here's something rare -- a definitive answer!

[Better Dresses Vintage]

A while back I posted a photo of this adorable little wool felt vest (toddler size), trying to describe the embroidery. I settled on a "Tyrolean or Bavarian style," but, as it turns out...

Today, a friendly Etsy seller, who just happens to be Hungarian, convo'd to tell me it was definitely Hungarian, made in or near the town of Kalocsa, known for its particular style of embroidery. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalocsa)

Neat, no?

 

[Pinkcoke]

oh Liza, I could have told you that! My grandfather is Hungarian, and my mother has a black waistcoat like that :D Must have been before I became a trade member.

Are you sure it in't a display piece though? The decoration is not normally right side up on the inside - where it wouldn't be seen when worn

 

[anothertimevintageapparel]

I have a brown vest and hat, that I always called a Hiedi (?) hat set.

 

[Better Dresses Vintage]

oh Liza, I could have told you that! My grandfather is Hungarian, and my mother has a black waistcoat like that :D Must have been before I became a trade member.

Are you sure it in't a display piece though? The decoration is not normally right side up on the inside - where it wouldn't be seen when worn

I'm pretty sure, because the woman who wore it as a toddler told me she remembered wearing it, and sold it to me along with all her other baby clothes (stacks of the stuff, which I normally don't bother with but somehow seem to have an awful lot of, all of a sudden). That decoration you see on the inside is actually just the reverse of the decoration on the back of the vest (you'd call it a waistcoat, I think?).