Swedish National Day

Today is June 6th, our National Day here in Sweden. I have spent the afternoon in this outfit, my costume from Södra Unnaryd/Västbo, a place in the south-western part of Sweden. Both my maternal grandmother and my father´s family comes from this region so it feels just right to wear it! I have always had a national costume, when I was little I wore one from where my mother grew up in northern Sweden but then I got my grandmother´s old costume on my 12th birthday. I have outgrew it, but my mother has made a new skirt, apron and vest during the last couple of years. The skirt is dark blue with a red edge, the vest is striped differently in different villages (this stripe pattern is from the village Reftele) and the apron is printed cotton. On the side I wear a loose pocket and I wear a silver brooch on the blouse

The Unnaryd costume is one of the oldest described costumes in Sweden with details dating back to the 17th and 18th century - such as the model of the vest and the hat which is for unmarried women. I have never wore it until today but decided to try and wear a correct costume (adult women are supposed to wear something on the head) for this festive occasion - as you can see I also wear my silk shawl since I wasn´t going to dance so much today. Otherwise I wear a simple white cotton shawl when I dance because in this costume you wear the shawl inside the vest and you don´t want to sweat in fragile silk...

All in all a good day! And that hat protected me from the blazing sun... Now I am going to make some rhubarb muffins for tomorrow, I hope they turn out fine so I can write about them!