Ms Haelge Olsdotter Innleggen was born in 1840 at the Storskott farm at Lifjell. About 1880 she moved to the Innleggen Åsaret farm in Sauherad where she had this log cabin built. It has from there been moved to the Evju Bygdetun.



This cabin was her home at Innleggen Åsareset in
Gvarv from about 1880 until her death in 1923.

Ms Haelge Olsdotter excelled in a number of local arts and crafts and gained distinction in sash weaving so much that she became known by the name of Haelge Sash Weaver. She received several prizes for her work. In the 1890s her sashes adorned the best sash skirt costumes in mid and east Telemark. According to Mr Olav Bentsrud, Heddal, Haelge Olsdotter would go to Notodden by boat every spring carrying several sashes made during winter. These she sold to women in Heddal and Sauland. Haelge designed and built her own loom which not only yielded top quality sashes but also enabled her to make several sashes from one warp.



Interior of cabin: Haelge's sash loom in centre.

These sashes were officially called Storskott sashes from Haelhe's birthplace. Haelge was born at Storskott. Her sashes stand out from others with regard to quality and colours alike. These sashes are characteristic of eastern Telemark with traditions rooted in a distant past. When Ms Anne Bamle introduced her Heddal costume in the 1920s she based her model on much of Haelge's work. Haelge was well-known for her great knowledge of national costumes with regard to knitting, sewing - especially the socalled 'flame sewing'- and colouring. It was in fact Haelge who named this variant of the east Telemark costume the Sash Skirt - its name to this day. .


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