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Playable heritage game

Cross-Stitch Pattern Weaving

Also known as Вишивка (vyshyvka)

Vyshyvka is the embroidery of Ukraine, worked on linen by counting threads and sewing small crosses in red and black, and often blue or yellow, to build rhombuses, stars and zigzag borders on shirts, towels and cloths.

Play the previewAbout this tradition
Cross-Stitch Pattern Weaving: photograph by Харковець Марія
Photo: Харковець Марія, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Cross-Stitch Pattern Weaving: the game in attract modeLive previewPlay

Runs in your browser, works offline once loaded.

How to play

  1. Choose a thread colour and a stitch motif from the strip under the linen.
  2. Tap a square to stitch it: the same stitch appears in the matching squares of every quarter, as a border mirrors on the cloth.
  3. Match the small design shown above the linen, then press Check.
Rules at a glance
  • The cloth is symmetric left to right and top to bottom, so each stitch you add is copied to its three partners.
  • A square counts only when its motif and its thread colour both match the design.
  • Three stars need a nearly perfect copy; you may undo or clear as often as you like.

About the tradition

Embroidered shirts, sleeves and towels have been made across Ukraine for centuries, and every region has its own favoured colours and shapes; families still pass the patterns from one generation to the next.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Northern and Eastern Europe.

Credits

Sources

Get the app

Cross-Stitch Pattern Weaving is one of 17 textile crafts in the Textile Crafts of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 17 textile crafts in the app

In review on theApp StoreIn review on theGoogle Play

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