Ukrainian Borshchiv Embroidery

Village residents, Borshchiv district, 1921. From Borshchiv: Its Folk art, Customs, and Traditions, The Ukrainian Museum, NY, 1994.

Borshchiv clothing from and photo by @anything_traditionalua.

Borshchiv embroidery originated in a small area in the ethnographic region of Podillia, near the city of Ternopil in Western Ukraine. There were originally about 60 villages surrounding Borshchiv that contributed to a rich culture. It is famous for its embroidery, made of dark, bold floral and geometric patterns, used to decorate traditional clothing.

Why is black the dominant color? Between the 15th - 17th centuries the Tatars carried out raids across Europe, in one incident they killing all of the men in the small villages around Borshchiv. As a form of mourning, the remaining widows embroidered black blouses, and swore to wear blouses with black stitching for seven centuries afterward. So the story goes…. Embroiderers I have spoken with say that the true history has been lost.

Even if the story is just a tall tale, Borshchevskaya embroidered shirts are highly valued today. The demand for them developed in the 1990s, after Ukraine gained independence from Russia. Prices range from several hundred dollars to over $1000 per blouse, especially for blouses made before World War II, at which point the practice for normal wear began to fade. The last descendants embroidering the mourning blouses stitched them in black in the 1920s and 30s. Today, there is a strong community of women stitching traditional embroidered vyshyvanky of all different styles in Ukraine.

I am excited to offer a new workshop on Sunday, December 6 in this rich and almost sculptural style of embroidery! Join me for an introduction to a counted thread work technique with the inspiration of these bold graphic florals and strong diagonals. Register HERE.

Borshchiv blouse in a collection in Lviv, 2017.

Floral sleeved blouse in a shop in Lviv, 2017.

Blouses in a shop in Lviv, 2017.

Borschiv shirts from a collection in Lviv, Ukraine, from my 2017 visit.