Embroidery means decorating cloth by sewing pictures or patterns onto it with coloured thread. In Ukraine, this craft is hundreds of years old. Grandmothers passed the patterns to their daughters, who passed them to theirs, and so on for generations. Each pattern is a kind of family signature.
The patterns are usually made of small geometric shapes - diamonds, crosses, stars and flowers - arranged in long rows around the collar, cuffs and chest of the shirt. The most famous colours are red and black, but blue, yellow, green and gold appear too. In the west of Ukraine, the embroidery can be very colourful; in the centre, it is often just red and black.
The patterns are not random. A grape vine might mean 'family'. An oak leaf might mean 'strength'. A star might mean 'good luck'. Reading a vyshyvanka is a bit like reading a secret picture-message stitched into cloth.
Every year, on the third Thursday of May, Ukraine celebrates Vyshyvanka Day. Children wear their embroidered shirts to school and adults wear them to work. From space - if you could see it - whole streets would look like rivers of red and black patterns.