La Schachtula's Beautiful Bags from Mühlviertel Fabrics

One of the huts at Vienna's Freyung Easter Market is sure to catch your eye for the beautiful fabrics it features. Ulrike Eckerstorfer, her mother, Anna, and others at La Schachtula sew these traditional fabrics from Upper Austria into gorgeous handbags, towels, pillows, toys and other items. The quality of their sewing is superb.

Historically, Upper Austria's soil was of rather poor quality for growing many foods but was excellent for growing flax used to make linen. Farmers would make fabrics from the flax during the winter when there was little work to do in the fields. This Mühlviertel area of Upper Austria is known for its beautiful textiles but the mills producing them are closing rapidly. "Twenty years ago, there were twenty mills producing beautiful fabrics," said Ulrike. "Today there are three." It's hard to believe these gorgeous fabrics are in danger of extinction.

Some of La Schachtula's handbags from beautiful Mühlviertel damask linen:

Other traditional Austrian fabrics:

This is an historic Austrian pattern, here shown with combined colors to make children's bags. The dark blue fabric was traditionally used for workers' towels. I love the combination of colors.

If you'd like to contact Ulrike for more information or to purchase an item, see her website at: www.laschachtula.at

If you'd like to go to the annual textile market in Upper Austria next July, see this link:

www.textile-kultur-haslach.at