Nordiska of Gothenburg, 1960
Designer: Unknown
Name: Kudde 6503 / Circle 6503
Original colour: Pale blue, white
Original materials: Pale blue linen, 37 x 74 cm folded into a cushion.
DMC art 101/16, whole thread.
Designed in 1960 by Nordiska of Gothenburg, Circle 6503 was originally printed on a very fine linen, and sold in one colourway only.
We have reprinted this simple and beautiful Swedish design as a panel kit with many different colour variations. It's a great starter kit for hands that may not have embroidered for many years, or for anyone who wants to learn embroidery.
If you like to use a hoop, choose one that is at least 30 cm across, or a smaller one that can be moved as you stitch along.
Included in this set is:
- A 100% linen cloth, 50 x 50 cm, all are hand cut and hand printed linen and may vary slightly. The design itself measures 29 cm in diameter, centred on the square panel.
- 7 skeins of contemporary linen threads, in 7 colours.
- A chenille needle on a vintage paper circle cut.
- A stitch card showing the 24 most common 60's linen embroidery stitches.
This card is an exact copy of Nordiska's 60's stitch card, once written on a typewriter in Gothenburg, we have kept it as it looked, typo and all.
The other card shows part of a drawing of this design as it was found in the Nordiska Embroidery Archive, and part the original embroidered piece in blue and white, with a brief history of it's origins and named stitches on the back of the card.
The six named stitches are stem stitch, chain stitch, lazy daisy stitch, Y-stitch, couching stitch and French knots.
Today Nordiska Circle is often used as a sampler, with many different stitches added.
You will need to decide where to add the stitches and colours, and we encourage improvisation.
Linen always look best if it isn't washed, and we recommend keeping it as it is, just as Nordiska did in the 1960's. Their notes would say "dry clean only", at least when the kits were presented in the UK, as we can see in issues of The Needlewoman Catalogue from that era.
We hope you will love this Nordiska treasure just as much as we do!
Please note that his is a screenprint with permanent colour,
the white marks will not wash off.