The history of cross stitch goes back centuries. When there was no writing and no Christian prayers. In that distant era, women with embroidered crosses turned to the pagan gods with a request to protect them and their loved ones from grief and misfortune. Cross stitch had a purely sacred meaning.

The Slavs embroidered mainly with red threads on a white field. They painted clothes, shoes, sheets, curtains, and towels with a cross.

Every pattern. Each line was filled with a special meaning. They carried their own message to the world and to God.

One of the most common symbols in Slavic embroidery is the symbol of the sun - a square, a rhombus, round rosettes, crosses or swastikas (a rotating luminary). Except the sun great importance for the Slavs. and it was not only for the Slavs that they had land. water. rain. So a straight horizontal line denoted earth, a wavy horizontal line denoted water, and slanted lines denoted rain.

In addition to geometric figures, often in embroidery there are compositions with a female figure in the center and deer on its sides. This is how Rod’s mother, the Woman in Labor, is depicted. Mother Rod was depicted in embroidery either with deer or horsewomen on her sides. In the first case, it symbolized the protection of the family and was intended to protect against disease and infertility. Often this composition was embroidered on ritual towels and sheets. This is one of the powerful amulets of the family. This composition was also embroidered on wedding handbags and in the cradle of babies.

Three-part compositions are a fairly common subject in pagan Slavic embroidery. This is a goddess and two horsewomen. This is the goddess and the birds, This is the goddess and the elk or horses.

The practice of using textile designs for medicinal purposes is well known in folk culture.

News about embroidery.

It turns out that a thousand years before the computer era, our ancestors used pixels

Hundreds of large and small squares quickly replace each other on a huge screen, lining up in simple figures - the impression is that the towels and embroidered shirts of our great-grandmothers suddenly “danced.” Kharkov designer Yuliana Alimova put it into the computer, modernized it and took a different look at the symbols of our ancestors. She called her project “Tsyatski. Folk pixel art." She explains that she began to virtualize Slavic symbols and signs quickly when she unraveled the secret.

I drew it to bring back love

For many centuries, magical symbols and signs played a huge role in the lives of our ancestors, says Juliana. They were painted on dishes, embroidered on shirts, sheets, towels, and at the same time they believed that they were able to bring happiness and fulfill desires.

For love and family happiness Our ancestors also used symbols of birds. About a thousand of their images have survived. If two birds were embroidered with their heads turned towards each other, it was about happy, mutual love. If it’s the other way around, love didn’t work out.

A pixel is an indivisible rectangular object with a specific color. Pixels arranged in rows and columns make up a computer image. The detail of the image depends on the number of pixels.

Embroidery patterns.

The woman in labor was embroidered differently depending on the pagan agricultural calendar. And they asked for help and fertility of the Earth and the family. Women's Amulet, leading to harmony of the feminine essence. Calmness and joy in your soul are immediately reflected in your appearance - you become more beautiful and attractive, and most importantly, healthier.

Another female amulet was LADINETS. It gives peace, joy and awareness of oneself as a Woman.

Strengthens hair growth on the head, slows it down on other parts of the body (due to the establishment of normal hormonal levels). It bestows women's health and prolongs women's beauty.

The red ray remains unchanged in any case, the color of the second ray changes depending on the zodiac sign. For the element of Earth - classic black. For the element of Fire, black is also used, but golden brown can also be used. Blue - for Air, blue, turquoise - for Water.

Another common amulet is LELNIK. It protects, gives tenderness and attractiveness. A purely girlish amulet. But up to three years old, boys could also have it in a cradle. The so-called Radinets was also embroidered for babies.

For girls and young women they embroidered Zhiva. She filled the soul with protected harmony and joy, and the body with good health and energy. It was believed that Zhiva relieves stress and fatigue well, fills with vital energy..

The amulet is dedicated to two Slavic Goddesses - Lada (her sign is depicted on the front side of the amulet) and Zhiva - the goddess of life and Spring - her sign is on the back.

