Short history of Krzczonow embroidery

Hello all, today i will talk about the 'mystery stitch' of Krzczonow. For the remainder of the costume, see my last two postings. The cut of the shirt for both men and women is the same, with shoulder insets, 'przyramki' in Polish sewn above the body pieces. For a schematic see my first Krzczonow posting. The older shirts were embroidered on the collar and cuffs, and as you can see from this old photograph, often on the shoulder przyramki. Later on, the shirts began to be embroidered around the front opening as well.

The embroidery consists of linear designs, travelling around the cuff, across the przyramki, down the front,

and on the collars, the design runs across both ends, and then lengthwise along the back edge. So that the whole thing looks like this old shirt.

You can clearly see the cut of the shirt in this image. The only real difference between the mens and women's shirts was that the collar is bigger on the woman's, almost like a sailor type collar. Today,  you will also see the embroidery on the mens shirt extending lower down the front, because the men often wear the kaftan, which is open in front. The woman's kaftan is never worn open, and the gorset only shows the upper part of the front of the shirt. Here are two recent examples.

Woman's shirt

Man's shirt.

You can see the typical color palette of this region, black, red, yellow with some green. These pieces are done in the modern style, with  cross-stitch. There seems to be a general tendency for many embroidery traditions to migrate to cross-stitch from older techniques, because it is easier. I find this regrettable, many local traditions and unique expressions get lost this way. At least in this region they have developed a style of cross-stitching that is unique and recognizeably of their own tradition. See this photo of a woman doing crafts.

What happens very often is that they start cross-stitching roses, and then go to satin stich roses, [and always blue ones, for some reason] so that they completely lose their own particular tradition. I have seen this in my research from many places around the world,some specific regions of  Mexico, Holland and Albania come to mind. Krzconow has so far escaped this, although i did find this one photo. Some of my Polish books have said that at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a fashion in Malopolska of embroidering in 'Rus'ky' style. [read Rusinsky, e.g. Ukrainian style]

Originally, however cross-stitch was not used. the oldest information we have is from the 18th century, when the woman's costume was made of unbleached linen,with a finely pleated skirt and apron. The collar however was the same shape, and embroidered with the same layout in white cotton, like this.

A little later on, some red, and then some black was added, as in this photo

Ok, i see back stitch, i see buttonhole stitch around the edges, i see wavy lines and zigzags made from chain stitch, i see lazy daisy flowers, i see counted satin stitch filling in small areas, but i could not figure out how those wider lines were done. Janusz Swiezy and Aleksander Blachowski said that they were rows of herringbone stitches, although Blachowski does not dwell on the techniques. Here is a drawing by Swiezy of some of the embroidery motifs

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You can see the stitches well represented, the 'mystery' stitch is part of the grouping in the lower right corner. Not a convincing representation. It is not herringbone. This explanation was also picked up by Elzbieta Piskorz, as shown here.

This is from a later period, when more colors had been added to the embroidery tradition. Very attractive. These are the same colors which are still used in the cross stitch tradition. Lets take a closer look.

Very pretty, but that is NOT herringbone. Notice that some cross-stitches are part of the overall design.

Kazimierz Pietkiewicz says that this stitch is a combination of a braiding stitch, 'Janina' edged by two rows of backstitch. Hmm, yeah that's what it would look like, but i don't think that is right.

Jadwiga Turska puts a couple of drawings of this type of embroidery in her book, but does not adress the identity of this stitch directly. You can see her drawing them in this image here below, the wider horizontal lines.

I saw the same stitch in a Bulgarian book. I said, that's it! But it gave no explanation of how to do it.

Then i found this description in a general book of folk embroidery by Margaret Ohms. "Turkmen stitch. This stitch resembles a closed feather stitch...forms a characteristic ridge on either side of the crossed filling."

Turkmen Stich? Turkmen?

So i took a look at a piece of Turkmen embroidery that I have, and sure enough, look at this.

