Browsing by Subject "helmikirjonta"

Finnish fashion house tradition involves a great deal of technical expertise and craftsmanship. Embroidery can be seen as the crown in the ornamentation of Finnish couture dresses. The aim of this study is to discover and analyze the embroideries made by the Finnish fashion houses in the 1940s-1970s. What materials and techniques were used? What kinds of composition and designs were established? The second aim is to compare the findings with haute couture and couture embroideries. The research data consists of 25 Finnish couture dresses and accessories produced in the1940s–1970s. The study is conducted by using the object-based research method. The research data is explored as material objects to find out the particularity of the embroideries. The dresses and accessories were photographed during this process. The data was analyzed using a qualitative data analysis and research software Atlas.ti. Photographs taken from the research data were used as primary documents in the analysis. An analysis framework was used to create codes, code families and nets to organize the research data. Magazine pictures and literature were used as secondary data. The secondary data consists of the Finnish craft magazine Omin käsin and its articles on beading. The dresses and accessories were decorated by mainly using bead embroidery. Bead embroidery was also mixed with passementerie. Different sizes and styles of beads and ribbons were used. Different stitches were a way to accomplish the desired design. Finnish fashion house tradition allowed embroiderers to find their own technical ways. Embroiderers skills and workmanship were valued and trusted. White and light colors were mainly used in embroidery beads. In passementerie gold and silver were the most common colors. Embroideries never covered the whole dress as in the haute couture dresses. The embroidery was usually placed on the neckline or some other structural line of the dress. Geometrical shapes and nature topics were popular in the embroideries. Each designer and embroiderer developed their own recognizable style. While haute couture embroideries were much richer and bolder, Finnish fashion house embroideries can be described as simple and precious. As such they were suitable for Finnish occasions, style and personality.