This amulet is similar in properties to the “Harmony of the Feminine” amulet, but its action is more aimed at raising the spirit, vitality, rather than at curing female diseases.

The most powerful Family Amulet is the Wedding Man. It symbolizes the unification of two Clans. The merging of two Elemental Swastika Systems (body, Soul, Spirit and Conscience) into a new Unified Life System, where the Masculine (Fire) principle is united with the feminine (Water). Very often, the symbol of Belobog was depicted on the reverse side of the Wedding Dress. as a symbol of goodness and prosperity. Such a talisman protects against quarrels and troubles. Creates harmony in the family. Sometimes three pendants were made from river pearls. Three pendants symbolize the three worlds - Mira Reveal, Navi, Rule.

To ward off black spells, Charovrat was embroidered. Charovrat was depicted in the form of a fiery rotating cross. The Slavs, as fire worshipers, believed that Fire would destroy dark forces and various spells and thereby cleanse the souls and body of the person being protected.

To fulfill wishes, healing and strength of spirit, the Fern Flower was embroidered. People call it Perunov Tsvet. The Odelen grass amulet was also often embroidered against illnesses and infestations. just like in Charovrat and Perunova Star, it was believed that fire burns away all troubles and misfortunes. Therefore, these amulets are very similar. Doukhobor was embroidered for a sick person. Bedspreads with such embroidery were used to cover the sick and wounded. It was believed. that the Great Divine Fire of Doukhobor will destroy in a person all bodily ailments and diseases of the Soul and Spirit.

The image of a fabulous bird - a peahen (sometimes called the firebird) has long been a symbol of happiness and love among the Slavs. The peahen bird was always depicted on embroidery in profile with its head proudly raised, wing raised and a huge tail resembling a branched bush with feathery leaves and small flowers. The fluffy tail of this fabulous bird and its plumage in the form of loops, rings and zigzags shimmered with all colors, emphasizing its unusualness.

Slavic embroidery also has many plant and floral motifs. One of them is the World Tree, symbolizing the connection between the lower, “underworld”, the earth and all nine heavens. The World Tree was depicted as lush, tall, with various fantasy flowers and birds on the branches.

Analyzing the symbolism of Slavic embroidery, you are involuntarily amazed at the depth of thought and breadth of imagination inherent in our ancestors. Deep symbolism and allegory are a sign of a high culture of society, especially considering that these embroideries were created en masse, from big cities to the smallest settlements.

Among the many types of Russian folk art, embroidery has always occupied an important place. They sewed everywhere. There was no need to look for special equipment, and fabric, needles and threads were available in every home. Embroidery was used to decorate clothes and household items: curtains, tablecloths, towels, valances, aprons, hats, scarves, skirts, dresses. Embroidered products in Everyday life quickly grew old, wore out and disappeared. The study of embroidery as a separate art form began only in the middle of the 19th century, therefore the earliest examples in museums date back only to the 18th century.

Material and color

The climatic conditions of our country do not allow large-scale cultivation of cotton, so the main sources for making fabric were flax and hemp. They were used to weave cloth. Thin bleached linen served as the base, and linen and wool threads were used for embroidering patterns. In the 19th century Shirts and head towels were embroidered with woolen threads. In a number of places, embroidery with wool preceded embroidery with other materials.

The main color of Russian embroidery is red with many shades: from dark lingonberry to orange. The shade depends on the material of the threads and fabric (linen, cotton, wool, etc.), and on the dyes used for them (mineral, vegetable, animal). Along with red, preference is given to tones of blue, green and yellow. Black is not typical for Russian embroidery. Only in the Tambov and Voronezh regions is this color traditionally used in sewing.

Preference for red does not limit the choice of other colors or gradations of their shades. White was often used or two-color combinations were made. The overall tone of the embroidery always remained joyful and optimistic.

Subjects and motifs of ornament.

The variety of motifs in Russian embroidery is great. However, images of a bird, a horse and a tree are found more often than others in the ornaments. This choice is determined by the legends and beliefs of the ancient Slavs, which speak of a heavenly tree and a sun bird sitting on it. The horse symbolized the visible movement of the sun.

