Each historical era brought certain changes to the art of embroidery in Hutsulshchyna. The emergence of plant motifs of arbitrary interpretation is a rare phenomenon, influenced by the embroidery of neighboring nations. Overall, the ancient geometric foundation has been preserved and continuously developed in Hutsul embroidery. Hutsul masters demonstrated a deep understanding of beauty, a unique poetry of geometric-graphic lines, and the harmony of form and rhythm.A characteristic feature of Hutsul embroidery of the 19th – 20th centuries is polychromy, juicy, rich, filled with an amazing strength of decorative sound. It reflects all the colors of the spectral range. The dominant red color in various shades ranges from the darkest to intense orange-golden hues. In relation to its sound, yellow, green, blue, and black colors are introduced. Thus, in the embroidery of the Verkhovyna region, lilac-purple colors prevail, while in the embroidery of Yavoryv, Richka, and Brustoriv, blue and green colors dominate. The embroidery of the most famous centers of this art form stands out, especially Verkhovyna, Kryvorivnia, Kosiv, Brustoriv, Kosmach, Yavoryv, Krasnoliv, Vyzhnytsia, Putila, Yasinia, Yaremche, Rakhiv, Bohdan, and Kosivska Polyana. Along with the dominant technique of low stitch embroidery, cross stitch, flat stitch, cord, and curly stitch were also widespread here.
The Kosiv style is characterized by the mutual influences of traditional Hutsul embroidery techniques with the embroidery of the Pokuttya and Bukovyna regions. This was facilitated by the geographical location of Kosiv on a trade route, as well as fairs where, like at an exhibition, embroidery sounded colorful both in the attire of hundreds of women and in products intended for sale. The opportunity to familiarize oneself with the embroideries of other regions contributed to the creation of new techniques by Kosiv embroiderers for placing embroideries on clothing components and interior fabrics.
One of the characteristic features of folk art is the combination of decor with the form and function of clothing. The composition of patterns is subordinate to the cut of the shirt and at the same time harmonizes with the whole. Expressive lines of the cut serve as a unique decor that the artisans use to support the overall sound of the shirt.
The distinctive features in the embroidery can be most clearly traced in the embroideries of shirts from specific centers. All Kosmach inserts have a geometric structure. The artisans have developed their patterns so much that they have created a specific style of Kosmach embroidery. The geometric structure of the Kosmach ornament is a stable artistic tradition that reaches deep into the centuries.
The patterns of Kosmach embroidery poetically reproduce the surrounding world – these are “ribbon”, “key”, “flying”, “fluffy”, “curly”, “oak leaf”, “infinity”, “plum”, “cherry”, “slope”, “book”, “bagel”, “chicken feet”. Their names are justified, as they rely on a specific object, skillfully and poetically transferred into embroidery, flawlessly and naturally woven into a single ornamental organism.
At the beginning of the 20th century, alongside “nettings”, shirts were adorned with “wrinkles” made of low stitch inserts with a small pattern, the main motif of which was a diamond. Diamonds were arranged in a row or formed a diamond mesh. Their contours were decorated with a small comb, diamonds, or decoratively twisted curls.
High artistic taste was demonstrated by embroiderers in the composition of ornaments and color selection. Embroideries were predominantly executed in low stitch, as well as flat stitch with black or dark brown shading.
In the 1930s, and especially in the post-war period, the Verkhovyna inserts changed their character. New, complex forms of motifs and compositions of patterns appeared. The motifs became larger, and there was a tendency towards decorativeness, saturation of patterns in both compositional and color terms. The overlaps of low stitch embroideries became larger, resulting in large bright spots of ornamental motifs standing out against the black background. Inserts became much wider than in the past, reaching 20-25 centimeters, with colorful transfer cords and a wide surface on either side of the central pattern. In some inserts, a pattern is embroidered on both sides of the main design between the cords and the surface.
For modern Verkhovyna inserts, it is characteristic that alongside traditional, strictly geometric forms, geometrized plant motifs have appeared: “oak leaf”, “cabbage eye”, “chichkaty”.
In the post-war period, shirts made from factory fabric appeared, with embroidery done on homemade fabric and then sewn onto the finished shirt.
The names of the fragments of embroideries indicate that they are borrowed from nature, the animal world, and are specific only to the aforementioned villages: “beetles”, “chicken feet”, “elephant”, “deer”. There are also compositions with decorative images of hares and deer among geometric and plant forms. This is a clear influence of printed samples.
Motifs are often embroidered in intense yellow and orange colors on a black background, giving the patterns an interesting decorative quality achieved through color contrast.
In the 18th century, women's shirts without collars were densely gathered around the neck, as in other East Slavic peoples, as well as among Bulgarians and Slovaks. By the early 19th century, narrow collars had already appeared. Here, interesting are the cuts of shirts with so-called “tsvikolya” — wedges under the armpits. In the mid-19th century, “sovnivky” — broken lines that created an elongated diamond — began to be embroidered on the sleeves.
The new women's shirt had an embroidered narrow collar, to which ties — “oshchynky” were sewn, and later — mother-of-pearl buttons. In the second half of the 19th century, patterns were embroidered on separate pieces of fabric, which were then sewn onto the shirts.
