Present Day

The motifs and patterns of Pałuki embroidery, associated exclusively with women’s clothing, after 1945 can be found transferred onto napkins, table runners, tablecloths and bed linen used today. The background fabric for white embroidery is always linen fabric in white, cream or gray color. Traditional Pałuki patterns taken from bonnet band ties, ruffs, petticoats and aprons are sometimes simplified and adapted to the function of a modern napkin or tablecloth. All embroideries are finished with semicircular serrations or crochet lace, in the so-called picots. Sometimes, a tulle appliqué is used. The basic stitches on modern forms do not differ from those found in traditional embroidery.

Very often the use of a specific stitch is intended to emphasize the lines of a given motif, e.g. solid lines are made with stem stitch instead of blanket stitch, some elements, e.g. leaves and flowers, are made on a large padding to make the embroidery more convex. Pattern compositions on napkins and tablecloths are most often arranged along borders, in the corners and in the middle, but in such a way that there is room to put plates. Table runners most often have two shorter sides embroidered.

Kcynia was first center after 1945 where first Pałuki embroidery courses were organized in years 1959-1961. They were led by Halina Mikułowska (1917-1998), an employee of the Ethnographic Museum in Toruń, and her assistants were Klara Prillowa (1907-1991), a distinguished animator of Pałuki folk culture, and Helena Pezacka (died in 1966), the last embroiderer from the Łapczyński family.  The following senior embroiderers took part in this course: Jadwiga Czechowska (1907-1992), Jadwiga Pawełczak (1905-1986), Kazimiera Zbierska (1916-1984), Janina Kierejewska (1907-1987), Marta Lutomska (1904-1995) and Aniela Wełnińska (1916-1998). The younger group was formed by: Maria Ochał-Kwiatkowska (1941), Elżbieta Rokicka-Keller (1936-2005), Bożena Hemerling (1927-2000), Ewa Janicka (1959), Bożena Piechowiak (1948). Later, Krystyna Sarnowska (1947-2006) and Lidia Mikoś-Kierejewska (1955) joined the group. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kcynia was the most thriving embroidery center in Pałuki. Kcynia owed this to a team of good embroiderers who had access to traditional Pałuki bonnets collected by Klara Prillowa.

In the 1970s, in the Cultural Center in Żnin there was a vibrant embroidery club  led by Aniela Nogalska (1903-1993). The embroiderers here were: Leokadia Jankowska (1909-1996), Izabela Lipońska (1919-1995), Klara Marciniak (1914-2000), Maria Wielgosz-Kasperowiak (1913-1998), Teresa Siadak (1906-1995) and Irena Ciszak (1916-2018). And also: Czesława Matwijów (1926), Krystyna Ługiewicz (1948), Lucyna Hareńska (1945), Barbara Musiał (1934), Lucyna Kowalska (1937-2021), Grażyna Pazdan-Wiśniewska (1969) and Krystyna Pazdan (1943). In the embroidery center in Wągrowiec established in the 1980s, among distinguished artists were Franciszka Nowak (1887-1976), Helena Tomaszewska (1912-1986), Helena Żywicka, Seweryna Stelmach (1933), Władysława Patro (1923-1994), Irena Botur (1918-2006), Irena Kaube (1916-2005) and Irena Konopa (1925-2005).

In the 1980s, Szubin was a thriving center, where Adela Zielińska (1937-2007) ran an embroidery club at the Cultural Center. The club members were: Marianna Harenda (1913-1988), Anna Bakaj (1927-1990), Emilia Kęsik (1955), Zofia Dams (1946-2011), Jadwiga Hodana (1926-1998), Zdzisława Przysiewkowska (1942-2015), Teresa Mężykowska (1952), Halina Kaszewska (1947). Jadwiga Bołka (1940) ran an embroidery club at the School Complex of the Agricultural Education Center in Szubin in the 1980s, and later she headed the embroidery club at the Szubin Cultural Center. In the following years, the Bołkówna sisters joined the group of embroiderers: Bożena, Małgorzata (twins 1967) and Maria Kurdelska (1962).

In 2013, a group of 24 embroiderers from Wągrowiec and neighboring regions was formed at the Regional Museum in Wągrowiec, creating adaptations for contemporary napkins and table runners, as well as costumes. The instructor of this club, from the very beginning, is one of the best embroiderers from Pałuki, Krystyna Ługiewicz from Bożejewiczki. She has also been running a second embroidery club in Rogów for 18 years. Embroiderers from Wągrowiec are: Maria Gruchała, Iwona Nowak, Violetta Łochowicz, Maria Tomczak, Krystyna Bylicka, Emilia Przybylska,  Anna Janke, Barbara Kalka, Irena Nogalska, Irena Zielińska, Wanda Szewczyk, Barbara Nojgebauer, Grażyna Zarębska, Maria Zagłobińska, Wiesława Kotarba, Renata Adamczyk, Małgorzata Grygiel, Krystyna Różańska, Barbara Bąkowska, Elżbieta Brzezińska, Ewa Roman, Gabriela Gruchała, Emilia Brand.

It is worth mentioning the influence of embroidery courses conducted by Halina Mikułowska in the 1970s on the development of Pałuki embroidery. The participants of these courses often worked in the Cepelia cooperative “Rzut” in Toruń.

There is no doubt that a very important factor, and perhaps even a decisive factor in the development of both traditional and contemporary Pałuki embroidery, are the Pałuki folk art competitions organized since 1963 by the Cultural Center in Szubin. The vast majority of embroiderers mentioned above took part in these competitions and scored high on the list of winners.

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