Image birds most often used in Russian embroidery. Birds are found as part of complex plots, or they form individual patterns from birds: in the form of a row, where they follow one after another, they often make compositions with a tree (bush, plant or rosette) and with a female figure in the center; Often they are simply turned towards each other and close with their beaks or, on the contrary, with their tails.

Horse not as popular a motif as the bird, but also quite common. The image of a horse with a high, proudly curved neck is similar to images of folk clay sculpture. One of the common motifs is horses on the sides of a tree or plant.

Vegetable world occupied a prominent place in the ornament of Russian embroidery of the 18th and early 20th centuries. The tree formed the center of the composition, towards which animals and birds were turned; the tree was an object of worship for horsemen or horsewomen. Sometimes the tree is enclosed in a special building, like a small temple or chapel, which emphasizes its special significance. Embroidery of plants and trees was done in a strict geometric style with two or more specially highlighted long branches, often roots on a triangular base, which can be considered as roots depicted in a general way.

Among the flowers, roses in a basket, realistic, natural scarlet colors, are especially common. Roses noticeably displace other plant motifs, in particular the tulip, from the floral ornamentation of Russian embroidery. This is apparently due to the development of pan-European ornament, in which the rose motif spread in the 18th century.

So, I told you quite a bit about the distinctive features of Russian embroidery. This information is very superficial and does not include all the variety of ornaments, patterns and types of embroidery that were observed in the 18th and early 19th centuries. That's all for now, I hope you found it interesting. The next part is devoted to the appearance of cross stitch in Rus'.

The list of references that I used is given below. Of course, now there are more modern sources of information, but I liked these books for their great detail and thoroughness of presentation:

1. Maslova G. S. "Ornament of Russian folk embroidery." M., 1972
2. Durasov G.P. "Fine motifs in Russian folk embroidery." M., 1990
3. Boguslavskaya I. Ya. "Russian folk embroidery"M., 1972

Let us now turn to IMAGES. Since we didn’t get meaning and interesting information, maybe we can feed ourselves with some images for our hard-earned 760 rubles?
And here we are faced with a completely absent culture of captions. I just didn’t suspect that she could be completely absent like that. I don’t even remember encountering such cases in such voluminous books.
This is the first illustration of the book:

The caption reads: “Fragment of Ryazan embroidery.”
At first I didn’t understand, but then, looking more closely, I saw that it was probably a modern copy. It looks like the copy was made very carefully and close to the original. By the way, how interesting and instructive it would be to place a scan from the original source on the same scale for comparison! The question is, is it possible to reflect the status of an item in the signature? The fact that this is a MODERN COPY of some really existing object, probably a hundred years ago? Guess it yourself?
So we guess:

Caption: "fragment of a towel."
Questions right away. What time is the embroidery? Well, clearly, about 100 years.
What region?
Where is the object located - in some museum (which one?), in a private collection?
Is this even embroidery? Maybe this is braided weaving, which, as is known, is topologically equivalent to set embroidery?
And if this is embroidery (after all, the book is dedicated to embroidery), then why is it embroidery? Where does it follow that this is not swear weaving? By what signs should this be determined?
We will not find an answer to any of these questions.
I believe that the work of thoroughly analyzing an object and reconstructing it is the most real scientific work in this area, modest, but REAL. But this is already from our bell tower - the bell tower of those who truly disinterestedly love folk art and WANT TO KNOW.
In the section about Tambov embroidery there are three more images on one page:

