Slavic Folk Embroidered Apron

An apron I made as part of a costume contest. It is a festive apron and based on a folk story illustration of Vasilisa by Ivan Bilibin.

  Public Domain images.

Embroidery pieces:

Cuffs - Pattern darning and blanket stitch for edge:

Top panel - Chain stitch:

This is a copy of a 19th century design from a ceremonial towel.

Bottom panel - Double running stitch:

This design is from the areas near Finland and Karelia.

Back panel - Patten darning:

Whole front of apron with crochet border:

The embroidered garment is on a 19th century style apron with sleeves. The embroidery is within the SCA period of pr-1600. Thread used is double thickness 40/2 Normandy linen. Fabric is Burnley and Trowbridge medium weight linen. It is the closest to even weave linen that is densely woven enough for clothing. Red panel is Kona cotton, which is closest to a popular red fabric used for traditional Slavic clothes as accents called Kumach.

The red panel in white thread embroidery is with chain stitch done with needle, cotton crochet thread. Chain stitch comes from early period Asia. It arrived in the Slavic region by mid period, the most archaic tree of life and similar designs are shown with this stitch. Traditionally it is done with a needle not a hook. Use of a tambour hook is post-period but becomes quickly widespread because of it’s speed.

Redwork bottom section is all double running stitch, it is a completely double-sided embroidery. The cuffs and back panel were done with Nabor style pattern darning with braid stitch borders. Cuffs include blanket stitch embroidery at the fold to protect the fabric. Nabor and red work double running stitch shows up in the Slavic areas in the later period most likely traveling up from Egypt and middle east as similar embroidery work is present there from at least the 9^th century. From my own observations redwork embroidery, while it uses the same technique as blackwork, the designs themselves less lenient with thread count. Evenweave or very close to it fabric is required. Nabor gives a bit more leeway in fabric choice if evenly woven fabric is not available. It is more sensitive to weave density. Dense structure prevents wrinkling of the fabric. For looser woven fabric other techniques such as counted satin or brick stitch should be used instead to get the same pattern.

Annotated References:

Ellis, M. Embroideries from Islamic Medieval Egypt in the Newberry Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Textile history. Col 32.1, pg 61-74.

9^th through 13^th century embroidery in Islamic Egypt. Same types of stitches as found in folk Russian embroidery. Motifs are different. Several example images presented.

Маслова, ГС Народная вяшивка восточных славян, в частности русских: Орнамент Русской народной вышивки как историко-этнографический источник. (1975)

Notes that motifs used in  folk embroidery of the 17^th through early 20^th centuries draw significantly on motifs at least as old as the 11^th and 12^th centuries, before full Christianization of Russia.

Малахатьков У.В. Архаические мотивы вышивки в искусстве Русских Томской области. (2007)

                Backs up the above conclusion as pertaining got Tomsk obrast of Russia.

Gillow, John, and Bryan Sentance: World Textiles, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown, 1999, ISBN 0-8212-2621-5, p. 178

 Chain stitch dates back to the Warring states period of China, 5^th to 3^rd century BC.

Nabor Embroidery practice

 Some pattern darning practice. Nabor (Набор) embroidery to be specific. It mimics pick up weaving designs, so it is a thread counted running stitch  that goes the length of the design. 

You have to make sure the tension is even, usually a tug on the fabric at the end of the line evens things up nicely.

The embroidery thread should be 2x to 3x the thickness of the fabric threads. That way the fabric is not seen through gaps between the threads and the design looks full and even. 

Front side

                                                        Reverse side

 

 

The border of "braid stitch" or a "long arm cross stitch" is done traditionally to make the edges neat.

 

One big benefit of doing this type of embroidery as it is done in-hand. No hoop or frame needed. All you need is a needle, thread, fabric and your design. 

As for the design, there are traditional designs, like I used, taken from 19th and 20th century clothing and towels. You can also create your own on grid rule paper. 

This embroidery needs to be done on evenweave or close to it fabric, otherwise the design will distort in width or length. That might be a wanted design feature.

Choose how many threads is each square of design. In the one above, it's two threads, so each line is repeated twice. 

Don't make any part of the design more than 5 squares in length. Threads will be too loose and will catch if you do that. 

Traditional colors in Slavic embroidery tend to be red and black. Pattern darning in the more Scandinavian regions tend to be more blue and green traditionally in Smoyg (pattern darning) embroidery. If you're not trying to replicated a traditional design, have fun with colors!