A Blaudruck Apron — Janet Szabo

This is the apron my neighbor, Theresa, brought me from Germany. Isn’t it beautiful?

The fabric and the apron were made in Hungary, in a town south of Budapest called Tolna. (Szabo is a Hungarian surname, so this is doubly special.) Theresa brought back a brochure with the apron which had a website link to the producers of this particular apron—Blaudruckerei Fam. Horvath—but unfortunately, that website was a bit lacking in history. I did find a link to the web page of an embroidery artist named Kati who owns Kate and Rose Patterns. Kati grew up in Hungary and has an entire page about the history of blue-dye fabric. It includes lots of photos and information. She writes:

We always had tablecloths, aprons, dresses, skirts made of this fabric when I was little. My mother would find these fabrics at markets, but there were a lot more of the old workshops still manufacturing because in the 1970s this was still a popular fabric in villages. Now there are only six blue-dye manufacturers - with 4 active workshops - remaining in Hungary, and only about 20 in all of Europe. It's a labor-intensive technique, to be sure, but the results are truly lovely. Blue-dying was so important in Hungary that the old textile industry traces its roots to it - even the once-famous former Goldberger textile factory (now museum) in Budapest began as a blue-dye cloth manufacturing workshop. A truly tragic part here: Leo Goldberger, who led the way in modernizing Hungarian textile manufacturing, did not survive the Holocaust. Blue-dye cloth has been created in Hungary for hundreds of years, not long after the dye derived from the indigo plant arrived in Europe by way of French, Dutch, and Turkish traders in the 16th century. The first blue-dye manufacturers in Hungary appeared in the 17th century.

The designs on the fabric are unique and are created using dies dipped in beeswax and stamped onto the fabric. The beeswax keeps the indigo dye out of the fabric. Here is a closeup of that detailed border print:

This apron is a treasure, to be sure, and I love it. Thank you, Theresa!

*********

After running around all weekend, I wanted nothing more than to stay home yesterday. I spent the day making class samples. This is another Harper Cardigan:

I am teaching this class again here in February and I thought I would mix it up a bit with a different display cardigan for the store. This one has contrast bands. The main fabric is a sweater knit from Walmart. The bands are a bushed sweater knit, also from Walmart. I don’t wear brown, so this will be a good store sample.

I am having great fun with these sweater knits. I love the instant gratification of making a sweater in a couple of hours.

**************

I think I’ve finally corralled and organized all the social media stuff for the podcast. (Let’s hope.) I updated the running list of topics and added a few more names for interviews. If anyone has suggestions, leave me a note.

I’ve come across an interesting Substack account called The Sewing Machine Newsletter. The account offers a free-to-subscribe option, but if you want to read entire articles or access the archives, you have to pay a monthly or annual fee. The writing is excellent and well worth the subscription fee if you have any interest in sewing.

Nicole Sauce did her Word of the Year livestream yesterday. She talks about the reason for having a WOTY and the process of choosing one for 2024. Her WOTY for 2024 is HONE. She wants to “do more of less,” and that involves honing in on specific areas and sharpening them as you would hone a knife. I think that was a great choice.

Mine is going to be CULTIVATE. I had to jettison some of my activities—using the word NO in 2023—so I could have time to nourish the activities I love.