Ukrainian Embroidery

[Ukrainian: вишивка︱vyshyvka]

Embroidery is an ancient and symbolic tradition in Ukraine. It was mostly used for the decoration of clothing and fabrics and for the decoration of homes and churches. Embroidered products, especially a rushnyk, are greatly symbolic for a series of ceremonies and rituals of Ukraine.

~ Variations ~

• [Central and Eastern Ukraine]
  

  In the Central and Eastern parts of Ukraine, embroidery usually consists of geometric forms and plant ornaments.
  In the Poltava Region, the colors usually include pale blue, white, light ochre, pale green and gray tones. Poltava products are especially famed for their “white-on-white” and openwork embroidery. The red, red-blue (or red-black) color scheme plays an important role in Central- and Eastern-Ukrainian embroidery, as it did throughout almost the whole of Ukraine.

---

• [Western Ukraine]
  

  In Western Ukraine, especially the Hutsul region, embroidery uses geometric ornament and a sharply contrasting palette.
  Besides the now widely used cross-stitch, there is still the ornamental needle-weaving stitch called “nyzynka”, which is executed predominantly on the reverse of the fabric and gives a sort of “tweed” effect. This is one of the most archaic of traditional Ukrainian stitches that, in combination with the predetermined areas of white background material that peek through the densely laid threads, emphasizes the clear-cut silhouette of the main patterns.

---

• [Northern Ukraine]
  

  In the northwest and north of Ukraine (including the Ukrainian ethno-historic territory of Poland) needlework traditions have been preserved relatively intact from the oldest of times.
  Red, as well as red-blue and red-black were the predominant color schemes in the archaic geometric embroideries of these northern regions of Ukraine, executed primarily in dense rows of a horizontal needle-weaving stitch (called “zavolikannia”) that created horizontal bands of patterns reminiscent of weaving.
  Floral motifs are also popular in the North, using red, red-blue or red-black palette as the needle-woven bands, but in the much more recent technique of cross-stitch.

Clothing with Ukrainian embroidery