Signatures
to top: Stripe of geometric pattern (rhythm of shape)
to middle: Diagonal movement of the motif in the strip
to the bottom: Ornament with stylized female figures.
Not a word about the fact that the top two images are photographs, and the bottom one is a drawing (by the way, a very good drawing).
Again, it is not said about the two top items that these are modern copies (very good copies, by the way). Why are images of copies shown, and not originals? What kind of originals are these? What was the purpose of the item, part of a headdress, or what? Where are these originals located - in which museum collections? Again, it was interesting to compare the copy and the original. And I have one more question - inside these zigzag figures in a black outline - were there really only two colors - brown and mustard? Was there a silver thread there, which, due to lack of availability, was replaced with mustard threads? I'm almost sure that the S-shaped element is present there and should be clearly legible to the eye. And you can read it on a copy only knowing that it is there.
Indeed, comparing this fragment with photographs of my precious Tambov stripe, one can easily see that the ornament of this fragment is half of the ornament of my stripe (if this ornament is cut in half horizontally).
Another question - is the brown monolith of half of the eight-armed figure not broken? Were there any inclusions on the original?
There are no answers because there are no pictures of the very interesting items that were available to those who made the copies. But this is interesting only to us who selflessly love folk art.
Another sad story - the Oryol list. In a very loose section dedicated to Oryol embroidery, there are several images of embroideries of such a nature that it would be difficult to deduce any set of characteristics defining these embroideries. Actually, they are not displayed. All this is in section 2.3.1. (geometric pattern on the whole fabric). But bad luck - there is a grid there too. And another wonderful picture:

Indeed, it is a picture, because it is just a sketch (a fragment of a sketch or a sketch of a fragment) of the most mysterious and mysterious Oryol copy.
Everything is mysterious here:
- the very motives of the Oryol copy - one of the most archaic canons of Russian folk embroidery - are mysterious
- It is unknown what kind of object was sketched. The inscription is simple to the point of indecency: “Embroidery “Oryol list”.” Is this a towel? Where is this item located - in which museum collection???
- it is unknown why it was impossible to re-photograph him for the sake of publishing such a “respectable” book??? After all, it is still impossible to find anywhere simply decent images of this amazing canon, which cultured person should it be accessible and familiar as well as Pushkin’s poems?
- and why after this Oryol embroidery (all of it somehow) is listed in section 2.3.1. (geometric pattern on the whole fabric)??? It’s geometric (cuts), but only inside the mysterious forms outlined by a free contour.
Woe-classification.
Fans of folk art were a little more lucky with images belonging to one of the Kargopol canons.
There are also modern copies here:

Signature: "Single pictorial motif." Trouble again. Nothing is said about it being a copy. And nothing about what kind of object was copied, where the original is (as everywhere in the book). According to the meaning of what has been said, there is trouble again. If the book is about ornament, then it would be a good idea to remember what ornament is. Let’s at least climb into the TSB:
Ornament-
(from Latin ornamentum - decoration), a pattern consisting of rhythmically ordered elements...
If the motive is single, as the caption states, then what kind of ornament can we even talk about? What rhythm?? In fact, there is far more than one ornament here - it is different in different elements of this stunning plot, so sophisticatedly developed. In what sense do we understand “single”??? There are a lot of different motives here. But they just don’t add up to an ornament, no matter how you look at it. Trouble.
Another picture of the Kargoprol canon for true lovers of folk embroidery - the original valance:

Continued to the right on another double page of the book:

Page 89. Illustration for the Vologda letter stitch (in the book: "Vologda letter stitching"):

Examples of white embroidery from this canon are exhibited in museums and in decent books. But an image of embroidery using red threads is much more difficult to find. Therefore, I was happy even with these pitiful images. They are small and besides, one of them is a bad photograph:

And the other image is a drawing, which, of course, is not reflected in the caption. How there is nothing there about WHAT these objects are and where they are now (I will no longer mention this nice feature of the author’s style):

Bad? Yeah, it doesn't matter. Yes, and thanks for that. There is no bread - they eat quinoa, that's it.

