Festive Clothes
A festive sorochka is made of linen or cotton, though hemp can be used on occasion. The most prized shifts are made of hand-loomed linen. These can be identified by the fact that they consist of 3 panels. Hand-weaving produces a narrow, approximately 18 inch wide, strip of fabric and three width of this fabric are needed to make a garment. Garments are pleated at the neck and at the top and bottom of the sleeves to control the fullness. A band secures the pleats at the neck and the bottom of the sleeves. As noted earlier, the bottom is embroidered, along with the sleeves. The top usually is not embroidered, though some areas do embroider at the top, sometimes for decoration and sometimes to secure the garment. Pleat types, along with other features discussed below, identify the area in which the garment was made. The garment usually has a very deep front slit to permit the nursing of children. The slit is concealed under the korsetka or iubka. If the garment is not made of hand-loomed fabric, it is usually made of two pieces, rather than three, and has side seems.
A man’s shirt from the village of Dobranychivka, Iahotyn region, Kyiv province is shown. On both men’s and women’s garments, it was important to decorate the edges to protect the wearer from the evil eye. The belt serves the same function of protection. It also had many practical uses. Men could use it to hold knives, hammers, and other tools. Women could use it as the final layer in the swaddling of infants. Embroidery on rushnyky means things and is distinctive from region to region. The same is true of embroidery on clothing. The province of Poltava is known for white-on-white embroidery, often with cut-work. In this area, similar designs are also done in blue-on-white. The province of Cherkasy has distinctive cherry clusters on its shifts. The favorite designs and colors in the past were red and black on a natural linen background. Favorite motifs were those that signaled prosperity and fertility: the tree of life in various forms, flowers such as roses and pumpkin blossoms, fruit such as grapes and cherries. In recent times, people have begun experimenting with new, synthetic, and brightly colored threads. The motifs are the same as earlier but colors are now very bright, such as on the shift embroidered in green and orange and shown here.
