How to create a "Shirt for Victory": patterns, tips, and embroiderers' life hacks

Alice Smahina

For many, ordinary everyday activities have become a kind of resource. Cooking food, tidying up, and doing minor repairs or needlework reduces anxiety, helps to "keep yourself together," and gives strength and inspiration to look to the future with hope. This war is not the first in Ukraine's history. Since ancient times, while warriors fought for our land, women stayed home and tried to maintain their usual way of life. They planted gardens, whitewashed houses, and sewed and embroidered charms for their homes and husbands. People believed that embroidery made by loving hands protects against dark forces.

Ukrainian embroidered shirt or vyshyvanka is considered a talisman against all evil in human life. It symbolizes beauty, good health, and a happy fate. In Ukraine, the embroidered shirt also symbolizes family memory, loyalty, and love for the family. Happiness, destiny, life, and the will to victory are encoded in the ornaments of Ukrainian embroidery. Unfortunately, most of the embroidered shirts passed down from generation to generation were destroyed during the Soviet occupation. Authentic shirts are now rarities, mostly kept in museums and private collections.

Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, during and after great hardships, including wars, embroidered shirts that worked as protection and as "stitching up wounds." Then Ukrainians passed down these magical clothes from generation to generation. But even now, we can embroider new, more valuable shirts than ever. Shirts embroidered during the war with russia can become a kind of "gardens of victory," only embroidered. Sambir craftswoman Olha Stetsyk helped us learn the intricacies of creating the Ukrainian Vyshyvanka.

"My great-grandmother used to embroider shirts," says Olha Stetsyk. "My grandmother, now 75 years old, still embroiders them. My mother also supports this profession; she sews embroidered shirts—all the ones we create." Olha herself studied pharmaceuticals and worked in a pharmacy for several years, but embroidery still didn't leave her, nor did her love for the craft. During maternity leave, the woman did a lot of needlework, and at the same time, she began to create her designs. Later she mastered the art of machine embroidery, and now she does it professionally.

Olha Stetsyk

Olha is happy to share with Rubryka what she knows about embroidery. After all, embroidery is not only clothing and craftsmanship; it is a charm that protects a person from evil forces. Embroidery is something magical, something where our Ukrainian women recreate their lives, their feelings, and emotions.

Everything has a sacred meaning in embroidery: threads, the origin of the fabric, ornament, the number of stitches, and the color. The oldest is white-on-white embroidery. A lengthy procedure preceded such needlework. The craft workers bleached threads for three years. Later, people colored yarns, so not only patterns but also colors became elements of the code.

An authentic Ukrainian shirt, which a woman embroidered for her husband or a mother for her son, carries an incredible power of protection. When women embroider their men's shirts with their hands, they put a lot of strength and feelings into them. The craftswoman believes it is a potent charm: "If when embroidering, a woman also prays to God for protection, it is, in my opinion, powerful, incredible charm."

There is so much information and resources available for embroidery these days. "Once, to collect money for fabric and get it, my great-grandmother spent a week working in the collective farm, and the second week she spent a week buying threads," says Olha Stetsyk. "Now women can buy everything they need in any needlework store or online store with home delivery. The most important thing is to show a great desire. Without desire, nothing will work.

I often heard the phrase 'the embroidery is no longer in fashion.' You know, embroidery should not be in fashion. It should always be in the heart. Then the embroidery will be a talisman and powerful protection!"

Shirts embroidered by women for husbands or children, especially painted ones, are strong protection. Shirts embroidered during the war protect and bring Victory and peaceful times closer.

Before embroidering a shirt, be sure to select the ornament and pattern that you will use. It is worth paying attention to the symbols in the embroidery. Here are the main motives:

• The rhombus symbolizes the union of the sun and the earth, fertility.
• The square represents peace, well-being, and prosperity.
• The circle represents the sun, divine energy, and continuity.
• Women's shirts are embroidered with plant motifs, such as viburnum, meaning love, wealth, beauty, and motherhood. Oak leaves are stitched to represent strength and courage.
• Grapes were often embroidered for profit in the family; when women wanted to get pregnant, they embroidered bunches of grapes; grapes also signify family happiness.
• Oak is strength and wisdom.
• Viburnum is a symbol of the Ukrainian family.
• The red poppy protected against the evil eye and preserved the family. Other sources say that the poppy conveys the spilled blood of warriors.
• Roses are symbols of love and mercy.
• Ears of wheat are symbols of well-being and wealth, both material and spiritual.
• Storks are a talisman for babies and children.
• Swans are a symbol of loyalty, tenderness, love, and purity.
• The swallow is a symbol of good news and new life.