It's the same stitch! The composition and design are very different, but it's recognizably the same technique. Ted Zed suggested that it could have been brought to Poland by Tatars. Well, its possible, but i doubt it. In actuality, this is a variation of the chain stitch, sometimes called closed double chain stitch, in which a wide chain stitch is executed alternately to right and left. Chain stitch is very old, and while it is typical of the Tatars and Central Asian Peoples, it is also widespread in Europe, from Horodok in Ukraine to the Smocks of England. So there is no need to go seeking a foreign origin of this technique. So i am convinced that i have solved this little mystery. I was very surprised that no-one seemed to have noticed this before. But i do embroidery myself, and i always look at a new design with the idea 'would i want to do that?, do i know how to do that?' Here is Margaret Ohm's depiction of how to do this stitch. Notice how the beginning leaves a characteristic gap, at the top in this diagram.

And here we see the same gap, at the bottom of the stitching

So i had to try for myself, here is what i made, a little rough, but i am not practiced at this technique.

I will get better, and i am now convinced that i could make a Krzczonow shirt. This is somewhat magnified, by the way.

So i will leave you with two images of a collar from the heyday of this type of stitching, a black and white photograph that shows details of the stitching, and a color drawing that shows the colors. I like the way that rickrack is used to imitate tatting. 

  If there is anyone out there who does not do embroidery, i hope you did not find this too tedious.

Thank you for reading, and tune in again. I believe we are done with  the Krzczonow costume. I expect all of you to be able to go out and make one now.

Go and be creative.

And hello to mr. Calabash.

Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals.

Roman K.
Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Margaret Ohms, 'Ethnic Embroidery', London, 1989

Stanislaw Gadomski, 'Stroj Ludowy w Polsce', Warsaw, no year given

Janusz Swiezy, 'Stroj Krzczonowski', from the series 'Atlas Polskich Strojow Ludowych', Poznan, 1952

Aleksander Blachowski, 'Hafty Polskie Szycie', Lublin, 2004

Elzbieta Piskorz, 'Wzory Polskich Haftow Ludowych', Warsaw, no year given

Jadwiga Turska, 'Polish Folk Embroidery', Warsaw, 1997

Jackowski & Jarnuszkiewiczowa, 'Sztuka Ludu Polskiego', Warsaw, 1967

Rossitsa Choukanova, 'Bulgarian National Embroidery, vol 1' [volume 2 seems to never have been published, alas!] Sofia 1957

North Udmurt Costume



Hello again, Today I will continue the series on the costumes of the Volga peoples. This posting will describe the costume of the Northern Udmurts. The Udmurt are shown in the golden yellow color on this map. In older documents they are referred to as the Votyak. During Soviet times it was decided to refer to [most] indigenous peoples by their self-designation, which, by the way, Americans still  do not do. The Udmurt have an Autonomous Republic in the Russian Federation, the capitol is Izhevsk, and this is their flag.



 Here are  some women wearing one version of the north Udmurt costume.

The southern Udmurt costume is quite different, and will have to wait for another post. You will notice that the costumes i am covering in this series form a coherent group. The basic garment of the north Udmurt costume is, as usual, the chemise, of which nothing shows when the entire costume is worn, except the sleeves, and often the lower hem. The cut of the chemise is very typical.
You will notice the appliqued strips of red cloth, which is quite popular in this costume and also among the neighboring Chuvash. A glance at the above photo will show that the embroidery of the sleeve has two possibilities. The women on the right show the first, a lengthwise strip, nowadays is narrow and flanked by red applique strips, formerly the strips of embroidery were wider, as seen below.The two women on the left show the other possible way of embroidering the chemise, with a small crosswise design high on the arm. Here is a closeup of one such piece of embroidery.

