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Suzani embroidery

Also known as Сузани

Suzani is the large embroidered cloth of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, worked in silk thread on cotton, with round flower-like medallions, curling vines, leaves and fruit laid out in balanced panels in crimson, indigo, gold and green.

Play the previewAbout this tradition
Suzani embroidery: photograph by Unknown Shahrisyabz artisans. Photo by auctioneer
Photo: Unknown Shahrisyabz artisans. Photo by auctioneer, Public domain, source on Wikimedia Commons
Suzani embroidery: the game in attract modeLive previewPlay

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How to play

  1. Choose a thread colour and a motif from the strip under the cloth.
  2. Touch a square to stitch it: the same motif appears in the matching squares of all four quarters, as on a cloth worked from the centre outward.
  3. Copy the small panel shown above the cloth, then press Check.
Rules at a glance
  • The cloth is symmetric left to right and top to bottom, so each stitch you place is copied to its three partners.
  • Leaves and spirals turn to follow the symmetry, as they would if sewn by hand.
  • A square counts only when its motif and its thread colour both match the panel; three stars need a nearly perfect copy.

About the tradition

Suzani cloths have been embroidered in the oasis towns of Central Asia, such as Bukhara, Samarkand, Shahrisabz and Tashkent, where each town has its own favoured layout; families and craft workshops still make them today.

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 Persia, Caucasus and Central Asia.

Credits

Sources

Get the app

Suzani embroidery 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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