Much has been said about the carpentry skills in Avinurme, giving perhaps less attention to the fact that local community, amidst the woods, was also, for quite some time, making their own fabric and clothes, spinning and knitting. Commercial fabric was a luxury, which was offered by pedlars going from farm to farm throughout the pre-war period.
Flax and wool came from one’s own land – from barn into textile – knitting was a common activity for the housewives.
Upholding of handicraft practices has also been facilitated by the UKU department in Avinurme, where in addition to carpentry many handicraftsmen also found work as knitters or embroiderers. Thus, handicraft provided additional income for many women throughout the Soviet era. UKU helped to keep Estonian national culture alive; however, at the time, local patterns gave way to the production of patterns approved by the art council, which introduced Estonian handicraft all over the Union.
Other trend that kept local handicraft alive was carpet weaving. Women knit rag rugs for their own use and thread carpets for sale, which at the marketplace, especially in Rakvere, were known as Avinurme carpets. Such handloom carpets, stitched together in the middle, covered the floors of the big rooms (chambers) in most local homes. These were woven of commercial thread, warp.
Less consistency is seen about weaving linen fabric. If in the 1940s flax was grown, spun and woven at home, then with scarcity of land and national flax cultivation being centred in the southern Estonia in the Soviet times, the flax processing skills were almost entirely abandoned.
Owing to the restoration of flax processing by the imitative of Jaagapra farm, linen fabric and skills of making it are being rediscovered.
The objective of the women’s handicraft programmes of Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre is first and foremost the revival and teaching of skills how to make organic textiles. For that purpose a women’s handicraft workshop is currently being equipped and furnished at the Centre.
Participation in these programmes is open to those interested as well as teachers and developers.
For successful executions of these programmes, related objects, tools, materials and participants are very welcome.
