"Suwałki Folk Costumes" – workshops in cutting and sewing traditional folk costumes of the Suwałki region, co-organised with the National Institute of Rural Culture and Heritage.
The workshop participants are members, animators and volunteers of our parent organisation, the Hanza Living History Foundation. We are very grateful to the Institute for supporting this initiative, which will not only broaden and develop our animators' competences in local cultural heritage, but will also promote the folk culture of the Suwałki region and its textile crafts.
The first workshops took place on 16 November. Ethnographer Magdalena Zielińska-John presented a general overview of folk and traditional costumes from the Polish part of the Suwałki ethnographic region, and ethnographer Egle Kukyte talked about the underwear worn under the costumes.
We talked about the fabrics used for festive folk costumes, how they were selected, prepared and cut.
Besides cutting and sewing folk costumes, at the workshops we are also learning white embroidery, typical of the decorations of Suwałki shirts. The instruction is led by an outstanding local traditional artist, Krystyna Waszkiewicz from the Suwałki Club of Traditional Artists, who among other things embroidered the Suwałki folk shirts worn by the Traditional Singing Ensemble "Ancyjas" from Suwałki.
Workshop gallery
Project co-organised with NIKiDW