Poltava region is not only the spiritual capital of our state, the birthplace of the founder of new Ukrainian literature Ivan Kotlyarevsky, the legendary singer Marusya Churai, and the prominent politician Symon Petliura. It is also a region famous for its unique embroidery technique (Poltava residents modestly consider it the most complex in Ukraine), which has about 180 different ways of performing it.
"White on white" as a calling card of the region
The hallmark of Poltava region is embroidery with white threads on white fabric. “Previously, women embroidered mainly in winter, when there was less housework. Sitting by the window, they would watch the patterns that the frost drew on the windows, and then transfer them to the canvas. That is how embroidery with white on white appeared,” says Marina Kondratenko, an employee of the Poltava Museum of Local Lore named after V. Krychevsky. A legend, you might say?! Perhaps, but it is not far from reality.
The people of Poltava modestly consider their embroidery to be the most complex in the Ukrainian lands.
The “white on white” technique was born in the village of Reshetylovka, Poltava region, spread to other centers of folk art in the region (Kremenchuk, Lubny, Velyki Sorochyntsi, Novi Sanzhary), and then gained popularity in other ethnic regions of the country (Chernihiv region, Slobozhan region, Prykarpattia). A pure white shirt, embroidered with white threads, was valued much higher than an ordinary one and served as an element of both men's and women's wardrobes.
Beading and carving – leading techniques for decorating embroidery
In general, shirts from Poltava are embroidered mostly with white, less often with red, black or gray threads. The cuffs of shirts were decorated with a pattern made with a smooth surface. The pattern itself was directly outlined with black or colored stripes. The technique used to make most patterns is called a lisztva or a counting smooth surface (the name varies depending on the area: in Poltava and Chernihiv regions it is a “lisztva”, in Podillia it is a “kachalochkova lisztva”). “There are over 80 techniques for smooth surface embroidery alone,” says Natalia Dmytrenko, a researcher at the Yaroshenko Art Museum. “The cross came to us only in the 18th century from Europe. Poltava embroidery is more melodic. The colors are much more muted.” Indeed, the variety of patterns embroidered with a lisztva is impressive. "Wedge" edging, "shuttle", "hop", "snowball", "apple" - this is only a partial list of patterns that are chosen depending on the image. The stitches of the smooth surface must necessarily lie vertically and be of the same length.
Another technique that is quite popular in the Poltava region is cutting. There are many types of cutting: oblique, wedge-shaped, eagle, cutting with one hole, with four holes, etc. It was with the help of cutting that holes of different sizes were formed in the fabric, which made the shirt even more interesting and unique.
A feature of Poltava embroidery is the combination of floral and geometric ornaments.
In addition to the two above-mentioned techniques, Poltava residents use the following: cross, tangled cross, double twig, teeth, netting, twig netting, pricking, dovbanka, verhoplut, lyakhivka in one or more rows, pukhlyki, chains, etc. Such an arsenal of techniques determines a great variety of motifs in ornaments.
A purely original feature of Poltava embroidery is the compilation of floral and geometric ornaments. The sleeves of the embroidery were most subject to patterning, which formed complex thematic compositions and were densely gathered on the forearms. For Poltava craftsmen, the most popular motifs were the “branch”, “broken tree”. Geometric ornament in its essence consists of the simplest figures: triangle, rhombus, square, oblique cross, star motifs. It is not for nothing that they say that Poltava embroidery is worth looking at closely and for a long time, because only in this way can you see the entire virtuoso palette of motifs and images, all the jewelry that the author put into the pattern.
Poltava embroidery: what is it really like?!
Now directly to the subtleties of the "bow" of Poltava embroidered shirts for men and women. Let's start, of course, with the fair sex.
Women's embroidered shirts did not have a collar as such. Instead, the neckline was decorated with so-called "pukhlyki" and gathered with a thin linen "stitch". Richly decorated with patterns, the sleeves had a traditional wide look, where the lower edge was sewn into a "cover". Ornaments made in different places of the shirt were usually made using different techniques, described in several paragraphs above: inserts - with a platband or cutting out with a platband, sleeves - with cutting out, and the veil - with knitting or lace. Sometimes there were also models designed in a single embroidery style. Flowers and other elements of vegetation began to appear on clothes after we borrowed cross-stitch embroidery from Europe.
The material for men's shirts was homespun linen. In general, they can be divided into two types, differing in style and technique:
1. Similar to the women's model, where the neckline was gathered with a thread and a high soft collar was sewn to it. The sleeves had a wide appearance, were gathered at the bottom and sewn into sleeves. Such shirts were mostly made with a lining.
2. Chumatskaya shirt with lace “barrels”. Its sleeves were straight, the collar was low (1-2 cm). Chumatskaya shirts were carefully embroidered: the collar was with a lining, the bosom was with a cutout, and the sleeves were with a cutout with a lining.
This is what it is, Poltava embroidery, the pride of the region and one of the main attributes of the Sorochyn Fair. Nurtured by the work of craftsmen over many centuries, this shirt symbolizes everything that the Poltava region is proud of.
Author: Maksym Timchenko.
We will be glad if you become our customer! After all, the breadth of our range allows you to no longer worry about where to buy embroidery in Kyiv , Lviv, Odessa, Kharkiv and other cities.
Write a comment