Embroidery Design in Bucovina

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina embroidery designs.

Of the many distinctive and cultural areas that go to make up the present day country of Romania, Bucovina although one of the smallest regions, does still have an individual presence in Romania.

Bucovina, although technically a part of the Romanian region of Moldova, not to be confused with the neighbouring independent country of the same name, has a long and substantial history of craft traditions, one of the most interesting and long standing of which is that of embroidery.

Illustration: Map showing Bucovina in 1901.

European embroidery has always been identified regionally, particularly when considering the work produced in Central and Eastern Europe. Bucovina has for centuries been ruled and occupied by a series of various nations and empires from Poland, through to Turkey, eventually becoming part of the multi-national Austro-Hungarian Empire. Through all of these various differing cultural and political systems, Bucovina maintained its own identity. However, being part of a larger European crossroads of cultural and traditional exchanges, decoration and crafts within the region were obviously influenced and the embroidery examples shown here give some impression as to the range of Bucovina decorative work.

Traditional embroidery pattern work of Bucovina is that of a relatively strict geometrical style with linear design work being particularly popular, although abstract floral work is also incorporated in the naturally traditional style of the region. It must be said in all fairness that this is not a style reserved exclusively for Bucovina. It can indeed be found across the differing areas that make up modern Romania. However, although many see this geometrically linear decorative style as being typical of areas such as Bucovina, the larger region of Romania is a complex patchwork of cultural and ethnic layers, many overlapping. This has made identifying and disentangling true regional styles all the more complicated.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina woman's embroidered blouse.

To add to the complexity of the situation even just in Bucovina itself, there is a range of embroidery styles that span from strict geometrical pattern work to that of true representational floral work, some even incorporating the two extremes of embroidered styling within the same costume. The non-abstracted floral style in particular, could be seen as the work of influential styles being introduced into the region from a number of directions, whether that be Hungary, Poland, Russia or Turkey, all at one time immediate neighbours or occupying powers of Bucovina and all having this particular style of floral work within their own decorative vocabulary.

Rather than seeing the complexity of embroidery work in regions such as Bucovina as a dilution or contamination of the traditions of the region by outsiders, it might be better instead to celebrate the multi-layered fusion of styles that recognises the important role of cultural crossroads that Bucovina, its people and its craft work played over the centuries. It would be a mistake to see regions such as Bucovina, which is by no means singular in its experience, as a form of European regional backwater that contributed very little and was bypassed by the major cultural and decorative movements of the continent.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina embroidered jacket.

The accumulation of varying styles and traditions within generations of craft work such as embroidery, have added an inestimable amount of experience and inspiration to artists and designers across the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe for much of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth centuries. It is the stored vocabulary of regions such as Bucovina, that have helped to expand the parameters of the decorative arts of Europe, and their experience within the craft world can only continue to add to that richness.

Anyone interested in the fascinating and complex history of Romanian regional folk costume of which Bucovina is a part, should follow the link in the Reference links section below to the Romanian Museum site where over one hundred distinctive styles are listed and illustrated along with regional maps identifying the complex cultural and ethnic diversity of modern day Romania.

Illustration: Traditional Buckovina woman's embroidered blouse.

Further reading links:
Romanian Museum: Folk Costumes of Romania website
Bucovina: A Travel Guide to Romania's Region of Painted Monasteries
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns
Peasant art in Austria and Hungary
Romanian embroidery: A dying folk-art
Folk art in the Rumanian People's Republic: Costumes, woven textiles, embroideries
Leather embroidery in Romanian folk art
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns
Helen M. Stevens' World of Embroidery
Embroidery: Traditional Designs, Techniques, and Patterns from All over the World
Priscilla Wallachian Embroidery c.1908 - Ethnic Romanian Embroidery Technique
Romanian embroidery: A dying folk-art
Folk art in the Rumanian People's Republic: Costumes, woven textiles, embroideries
Romanian Point Lace

Mariska Karasz Embroidery

Illustration: Mariska Karasz. Calla Lily embroidery, 1951.

The Hungarian American designer and artist Mariska Karasz approached the craft of embroidery with the sensibilities of a fine artist. Karasz is perhaps one of the earliest examples of an increasingly expanding genre within the general textiles framework, one which today we is familiarly known as textile or fibre art.

Karasz herself spent much of her career as a clothing designer. However, after the Second World War she reinvented herself and put her energies into the development of a highly successful second career in textile art. She used as the basis of this art, her Hungarian background and heritage of textile crafts, particularly that of embroidery. It was this craft that fuelled her imaginative compositions that took her all the way through the second half of the 1940s, but particularly through the following 1950s. This was a decade that saw an ever widening and large-scale expansion within the craft world in general, with craft workers taking on many of the aspects of a fine art sensibility. There were a number of particularly fruitful and creative crossovers including a number of individuals from the fine art world who found themselves working in ceramics, glass and textiles, sometimes for the first time.

Illustration: Mariska Karasz. Babble embroidery, 1955.

The work that Karasz produced during the 1950s is an interesting blend of vocabulary from both design and art worlds. The artist plays with backgrounds and foregrounds, colour, tone and texture in order to produce a layered, abstract compositional framework that seems perfectly suited to the medium of embroidery. While the work is definitely set in its era with compositions producing abstract and colour textures that were so much a part of the 1950s, the work of Karasz is also timeless in its abstractness. The work of the artist was an exploration of a medium rather than an end result. However, more specifically it was that of a journey of discovery of a craft discipline, one that up until that point had, with some exceptions, seen little contemporary examination of its purpose, and more particularly its potential for the inventive and creative expansion of its parameters.

Illustration: Mariska Karasz. Honeycomb collage, 1959.