Page 94. Separator "Vladimir smooth surface (Vladimir verkhoshov)".
Fig. 141. Signature "Dynamic ornament in the Vladimir smooth surface." I think that the ornament was probably poorly thought out, because if it had been well thought out, it would have been static (based on the author’s previous explanations):

There are two more images on the same topic.
Fig. 142. "Symmetrical construction of early Vladimir embroideries":

And rice. 143. "Fine motifs in early Vladimir embroidery.":

And of course, there is not a word about the fact that we admire early Vladimir embroideries in modern “improving” copies!
There is some valuable information:
“The basis for the development of this embroidery was the few ancient samples that have reached us.” Here it is, finally! In many books on needlework, this Vladimir embroidery is mentioned and the Vladimir stitch-top stitch is technically explained, but I have NEVER seen its historical prototypes in these books! I suspected that there should be one, but I didn’t see any mention of it. Once, I remember, at an exhibition (I think it was “Rook” 2-3 years ago) I saw people presenting this embroidery. The people were not from Moscow. I asked about where to look at the primary sources - do they exist at all, and if so, where? The lady answered me that “there are, in museums.” And when I tried to find out from her which museums there were, she muttered something almost hostile to me and began to look at some far away point, making it clear to me that the audience was over.
And now here’s some valuable information: yes, firstly, the so-called Vladimir top stitch in books on needlework actually has a prototype in Russian folk embroidery. Second, such samples actually exist somewhere. Third, apparently we are contemplating COPIES of 4 such samples. The third is a guess, since the author does not tell us anything about it. But this is already too much.
Let us dream of that bright time when all the known examples of this, apparently, canon of Russian folk embroidery will be worthily published separately. Oh, I wish I could see it!
Let's move on through the images.
Embroidery lovers in general will, of course, be fascinated by this wonderful embroidery on the camisole:

These camisoles are well known and are often exhibited. They are gorgeous. But there is a question: what does RUSSIAN ORNAMENT have to do with it?
And this embroidery is beyond praise:

Okay, let's not define what is Russian here and how Russian it is. The question is even simpler: what does ORNAMENT have to do with it?
Wonderful wedding flies from the 17th century. They are known both from books and from exhibitions.

Some things in technology can be understood from images, but there are some things I would like to know definitely and definitively. Who else but the people who made these copies so carefully (again, examples are given in COPIES without mentioning this) could tell us in detail about this. What an interesting and instructive story this could be! But alas, he is gone. Let's not talk about what doesn't exist. Let's continue the review of what is there.
In the section “Composition of square-shaped products” we read:
"... active ornamental development of the border is most often inherent in the square shape of the product, although it is sometimes found in rectangular tablecloths and napkins (ill. 187)..."
And here is "ill. 187":

An illustrated guide to killing folk art. I remember the unfortunate Pushkinsky (they say that the real one was slandered a little) Salieri. I remember he “disassembled” something there, like something. I checked something with algebra. Well, here we can’t get to algebra, because as we have already found out, this book is also at war with mathematics in earnest.
And now - not for the faint of heart:
Fig.204. "Decorative PROCESSING OF ANIMALS using the Vladimir Verkhoshv technique." So I can already see the buildings of slaughterhouses and carcass cutting shops. But the drawing is childishly cute. In fact, we read the section “Children's panels”:

Phew. OK. They survived the processing of animals somehow. But the author does not let up:
Fig.205. Decorative PROCESSING OF BIRDS using the Vladimir top stitch technique." And again everything is so cute! Don’t be scared, we’re just in a haberdashery store, in the “Everything for needlework” department, next to there are floss and ladies’ embroidery kits for cats, dogs and birds. Drive away the scary images butchers, better eat a delicious cutlet:

What a good fate for folk embroidery - ladies' embroidery kits. And so that the ladies don’t suddenly start thinking about something wrong, for example, “where did the food come from...” and the like, they should definitely be offered PROCESSED POULTRY AND ANIMALS so that they themselves don’t have to work plucking it. Let them eat to their health and not think about anything. The main thing is that they wouldn’t see anything, otherwise they’d wonder why they made sterile corpses out of fabulously beautiful things.
And things really were once fabulously beautiful:

Or this:

