Tourism portal of thePatchwork sewing
Vladimir's land has long been famous for its textile traditions. Among them – patchwork sewing, one of the types of female needlework, which for centuries was practiced in peasant families. In patchwork sewing on the principle of a mosaic, an entire product is made from pieces of cloth (shreds). In the process of creating a canvas with a new color solution, pattern, sometimes texture.
In Russia there has long been a widespread lean attitude to the fabric, both produced at home (up to the 18th century the homespun cloth was mostly used), and purchased. Women sorted and preserved scraps of cloth not only for repairing ready-made clothes, but also for creating new things. Shreds were mostly taken from used clothes, were irregular in shape and connected randomly. In Russia, scrappy technique was used mainly for practical purposes: quilted articles such as blankets, rugs, pillows, bedspreads were manufactured. However, in parallel there was a tradition of sewing blankets for the wedding and the birth of a child. That is, the patchwork combined utilitarian and decorative functions. In the peasant family patchwork sewing was for women almost the only opportunity to decorate their house, create warmth and comfort.
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, patchwork sewing was widely used in folk costume, where it replaced complex in performance laces, embroidery, woven elements. Traditional Russian patchwork sewing is characterized by manual assembly without the use of a foundation, overlapping of flaps, use of different in size parts. Various products of shreds could be found in all corners of the Vladimir province.
Traditions of patchwork sewing are still passed down from generation to generation. Thanks to the technical capabilities and the richness of the fabrics, the patchwork became even more colorful and unrepeatable. In the 1970s and 1990s, the folklore style became fashionable in dressing and decorating interiors, which caused interest in patchwork sewing. Today, craftswomen collect from flaps fashionable clothes, rag dolls, paintings, etc.
The revival and preservation of folk traditions of patchwork sewing of the Vladimir region is the goal of the work of dozens of studios, workshops, and clubs. The Regional Center of Folk Art became the unifying creative center for the masters of patchwork sewing of the Vladimir region. Here for many years is a folk studio of decorative and applied art, a workshop of patchwork sewing. Meetings are held with the oldest masters and modern patchwork writers, master classes and internships, creative laboratories and field seminars. Exhibitions of patchwork sewing of various studios of Vladimir and the region, as well as solo exhibitions are regularly organized in the Regional Center of Folk Art.