It is individuals such as Karasz that have become the universal access points of all future creative explorers. To highlight and remember the work of artists and craftspeople such as these is to encourage all future exploration within and across disciplines and to constantly question boundaries, conventions and suppositions as to the role of such potentially diverse and adaptable disciplines as embroidery. Contemporary craft is fast reaching a point in its development whereby it is beginning to take on the maturity of a discipline that can explore its own reasoning. It is not an exaggeration to say that it has been a hard and long journey, but individuals such as Karasz have given both inspiration and much needed understanding within and without the craft world.

Illustration: Mariska Karasz. Star Clouds collage, 1959.

Karasz work was extremely popular during the 1950s as indeed was she as an individual celebrity. She toured, lectured and wrote throughout the decade and is still remembered today as a pioneer of the fine art sensibility grafted onto the craft tradition. In the Further reading links section below is a link to a very good and comprehensive website dedicated to the life and work of Mariska Karasz. Also listed below are a number of the books produced by Karasz still available on Amazon.

Illustration: Mariska Karasz. Hieroglyphics embroidery, 1960.

Further reading links:
Mariska Karasz website
Modern Threads: Fashion and Art by Mariska Karasz
Adventures in stitches;: And more adventures-fewer stitches
The Good Housekeeping See and Sew: A Picture Book of Sewing
How to make growing clothes for your baby
Design and sew,
Growing Clothes
See and sew,: A picture book of sewing
Freestyle Machine Embroidery
Drawn to Stitch: Line, Drawing, and Mark-Making in Textile Art
Painting with a Needle: Learning the Art of Silk Embroidery with Young Yang Chung
The New Crewel: Exquisite Designs in Contemporary Embroidery

Macrame Decorative Work

Illustration: Nineteenth century macrame border fringe design.

Macrame is a form of knot work that although not strictly considered to be lace itself, is related to that discipline and was sometimes in the past known as macrame lace.

The name macrame originally comes from the Arabic migrameh which is said to denote ornamental fringe. It was used effectively in the Islamic world and is said to have originated from weavers in the thirteenth century, who got into the habit of tidying up the stray warp and weft threads of woven fabrics by tying knots that soon became more ornamental than practical in fashion. Eventually the technique progressed to such an extent that it became separated from the weaving entirely so as to become an independent craft in its own right. This form of hand knotted fringe and trimming work proved to be particularly effective and popular.

Illustration: Nineteenth century macrame border fringe with picots design.

It is thought that macrame entered Europe via Islamic Spain and it is this country that the rest of Europe tended to identify with the early stages and origins of the craft. In Europe itself, macrame was often used as a decorative finish for ecclesiastical vestments and interior fabrics. However, it was also used domestically for both interiors and costume.

The process of macrame is produced by using the fingers to tightly tie short ends of thread, either horizontally or vertically. By interweaving these knots a range of decorative pattern work can be achieved. Usually because of its nature, geometrical type pattern work is best suited as any other type or style is very difficult to achieve because of the nature of the knotting process. However, macrame is incredibly durable and versatile. Because of the variation in thickness of thread used, from near rope to silk thread, the effect can extremely wide ranging. In this respect macrame has been used for fringe and border work throughout the whole spectrum of textiles, with heavier work being produced for interior accessories, while much finer work tended to be used in fashion.

Illustration: Nineteenth century macrame border fringe with pointed scallops & large tassels design.

The Victorians were particularly taken by the craft of macrame and many specific books and guides were published throughout the era in order to both teach the fundamentals and also the more complex skills associated with the craft. As the Victorians were keen on all forms of embellishment, including trimming and fringing, the craft was obviously well suited to the era and many homes would have seemed bereft without some form of macrame craft work.

In the 1970s with a full blown craft revival in all its forms, macrame made a temporary but wide-ranging come back. A number of bright and breezy books and guides were published, many of them trying to reflect the seeming diversity and variety of macrame. However, the amateur craft tradition of this particular era did not last into the 1980s and today macrame, though still practised by some, is not considered a particularly popular textile craft. However, with yet another amateur textile craft revival taking place, macrame could well see yet another revival.

Illustration: Nineteenth century macrame border fringe design.

For anyone interested in this particular and fairly unique craft, a couple of links are shown below in the Further reading links section. These links are to sites giving short tutorials, information, videos and free patterns, and deal with the basics of the macrame craft. There are also a number of helpful tutorial videos that can be found on YouTube. I have therefore also added a YouTube link on the specific subject of macrame and tutorials, which is also listed below, along with a selection of macrame books which are all available on Amazon.

Illustration: Nineteenth century macrame border fringe design.

Further reading links:
How to macrame site
Free macrame patterns site
You Tube macrame videos
The dictionary of needlework;: An encyclopaedia of artistic, plain, and fancy needlework
The Macrame Book
Magnificent macrame
The New Macrame: Contemporary Knotted Jewelry and Accessories
Macrame: The Art of Creative Knotting
Step-By-Step Macrame: A Complete Introduction to the Craft of Creative Knotting
Decorative Knot Craft: Over 20 Innovative Knotting And Macrame Accessories
Art of Macrame
Macrame: Creative Knot-Tying
Beaded Macrame Jewelry: Stylish Designs, Exciting New Materials
Micro-Macrame: 30 Beaded Designs for Jewelry Using Crystals and Cords
Mod Knots: Creating Jewelry and Accessories with Macrame
Decorative Fusion Knots: A Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide to New and Unusual Ornamental Knots
Wired Micro-Macramé Jewelry: Enhancing Fiber Designs with Wire
Hemp Masters: Ancient Hippie Secrets for Knotting Hip Hemp Jewelry