You will notice the similarity to the Mari embroidery, the black outlines in Holbein stitch is worked first, and then the areas are filled in with slav or slant stitch in red, with other colors added for accent. the bottom edge is sometimes left unadorned, if it will not show, but usually it has a narrow strip of embroidery, or a woven ornamental strip sewn on, with a red strip of cloth or a narrow ruffle added to the bottom, as you can see from the women pictured above. Over the chemise a kaftan is always worn. This kaftan always has a slit in the upper sleeve, as you can see in this drawing by Max Tilke, who drew a specimen from the collection

of a museum in Hamburg, but they did not have any of the rest of the costume. In fact, the kaftan is never worn in this way. The arms are always put through the slit in the upper sleeve so that the sleeve of the chemise is visible, as in the above photograph. The sleeves of the kaftan hang down behind, and are often cut short, so they do not fall below the elbow. The hem of the kaftan is usually somewhat shorter than that of the chemise, as seen in the photo above.
 

Here is shown the cut of the kaftan. There are ornamental strips of embroidery and/or applique on the upper part of the garment, as in the drawing on the right. Occasionally on particularly festive garments, the strips continue to the bottom edge as in the drawing by Max Tilke. Over the chemise and under the kaftan, there is worn a rectangular breastpiece, or dickey, which is tied with string around the neck, this garment in Udmurt is called kabachi. it is always heavily embroidered, and completely covers the front of the chemise.

 As you can see, each of the four  women above has a different design on her kabachi. Here is a closeup of one. This is the major focus for the embroidery of the women of northern Udmurtia. Again you can see the outline stitch filled in with slant stitch.
The bottom has designs executed in darning stitch.  I will have to publish another posting showing some of the diversity of the embroidery of this garment. The kaftan is held closed by an apron tied over it. Some of the older ones were made of material with ornamental stripes woven into them,.
sometimes with additional embroidery in between to supplement the design.
here below is one such specimen. Otherwise the apron is made of cloth woven with a small plaid, with the primary color being red. Sometimes the apron has a small removable bib, as shown on the photo of the woman below on the left. The costume is finished with strings of beads, a decorative cloth folded and worn on one or both hips, and a woven sash.
See the two photos below.

The man's costume consists of a shirt  with the opening on the side, the older ones seem to have it on the right side, in the old Persian style, and the newer ones have it on the left, as in Russian shirts. Although, noone knows why the Russian Shirts open on the left, none of the other Slavic peoples do that. It is possible that the Russians took it from the Finnic Peoples, as they have certainly assimilated several. The man's shirt was made of material woven in stripes, as shown here, sometimes with embroidery on the collar and opening placket. Otherwise it was made of the same kind of plaid as in the women's apron shown above, as you can see from the bottom photo. The mens costume was finished off with a sash, dark striped trousers, and either boots or footcloths and shoes woven of birchbark, as in the Mari. 

 

 Thank you very much for visiting my blog, and as always i welcome your comments and any suggestions of specific costumes or folk embroideries to research and write about.

Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals. I also choreograph and teach folk dance.

Roman K.

Rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material: Recently there seems to have been quite a bit of material published in Izhevsk on this topic.

S. Lebedeva 'Udmurt Kalyk Dyskut' ; 'Udmurt Folk Costume Izhevsk, 2008

L. Molchanova 'Udmurtskyj Narodnyj Kostium' Izhevsk, no year

S. Lebedeva 'Udmurt Kalyk Puzhyiaton' ; 'Udmurt Folk Embroidery' Izhevsk, 2009

Max Tilke, 'East European Costumes' London, 1926

K. Klimov, 'Folk Arts and Crafts in Udmurtia, Izhevsk, 1988

T. Kriukova, 'Udmurt Kalyklen Kiuzh Ustolykez' [Udmurt Decorative Applied Folk Art] Izhevsk, 1973

K. Kulikov, 'Vozrozhdennaia Drevnost' [Rebirth of the Ancient, the Folk Decorative Applied Art of Udmurtia] Izhevsk, 2005