What are you muttering there? What are you unhappy about? I'm sorry, what?
And the fact is that we already saw these pictures in a book published 24 years ago. Well, yes, that’s right, it was a slightly different frame - here the gloves and mittens were laid out in a different order, one pair was removed and two were added. That picture was 10cm long, and this one is already 13cm! Progress is obvious! In less than a hundred years, the photograph will move beyond the category of “picturesque variegation” and it will be possible to somehow even examine all 10 pairs of mittens.
What, five are unhappy? It turns out that the photograph with towels in this book is 7 mm shorter in length than the one from 24 years ago. Trouble. No, comrades, the theory of progress is cancelled. There seems to be a regression here.
It’s not clear to my poor head why reprint already known old photographs without improving the quality, especially since no specific properties-qualities of the objects depicted in them are NEVER used in the text, and in their place there could just as easily have been completely different photographs of other embroidered scarves (head towels) and mittens. And, of course, all this is not reflected in the captions.
___________________________
Why did I write this review about this difficult book? Wouldn't it be better to just put it in the closet? The trouble is that these books, filled with a bunch of pictures that we will still look at from hunger, beautifully published with “the best intentions”, which again led to hell, continue the same bad business. But Russian folk art continues to remain unknown.
We will continue to eat surrogates for a long time.

From time immemorial, the Russian land has been famous for its craftswomen. Women turned fabrics into real works of art, creating images of women and men, animals, fantastic creatures, various symbols and signs. Festive clothes, tablecloths, towels, hats – easily decorated with patterns and ornaments of Russian folk embroidery. Now many fashion designers use different ones to create women's and children's clothing.

Features of this embroidery technique

Russian folk art uses a variety of embroidery techniques - a line with a colored outline, a white line, a tambour, a cross, a half-cross. Most often, embroidery is done with white and red threads, as well as gold and black (blue).

Before you start embroidering, certain rules must be followed.

Ideas for such embroidery with patterns

Now on the Internet you can find many pictures with patterns on the theme of Russian folk embroidery. You can create a diagram yourself, for example from any photograph. To understand how to draw Russian folk embroidery step by step and create a beautiful pattern on clothes and household items, We invite you to familiarize yourself with the ideas of embroidery and a brief description of its implementation.

Russian folk embroidery on a towel

Most often in enterprises, hotels and restaurants, it is used to apply logos, images and signs. Modern ones help you create any pattern quickly and efficiently. If you decide to create a product with your own hands, you can choose your favorite design on the Internet. To draw Russian folk embroidery on a towel yourself, first draw a sketch of the product with a pattern on a sheet of paper with a pencil. Next, transfer the finished design onto the fabric using carbon paper and start embroidering.

If you take a ready-made diagram, and the size of the picture is too small, you need to divide it into equal squares and transfer the pattern to paper with the same grid of squares, increasing the required number of times. If only part or half of a Russian folk embroidery pattern is given, it needs to be enlarged by cells and, folding the paper in half, transferred to the second half according to the pattern.

Embroidery in Russian folk costume

Our ancestors embroidered patterns not only on towels, bedspreads, napkins, but also on entire suits. And now the Russian folk pattern is coming back into fashion. Linen blouses and shirts, dresses and sundresses with unique patterns are recreated and take on a new life. -Embroidery on clothes will give the product a unique look.

1. First check the fabric for shrinkage and the threads for color fastness.
2. Transfer the design onto the fabric using carbon paper.
3. Fasten the canvas tightly.
4. Choose a needle with a small eye for a neater look.
5. Start embroidering.

Fairy tale characters

Is the most common. If you want to decorate a baby blanket or towel with characters from a Russian folk tale, use cross and half-cross stitch.

1. Choose your favorite scheme.
2. Using a special marker, mark the canvas into 10 by 10 squares. It is more convenient to mark from the center.
3. Select on the diagram where you will start embroidering, and insert the needle and thread. You can embroider from both the top and bottom.
4. Embroider the design according to the diagram.

Beadwork

Embroidery with beads, beads, and rhinestones on certain areas of blouses, dresses or sundresses will look beautiful. Using the one you like, you can get a beautiful pattern that will decorate the edge of the sleeve or the neck of the product. You will need beads of the required size, cotton threads or fishing line, canvas, needles and scissors.