Colors also carry a specific meaning. Our ancestors respected the symbolism of colors, and all hues were embroidered according to their purpose. The primary colors in Ukrainian embroidery:

• White is the color of purity, innocence, and integrity. Girls wore white before marriage, and shirts embroidered in white were considered strong protection that protected girls from the evil eye.
• Black is the color of earth and fertility. But in each region of Ukraine, black has its meaning—sometimes, even the opposite. For example, on Polissia, on Sokal shirts, black is the color of mourning and sorrow. But black embroidered Borschiv shirts or shirts from Podillia symbolized prosperity and wealth.
• Red can also be divided into two values. The first is the color of love and vital energy. The second is the color of spilled blood.
• Blue is the color of the sky, space, and water.
• Green is the color of spring, beauty, life, youth, and strength.
• Yellow or gold is the color of wealth, the color of an ear of wheat, and prosperity, both spiritual and financial.

So, we can conclude that the Shirt for Victory should be embroidered with the colors of strength, happiness, and vital energy to provide protection. However, we must not forget that a lot of blood and tears are shed during the war.

The fabric for embroidery should be natural: linen, cotton, with an even interweaving of threads. Such canvases are also called home-woven. You can embroider on canvas and sew the already embroidered inserts onto the fabric. Everyone is free to choose how to embellish a shirt. Olha Stetsyk advises starting by learning how to embroider on canvas—it's easier that way. You don't need to count threads there.

A good sewist must first cut shirts on homespun canvas or linen before embroidery. Please don't do it closely according to the measurements, but consider that these canvases are simple and shrink after washing. It is important not to wash them before embroidering. The threads will shrink, making it difficult to see what to embellish. Also, when the canvases are cut, the craftswoman should consider embroidering sleeves on the shirt in a mirror image. Sometimes beginners forget about this, and as a result, they end up with two right or two left sleeves. It applies to women's shirts and men's shirt cuffs.

After embroidery, don't forget to wash the embroidery well, dry it and iron it. It is necessary to do this because even though we start work with clean hands, still, during embroidery, the canvas gets dirty from frequent touches.

The last tip: embroidered shirts should be sewn loosely.

Designs for embroidering Shirts of Victory, developed by Olha Stetsyk:

• Men's shirts:

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• Women's shirts:

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The Ukrainian tradition has a belief about the Thursday shirt. It was embroidered and sewn exclusively on Thursdays; people did not touch it on other days. They started stitching the Thursday shirt for the new moon early in the morning at sunrise. People believed such embroidery could protect against sudden death even during the war.

Embroidering Alatyr 

An embroidered shirt is a long and painstaking work. What to do when you need to create "embroidered protection" for a beloved person right now? For this case, Ukrainian craftswomen recommend a simple but effective amulet ornament. It is Alatyr, a powerful sign of the essence of the creation of the universe.

Alatyr is a talisman familiar to many. It is also called the Cross of Svarog or the Eye of God. An eight-pointed star symbolizes the Beginning of the World and God's Family. Its center is God, and the male and female elements are intertwined in the rays. This amulet is believed to have a magical power that protects and helps.

Pattern (suitable embroidery techniques: cross stitch, satin stitch). You can choose the color at your discretion:

This element is widespread in men's embroidered shirts. But the amulet can be worn by both men and women, including children. It can be quickly embroidered on a ready-made shirt or t-shirt, made in the form of a key ring, laminated, or left as a simple embroidered patch. Embroider for your relatives and friends, give scraps of decorated fabric to soldiers of the Ukrainian forces, and support them with the warmth of your hands and hearts; now, they are fighting for a peaceful sky for all of us.

Ukrainian embroidery is a prayer without words. Hand embroidery gives peace of mind and faith that everything will be how we want it to be.

Psychologists also confirm the therapeutic effect of embroidery. It turns out that needlework can be a kind of therapy. If you busy yourself with sewing, knitting, or embroidery, pleasant sensations arise in the hands, and the nervous system calms down.

If you have a problematic or unsettling experience, try to pick up a canvas and threads and start creating embroidery, beadwork, or other creative activity. Gradually the tension will begin to subside, and the condition will improve. The rhythmic, repetitive movements during embroidery balance, soothe, and comfort. Focusing on the process helps people avoid painful memories and fears of the future. Sewing, knitting, and embroidery have much to do with meditation and concentration and positively affect mental health and well-being. They help to overcome the feeling of helplessness and give an impetus to plan other activities.

Sewing or knitting can relieve pain. Since pain sensations are formed in the human brain, and the brain cannot concentrate on two complex actions simultaneously, concentration on embroidery can distract a person from pain.

The therapeutic effect also involves lowering blood pressure and heart rate and reducing the risk of stress-related diseases. Finally, if a person learns to relax while embroidering, they can remember this feeling in a stressful situation and calm down quickly.

Vyshyvanka can be purchased everywhere these days. But no ready-made shirt can replace one embroidered with your hands. Now we increasingly value our native land and restore Ukrainian traditions. Embroider, revive our culture, our art, and our wealth. Make hope for a better future and faith in our Victory a reality.

Everything will be Ukraine!

↓Read:

Vyshyvanka Day: Today Ukrainians will wear shirts embroidered with ornaments, a marker of our identity

Vyshyvanka Day: 20 facts that will surprise you