About
Who am I and why I created ‘Bulgarian thread’?
Hey there, I’m Niya! I made this website about Bulgarian embroidery because, as a Bulgarian, this is a personal interest of mine and something I grew up with. And since most of the information is only available in Bulgarian, I wanted to make it accessible and share it with a wider audience outside of Bulgarian-speaking people.
This website is also part of my Master’s degree in Web Design and Content Planning at the University of Greenwich. It is my final project for the course, and I had complete freedom to decide what I wanted to focus on, which is why I chose Bulgarian embroidery.
Mission and vision
The main purpose of this website is to show you what Bulgarian clothing and embroidery are and how you can embroider it yourself. I have separated the information into two main sections – Articles and Tutorials. The articles focus on the history of Bulgarian clothing and are more text-heavy. Each tutorial focuses on the meaning of a specific ornament and includes an embroidery template so you can do it yourself.
You do not need to go through all the articles to start embroidering. And you do not need to go through all the tutorials to understand the articles. You have the freedom to explore at your own pace. And even though they are all focused on the same topic, each tutorial or article should give you enough information on its own to get you started.
Bulgarian clothing is quite old and enriched with history, and there is a lot of information about it. This means that the website will often get updated with new information, as I learn more about it myself. But I do not aim to make this a history lesson. I try my best to summarise and simplify the information so that everyone finds it interesting and useful.
As this website is new and there is a lot of information (most of it hard to find), I do not expect this project to ever be complete. My vision is to expand and add new information over the following months and hopefully years. I hope that over time, this website will become a one-stop for foreigners to learn more about Bulgarian embroidery.
Sources and credibility of information
All the information I am presenting here was collected from published authors who have done their own research on the topic. And there is a separate page on this website where you can find a full list of references (with links where applicable) to the sources I have used.
I also want to add a special mention and ‘Thank you!’ to Rumyana Dencheva for assisting me and providing me with information. Rumyana works in the ‘ETAR’ (Ethnographic open air museum) in Bulgaria, which is one of the very few museums in Bulgaria, where you can not only learn but also see in action how people in Bulgaria have lived in the past. She provided me with valuable books and insights on the topic, which is also part of her great expertise, and I am beyond grateful for her assistance!