Sleeve Embroidery, Podillia, Moldavia, Moldova

Hello all. I have been working a lot and have limited time, but i wanted to put a short post in. I talked in my first post about the three-part embroidery on the sleeves of traditional chemises from Podillia, Bukovyna, Moldova and Wallachia. I have here three examples. Often charted or painted examples do not bother to explain the arrangement on the sleeve of the three motifs.
This first one is Ukrainian,
from the Khmel'nytsky oblast [administrative region]. Which is part of Eastern Podillia, the section which was under the Muscovite rather than the Austrian Empire. The upper portion of the embroidery is done in flat stitch, also called counted satin stitch, in white thread on off white linen. Between the motifs are diagonal lines of outline/holbein stitch also in white, over 4 threads, most likely. The outlines are composed of braid or long legged cross stitch, with a wave design in between also of outline or Holbein Stitch. There are large cross stitches in red and black seperating the areas of flat stitch. The second design, which occurs at the level where the sleeve is no longer stiched to the body of the shirt, but to the piece of cloth which forms the inside portion of the sleeve, is usually somewhat longer. In this case, with black and white flat and outline stitches with accents in red and yellow, echoing the upper design. [for the cut of the chemise, see my first blog enty, Podillian Pillow Embroidery]
The vertical stripes, which continue down to the wristband, are composed of a black outline stitch design.
Ukrainian shirts of this type often have 3 completely different designs, whereas Romanian shirts often have the top and bottom designs based on the same motifs.
This design is published in the book 'Ukrainske Narodne Dekoratywne Mystetsvo' 'Ukrainian Decorative Folk Art' subtitle 'Dekoratywne Tkanyny' or 'Decorative textiles' Head Editor V. Zabolotny, Kiev, 1956.
There is an old tradition of artists painting designs like this, i assume because the available photographs were black and white, and of very poor quaility up untill quite recently. The Artist who painted this image was V. Kasian. Many older books, and even some recent ones, are full of Artist's images like this. It is an art form in and of itself.

This second image is of the sleeve embroidery of a chemise from the Brichany district of independant Moldova. All three designs are almost completely executed in cross-stitch, reflecting the simplification of design which occured in the 20th cent. This again was painted by a textile artist, the individual stitches being depicted as tiny pyramids. The round objects are flat metal sequins, quite common in this type of embroidery, at least in some regions. They would normally be without the cup that sequins in America usually have. The oulines in the upper part are depicted as elongated cross stitches, which i assume would be the braid or long-legged cross stitches as shown in the first image. At the bottom is a narrow design to be used on the wristban, collar and the front opening of the chemise, the stripes would also continue the length of the sleeve, as in the upper design. This image is taken from the book 'Moldavian National Costume' by V. Zelenchuk, Kishinev, 1985. In Romanian, the upper part of the desing is called altita, 'upper part', the middle design is called incretul [insert?], and the bottom stripes are called riurile.

This third design is not an actual painting of the embroidery, but just a charting of the stitches. The upper and lower designs are based on the same motif, in black and red cross stitch and holbein stitch. Notice that there are two different desigs which alternate for the lower sleeve stripes. These stipes do not continue around the sleeve, but are only executd on the outer portion. Again there is a border design shown at the bottom for wristbands, collars and front opening. The central design, you will notice is not shown by stitch. This may be done in cross stitch, but more traditionally would be executed in flat stitch, adding variety to the finish of the stitching. Again this is the somewhat simpler design typical of a later period. The boutique blouses sold today executed on cotton gauze might well feature this design. This design is from the town of Pipirig in the district of Neamt, in Romanian Moldavia.
The chart is from the book 'Broderii Traditionale si Artizanale Moldovenesti' by Ibrian and Dunare, Bucarest, 1984.
Happy stitching, i hope this inspires some of you.


Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals. I also choreograph and teach folk dance.

Roman K.

Rkozakand@aol.com