Ukrainian embroidery

[3] From Poltava, Kyiv, and Chernihiv in the east, to Volyn and Polissia in the northwest, to Bukovina, and the Hutsul area in the southwest, the designs have a long history which defines its ornamental motifs and compositions, as well as its favorite choice of colors and types of stitches.

In 513 BC, Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, in describing the invasion of Darius, mentioned that the Thracian-Dacian people who lived in what is now the Balkans and western Ukraine used embroidery to decorate their clothes.

Other elements of clothing are also embroidered, including scarves, skirts, aprons, men's caps and trousers, sleeveless jackets, kozhukh and kozhushanka (sheepskin coats), sashes, ochipok, etc.

[14] 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.

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.

Red was the predominant color in many of the styles of embroidery in this region, usually being worked in thick home-processed wool threads, sometimes with accents of yellow, green and blue added.

Although cross-stitch was not uncommon, the older and more traditional technique was that of the so-called “curly stitch” (quite popular, in fact, throughout many areas of Southwestern Ukraine).

The embroideries of Podillia were similar in many respects to that of both Bukovina and Pokuttia, with discreet yet recognizable differences in color scheme, motifs and placement that nonetheless set them apart.

[4] Volhynian clothing was mainly embroidered with red or black threads; the predominant motifs of the region are geometric plant ornaments.

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.