My mother says that even her grandmother used to weave fabrics for simple garments when she was younger. Handweaving used to be a skill that most women knew and valued. I haven’t ever woven fabric for garments, just pirtanauha-bands, and one table runner a long time ago. But the more I have studied Finnish folk costumes and textiles, the more I have come to love the simple stripy patterns that still have lots of variability in them. In fact, there is one thing that the canonized National costumes lack and that is the creativity in fabrics. In the 18th and 19th century, weavers could decide what patterns and colours pleased…