Carpathian Embroidery

Illustration: Embroidered trousers for a man.

It can be confusing to designate exactly where Carpathia is and who indeed are the Carpathians. The Carpathian Mountains themselves are an area of eastern Europe that straddle parts of present day Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania, but for a number of centuries it was seen as being an integral part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire being the northern border of Hungary. Although Carpathia itself does not exist as a political entity, as a cultural area it does have some integrity.

Carpathia has a long, rich, and diverse embroidery history, taking in and re-using the contacts and cultural craft skills of the diverse population that makes up the area. The ethnic makeup of the general area of Carpathia has always been incredibly rich and complex. Throughout its history, the area has been home to Hungarians, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Russians, Jews, Germans, Roma, Czechs, Romanians, Greeks, and Armenians. From this patchwork of peoples, it is understandable how rich and layered the craft skills of the area truly are.

Illustration: The Carpathian Mountains.

Interestingly Carpathia is one of the few areas of Europe where men are involved in embroidery. It has a long tradition of male embroiderers who were seen as professionals rather than amateurs. They produced ever more complex and detailed embroidered embellishment work for male coats and trousers. These were to be seen externally and so there was always an element of genuine pride in the skilled work that had been achieved, but inevitably, there was also an element of male posturing. Shirt embroidery, on the other hand, was less noticeable and so was therefore produced by women, usually on an amateur basis by a member of a family, rather than at a professional level.

Illustration: Pasul Bran, Romania.

It is difficult to trace the source of all the elements that go to make up Carpathian embroidery design and decorative work. In an area of Europe that has managed to maintain a relatively ethnically diverse population, compared to the rest of the continent, this task is made all the more confusing and complex. However, rather than trying to literally and culturally unpick the threads that go to make up Carpathian embroidery, it is probably best to celebrate the many peoples and cultures that make Carpathian embroidery the astonishing feast for the eyes that it is today.

I am including some links to the general area of the Carpathian Mountains. Anyone wishing to visit this fascinating and extraordinary part of Europe, or just to learn more about the area should take a look at the Reference links section below.

Further reading links:
Romanian Carpathian Mountains
Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains
Romanian Carpathians imagery
Ukrainian Carpathians imagery
The Complete International Book of Embroidery
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns
Treasures from the Embroiderers' Guild Collection

Ukrainian Embroidery

Embroidery has always been an important element of Ukrainian textile crafts. There is no simple uniform style that can be seen as instantly apparent as belonging to Ukrainian embroidery, and this has always been seen as both its attraction and strength. Practically all areas of Ukraine have separate and regional differences in design work, colour use, types of stitch work and numerous combinations of those elements.

Embroidery has a long history in Ukraine, with archaeological evidence going back to at least two thousand years, though the actual development of embroidery in the area seems to go much further back in time.

An important and probably dominant aspect of embroidery was clothing and costume. Although there was an element of usage domestically and within the church, most Ukrainian embroidery design work was used within national costumes and wedding ceremonies, usually for both men and women.

Much, if not all of the work, despite its use by both sexes, was produced by women. It was usually made by and for family members on an amateur and wide scale basis until at least the nineteenth century when embroidery began to be seen as a skilled craft though the amateur contribution was still a significant element even into the twentieth century.

Much of the design work, like embroidery in other areas and regions of the world, is very much floral based, though there is a large abstract and geometrical element in the work as well. There is also room for elements of realism, topicality and a reflection of the surrounding contemporary world, as can be seen in  the first illustration shown in this article, where a car can be seen travelling along a city road.

All the pieces of Ukrainian embroidery shown in this article were exhibited by the Soviet Union at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. They were part of a large showing of embroidery skills from across the Union, with the work from Ukraine making up a significant portion of the exhibition.

Embroidery is still very much a part of the national identity of Ukraine with many women in both Ukraine and the larger world community that now makes up the Ukrainian population, still producing embroidered work. While some of the regional variation may have been lost, the overall health of Ukrainian embroidery skills is still very good, much better in fact than some other areas of the world where traditional embroidery skills are having to fight a long and protracted battles in order to survive.

There are various websites across the Internet that deal with many aspects of Ukrainian embroidery, past and present. A few sites that might be useful to anyone with an interest in Ukrainian embroidery are as follows: The Ukrainian Museum, which although US based, does have a wealth of information dealing with Ukraine and the larger Ukrainian population, particularly in the US. They have an embroidery page, which can be found here. Another site is Ukrainian Embroidery Patterns, which gives detailed diagrams of various designs that they have kindly made available for any interested embroiderer. The site can be found here. The last site is that maintained by the Welcome to Ukraine magazine. They have an article highlighting four of the best Ukrainian embroiderers. The site can be found here.

Further reading links:
Ukrainian Museum Archives
Ukrainian Embroidery Patterns
Welcome to Ukraine 
Ukrainian embroidery
Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavaska
Ukrainian Embroidery Techniques
Knyha ukrainskykh vyshyvok =: The book of Ukrainian embroideries
Ukrainian Embroidery Designs and Stitches
Ukrainian embroideries from collection and designs of Maria Kutsenko
Beginning Ukrainian Embroidery
Ukrainian Clothing: Ukrainian Folk Dress, Ukrainian Embroidery, Zupan, Ukrainian Wreath, Kontusz, Kozhushanka, Sharovary, Ochipok, Kozhukh
Ukrainian Bukovinian Cross-Stitch Embroidery
Book of Byzantine-Ukrainian Ecclesiastical Embroidery