1. Select an embroidery pattern and transfer it onto the fabric using tracing paper.
2. Sew the beads to the fabric according to the drawing.
3. To ensure that the beads lie evenly, do not pull the thread too tightly.

Russian folk embroidery patterns

Using patterns of Russian folk embroidery, you can decorate accessories: handbags, wallets, gloves, scarves, etc. You can create a design with 3D embroidery, cross stitch, satin stitch, and ribbons. A handbag with hand embroidery will look impressive and is suitable for both everyday and evening outings.

1. Using the diagram below, transfer it onto the fabric.
2. Take the threads of the desired color and start embroidering.
3. If desired, decorate the resulting pattern with rhinestones or beads.

Video with master class lessons of such embroidery for beginners

• The video explains the main points to consider when doing cross stitch for beginners. What is included in the embroidery kit, how to use the pattern, how to thread the thread and where the work begins, see this lesson.

• Video tutorial on how to create an amulet - a bag in which a shrine or prayer is placed. This amulet is worn around the neck or pinned under clothing. The main embroidery motifs are earth signs.

• A detailed video tutorial will tell you how to create embroidery of initials in satin stitch. A drawing is applied to the fixed canvas. The outline is embroidered with a two-thread stitch, and the filling is done with a single-thread stitch. The main types of stitches are “back play” and French knot.

Embroidery is the oldest type of fabric decoration. A skillfully embroidered pattern turns any item into a real work of art. Now embroidery in Russian folk style decorates clothes and interiors. You can order embroidery on the website, or you can make a design yourself and transfer it to any product. Are you already familiar with embroidery? Tell us what techniques you know and what motifs you use in embroidering your products.

Ancient Russian embroidery, like the process of embroidery, had a ritual significance and was close to agrarian ritual actions. It was mostly girls who embroidered, and only in the spring, before the start of field work, as if casting a spell on the harvest. Most of the patterns that the young woman embroidered on her dowry figuratively tell how the sky gives fertile power to the earth, and it will give birth to its fruits for the benefit of people. “Let it always be like this,” the embroideries seem to say, which were a kind of prayer for the future harvest, a request that the sun shine forever, the earth give birth and the human race never end.

It is known that in ancient times the Slavs, also farmers, worshiped ubrus towels, or rather, sacred images embroidered on canvas. For many centuries, these patterns were carefully passed down from generation to generation, from generation to generation, from mother to daughter, and accompanied a person all the days of his life. The word “pattern” itself comes from the ancient Slavic “uzreti” (to see).

In ancient Rus', the meaning of this word was also understood as “beauty”, “good”. In Slavic languages, in particular in Russian, “pattern” has many cognate words: dawn, lightning, glow. All of them are connected in their meaning with the meanings of “light” and “heat”. Going back to the original ancient cult of the sky and the sun, the patterns represented “signs of the sky”, End of the towel. Second half of the 19th century. Canvas, calico, linen and wool threads.

"Divine Signs"
Seam painted, counted satin stitch. 47x33. From Kargopol.

Once upon a time they were not so much decoration in our understanding, but signs and images of deity among our ancient ancestors. A towel decorated with them always hung in the “red corner”; it was used to wipe a newborn child, and a decorated fly dress was necessary in wedding rituals.

G.P.Durasov - "Kargopolye. Artistic treasures"

End of the towel. Canvas, cotton Second half of the 19th century. Fabric, linen, wool and cotton. threads
The seam is painted and counted. 34 x 32. From the village of Kalitinskaya.

The hem of a festive women's shirt. First half of the 19th century Fragment. Canvas, silk and cotton. threads
Dosyolny seam, oblique cross. 26 x 146.

The style of a festive women's shirt. First half of the 19th century Fragment. Canvas, calico, silk, wool, cotton. threads Double-sided stitch, counted stitch. 80 X 60.

The style of a festive women's shirt. Beginning of the 19th century Fragment. Canvas, cotton and silk threads.

Double-sided stitch, counted stitch. 78 X 190.