Features of Hutsul Embroidery

Hutsul embroidery has preserved ancient traditional ornaments that combine the history and culture of the Carpathian region. Every Hutsul house had many embroidered items: towels, tablecloths, everyday and festive clothes such as shirts, coats, serdaks (winter and/or demi seasonal outerwear worn open), keptars (short sleeveless fur coats), etc. 

Craftswomen embroidered ancient ornaments on things that were passed down from generation to generation and carried the traditions of their ancestors. Thanks to the surviving work of folklorist Stepan Makovskyi, Folk Art of Subcarpathian Rus (Lidové Umӗní Podkarpatské Rusi), published in 1925 in Prague, we can see samples of embroidery on ancient Hutsul costumes and photos of people of that time dressed in authentic clothing.

S. Makovskyi believes that the ornamentation of Hutsul embroidery was formed over hundreds of years and is unchanging while the colours can vary because they are not crucially important. The traditional style of Hutsul embroidery has been preserved in black and red colours and dark blue patterns. The use of yellow colour was quite rare and appeared later. Back then, embroidery threads were dyed by craftswomen using natural homemade plant dyes.

The main pattern of Hutsul embroidery was the rhombus, which was often used by craftswomen as an independent element. Usually, rhombuses have other embedded ornamentation, while the outer sides are decorated with perpendicular thin embroidered dashes. Another popular Hutsul clothing ornamentation is rhombuses with embroidered small diamonds around the perimeter. Sometimes, craftswomen combined rhombuses into one part of the embroidery or used them to embroider the entire composition.

A rhombus pattern was common among Slavic and European peoples and was a symbol of fertility, as its shape resembled a field. In Trypillia culture, the sign of an equilateral rhombus with diagonally crossed lines was also associated with a sown field.

Folklorist S. Makovskyi considers a rhombus with crosses and dashes along the edges to be a stylised image of the sun used in counting embroidery techniques, where it was impossible to depict a traditional circle.

The Hutsul embroidered shirt made according to ancient rules inherited from ancestors, was perhaps the most essential element of clothing and served as a talisman.

To embroider the Hutsul shirt, the craftswomen chose the best hemp or linen fabric, which was hand-bleached. The purpose of the shirt determined its cut and embroidery pattern. Craftswomen often used threads of red, black, cherry, brown, orange, yellow, green, and blue colours and created embroidered patterns with cross and half stich.

The sleeve caps were decorated with embroidered inserts, which acquired special significance. The craftswomen carefully thought over the future ornament, selected the necessary threads, and then embroidered each insert on a separate piece of cloth. These inserts varied in sizes and patterns, which were selected specifically for a holiday or everyday shirt. A holiday shirt was worn at weddings, in churches, or when paying visits. 

The chest part of the shirt was embroidered with two ornamental stripes along the edges of the neckline. Unlike Hutsul shirts, Romanian shirts had two or three stripes on the chest and also on the back. 

Thanks to Hutsul traditions passed down through generations we can now feast our eyes on authentic items with true ornamentation.

Sources:
verkhovyna.life
denvyshyvanky.com