Crafty Travel Destinations - EUROPE

27 Aug

Have you ever been on a holiday and thought “I wonder where the closest yarn shop is?” Me too! I love to travel and explore local craft stores, fibre fairs and textile history. I have compiled this ever growing list to help myself and everyone else find all crafty travel goodies. This is the post dedicated to places in EUROPE, if you want to see more I have other Blog Posts for the UK, Australia and more.

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed suggestions to this list, particularly the Plus-Sized Historical Costuming group on Facebook

EUROPE

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EUROPE 〰️

NORWAY

Norway can be reached through Sweden, or by boat from Denmark or Germany, and then you'll come in to Oslo or a little south of it.

There are several history, textile and fashion museums.

Norway's Viking Ship Museum (in Oslo) https://www.vikingtidsmuseet.no/english/

The vikingship museum is currently closed but opens back up in 2027.

Norsk Folkemuseum have an open air musuem featuring buildings from all over Norway from as far back as the 1500’s https://norskfolkemuseum.no/

Nasjonalmuseet have exhibits on medieval and sami texiles. https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/?hsa_acc=4778626425...

Rauland in Telemark might have summer courses https://visitrauland.com/raulandsakademiet/

Tekstilindustrimuseet close to Bergen is another museum with textiles https://muho.no/tekstilindustrimuseet

Osterøy museum close to Bergen (warp wheighted looms) https://muho.no/osteroymuseum

Check out Husfliden for local crafts, they have shops in many towns and offer a range of craft courses. https://husflid.no/

Oslo has several nice fabric shops;

Rainbow textile - https://rainbowtekstil.no/en/

FINLAND

Turku Castle and Museum https://www.turku.fi/en/turkucastle

“If your visit coincides with the Medieval Turku event that’s a must.”

The craft museum of Finland is in Jyväskylä if your visit takes you that far https://www.craftmuseum.fi/en

Helsinki a known for its architecture. https://www.mfa.fi/en/

They also have an amazing outdoor bath in the middle of the city. https://allasseapool.fi/?lang=en

The traditional Suomi (Finnish) costume is called Tuutari. If you want to learn more there are links below

https://www.kansallispuvut.fi/kansallispuvut/kansallispuvut

https://brage.fi/sve/draktbyra/pukutoimisto/kansallispuvut/

SWEDEN

In Sweden, Borås is the big textile hub, but there was also historically a lot of textile industry on the east coast.

The workers museum in Norrköping (Arbetets museum) in a huuuge textile industry building. https://www.arbetetsmuseum.se/praktisk-information/information-in-english/

Söderköping is a larrge shop with a smaller museum (called Sparven) nearby with a very sweet lady doing tours in the former Fix-clothing factory. https://www.tygsparven.se/

In Gusum there is a museum in a former button, pins, needles factory. https://www.gusumsbruksmuseum.se/

Hemslöjden folk wear store with lots of regional clothing and old timey things in Linköping. https://hemslojden.org/

Gamla Linköping open air museum https://www.gamlalinkoping.info/

Shop for vintage sewing trinkets at Historiska Kompaniet https://historiskakompaniet.se/

Borgquistska Hattmuséet Hat Museum in Trelleborg (Limited Availability, Book in advance) https://www.guidebook-sweden.com/en/guidebook/destination/borgquistska-hattmuseet-hat-museum-in-trelleborg

The Iron Museum in Malmköping https://strykjarnsmuseum.n.nu/

“Like, how can you NOT want to look at 100s of irons?” -

DENMARK

Denmark have fantastic Viking museums with samples of textiles https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/

GERMANY

Schloss Meyenburg private museum in Germany with a huge collection of 20th century clothes http://www.modemuseum-schloss-meyenburg.de/

Scholl Ludwigsburg Castle has a huge collection of dresses, accessories etc. from the 16th century till the 60s. https://www.schloss-ludwigsburg.de/.../ausstel.../modemuseum

If you're driving in Germany, Rohrspatz and Wollmeise is just north of Munich. They have lovely sock and dk weight yarn, in gorgeous colors. https://www.rohrspatzundwollmeise.de/en