Recently, thanks to reader Mike up in Canada, I’ve had the opportunity to look into Hungarian embroidery. I love regional embroidery techniques, especially the types that reflect the social heritage of a nation. I don’t know a lot about Hungarian embroidery – I’m just beginning to learn a little bit about it. Before my interest in it was recently awakened, what I knew about traditional embroidery from Hungary was pretty vague: that it is colorful, that it sometimes involves cross stitch and sometimes involves cutwork or lace, and that it is often employed (quite exuberantly!) in the national costumes of Hungary.

Any time I begin a new journey into learning about a type of needlework, I start with searching online for resources and searching for books. One of the most helpful websites I came across in my preliminary search into Hungarian folk art and Hungarian embroidery was Folkology. It was here that I found titles of various books in Hungarian on Hungarian embroidery, with brief reviews of the books’ contents. Though the books are no longer available on Folkology, I was able to do some searching and land a few through used books sources. The first one that arrived is called Nagyanyáink öröksege, or “Legacy of our Grandmothers.”