Suzani embroidery

 

I’ve just returned from an amazing tour of Uzbekistan with a group of textile enthusiasts and thought I’d blog about the lovely suzani embroidery I saw there. It is named from the Persian word ‘suzan’ which means needle and was traditionally used for wall hangings, bedspreads and table covers throughout Central Asia. In the past it was part of an Uzbek girl's dowry and she and her family would begin making her suzani textiles from a young age.

Many suzani are made by groups of women, each stitching one part of the cloth and then combining them to make the final piece. This often results in variations in colour and design as you can see in the image above with the changes in colour of the flowers in the central section.

Suzani were thought to bring good fortune, protection and prosperity to the brides new home and many of the motifs have special significance. For example pomegranates signify fertility, vines are linked to growth, and the sun represents light and life, while other images are talismanic to deflect the evil eye.

Chain stitch is the main stitch used to outline the motifs, delineate borders and often to fill solid areas. It can be worked using a needle and thread or using a tambour technique with a hook. In many suzani only the motifs are filled with stitches, but in more intricate designs the entire surface of the cloth is covered in stitching.

Another method of filling large areas is Bukhara couching. In this technique the first line of thread is couched at intervals along its length. The second row, below it, is then couched so that the couching stitches are slightly to the left of the stitches in the row above, and so on with the following couched threads, thus forming diagonal lines of stitching. Bukhara couching (the upper section of the image above) gives a slightly flatter appearance to the work when compared with the chain stitching in the lower section.

Although chain stitch and Bukhara couching are the main stitches used in suzani embroidery, some examples also incorporate buttonhole stitching and satin stitch as well as decorative couching and alternating coloured stitches in chain stitch. We were lucky enough to see so many beautiful examples of suzani in workshops, museums and markets and were pleased to see that the art of suzani is being revived and preserved for the future.