Happy birthday Sofia!

It is Sofia Widén's birthday! Today she would have turned 112 years - she was born 1900. Sadly she passed away too young in 1961 at the age of 60. She was however very productive and it is said that her work is represented in over a thousand churches in Sweden. Even after her death her legacy lived on through Alice Lund who took over Sofia's studio and continued to create unique church textiles in her honor.

Textile artist Sofia Widén
Photo: Alice Lund Textilier AB

Today a textile conservator visited the studio because she is working on a chasuble made by Alice Lund - Sofia Widén AB from 1962. The design is made by the textile artist Ingrid Fredriksson. In our archives we have most of the sketches as well as fabric and thread samples for all of the commissions made of church textiles - from 1952 to present day. She had brought the chasuble so I took the opportunity to photograph it (note this is before it is being renovated). The textile conservator needed a new linnen ribbon since the old one had been worn. Luckily I found a couple of meter's of a similar ribbon amongst our materials and it will replace the old one. I also found the original sketch and samples of all of the materials used which showed that some small things had been changed. With this new information she could restore the chasuble to its original condition. I hope Sofia sees that as a good gift on her birthday - that the church textiles she and her fellow textile artists made still are taken care of, 50 years later.

Chasuble (mässhake) by Alice Lund-Sofia Widén AB 1962
Photo: Alice Lund Textilier AB

Chasuble (mässhake) by Alice Lund-Sofia Widén AB 1962
Photo: Alice Lund Textilier AB

Here is the original sketch I found in the archives.

Sketch for chasuble, Alice Lund-Sofia Widén AB 1962
Photo: Alice Lund Textilier AB