​​Ethnic Textile Art

 

 

Ukrainian Nyzynka is a colorful embroidery technique originating in the Carpathian Mountains. To describe Nyz as “double layered pattern darning” makes this technique sound easy to master.  In practice, it is one of the most challenging of the Ethnic techniques I have ever learned.  The technique is seldom seen (other than in museums) and rarely taught. 

 

Ukrainian folk embroidery has been passed down – virtually unchanged - for countless generations.  This embroidery was used continuously in native dress and on items created for spiritual and ritual use. Ukrainian embroidery has had a significant role in maintaining the identity of the Ukrainian people, helping to retain the cultural traditions through years of turmoil and suppression by their various neighbors.  As with many folk arts, certain designs and color combinations are identified as unique to a specific geographic area or village.  Particularly in this century, great effort was made by the Ukrainian people to retain their traditions and cultural symbols, through programs developed for the youth.       

 

Nyzynka is named for its unique method of working the base pattern from the reverse side of the fabric.  Nyz is found in two distinctly different forms:  The highly colored form from the Hutsul region in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, and the black and red style from Eastern Podilia (halfway between Hutsulia and Kyiv.)  

 

The first layer is stitched from the underside of the fabric – the word Nyzynka translates into “from the underneath.”  This layer is stitched with black embroidery cotton on white linen. The second layer – called “flowering” by the Ukrainians - is where the color is added.  In “museum quality” embroidery, this layer is stitched so that the colored fibers are visible only from the face of the project. 

 

Nyzynka patterns shown in books may be illustrations; photographs showing the finished embroidered design; or charted patterns that usually - but not always - show the face of the design.  Row by row instructions for stitching are rarely seen because, having once learned to use the principles involved, Ukrainians use the lines of the design itself to guide them.

 

Out of respect for the creative traditions of this people's embroidery, let us not change Nyzynka designs, for they are not ours, but only "on loan."