married on Valentine’s Day 1931. I’m pretty sure Granny would have admired the projects I’ve been working on, she was a sewer, and loved handcrafted pretty things. I think she’d be happy…

So on to the top! It’s a modern rendition of a peasant blouse, which is ideal for this project as embroidered peasant tops are a quintessential Hungarian thing. Even more coincidental, it’s called the Róza blouse, and my grandmother’s name was Rózalia (Rose). The pattern is fairly simple, top or dress, with loose raglan sleeves, optional high-low hem, and 2 different options for the front centre piece. I chose a “vezas” piece for the centre embroidery, one of three styles from the Buzsak tradition of embroidery, which is near Lake Balaton in Hungary. Hungarian pattern-maker, Hungarian peasant blouse, I could barely stand working on this piece, it was just so great to see it come together…

And I’m in LOVE with these particular design elements, the starburst and the fan:

 

Pattern & Instructions:

Level of Difficulty – blouse = intermediate, but with a bit of patience a beginner could make it. Comes with great instructions! Highly suggest fabrics with a soft hand feel and drape, otherwise you’ll end up with a stiff, puffy-looking blouse. I chose a linen mix, has a tiny bit of stretch, and cascades nicely.

Sizes XS-XL

As for the embroidery, the piece I chose was intricate, but the pattern came with several options, including small simple ones for beginners. I can’t stress how wonderful the instructions were, and the embroidery pattern came with illustrated instructions for the traditional stitches. Vezas embroidery is one of three types from the Buzsàk region, near Lake Balaton, read more here. Colours = DMC321, DMC310

 

Garment Assembly:

Pretty quick assembly: (1) gather bottom edge of raglan sleeve, attach sleeve binding but leave open, (2) attach raglan sleeve sides to back, and then front pieces, (3) attach centre embroidered piece to front sides, (4) sew up the sides, (5) finish neck, (6) hem bottom, (7) finish binding on sleeves. Muslin suggested. The only change to assembly I made was to bind the neckline instead of just folding it over…I love the way it looks. Ooops, my centre piece is a bit low, doesn’t quite connect properly to sides, but it’s equally wrong on both sides, so, looks ok I think.

Garment Alterations:

I cut size XL, but tailored the waist to a size S, shaping it in at the waist.

I also remove a bit of width from the front piece, nearest the seam with the sleeve, there was too much poof happening there so I pinned it out and transferred the change to my pattern piece.

Final Thoughts:

Love it! A second one is in the works…

Check out this google search for design inspiration!