Romanian costume - Women's chemises summary

Banat
Câmpia Banatului.	Gold thread decorations on blouses
Banat, Bistra valley	Blouse similar to Pădureni (tablă embroidery on sleeves)
Zona Făget, Banat	Tablă embroidery only on sleeves until 1st decade of 20th century. Then altiţa appears above the tablă. Also in this period the cut of the cămaşă was adapted so it was gathered at the shoulders, and a lace frill was added at the neck made of pânza groasă de cinari.
Crişana
Arad	Around Sânicolaul Mare cămaşă cu platcă called chităarită (cut white work) is worn.
Maramureş, Oaş
Codru	White linen blouse decorated with white work, especially on shoulders and yoke.
Oaş	Yoked cămaşă cu platcă cămaşă cu platcă heavily decorated with dark coloured embroidery on yoke and cuffs.
Maramureş	Cămaşă cu umeraş with square neck, or yoked
North Transylvania
Cluj & Apuseni & Lăpuş	Sleeves with fodor Cămaşă cu fodor Blouse fastens at back and has gathered front which is embroidered along the selvage
South Transylvania
Bran	Cămaşă încreţită similar to adjacent regions of Muntenia
Făgăraş	Married women - linen with black embroidery and whitework. Modern blouses for young girls have heavy black embroidery on sleeves (tablă) and front, Both had frill at cuffs. Very old costumes have a very simple blouse sleeves gathered at wrist and little embroidery
Petroşani	Sleeves have large frills at wrist called "fodori" & a horizontal Line of embroidery at elbow level (Şire Peste Cot)
Rimetea	Hungarian blouses with embroidery in red on shoulder.
Mureş	Blouses similar to Cluj & Apuseni, but cuipag is smaller
Haţeg
Pădureni
Munţii Apuseni
Mărginimea Sibiului	Gathered neck white cotton blouse with sleeves gathered into the neck (Cămaşă cu mâneca din gât) and also just below the elbow then open out into a "flounce" (fodor).
Târnave	Sleeve turned back at wrist
Oltenia	Oltenia râuri - Diagonal or V shaped with vertical line down centre
Oltenia & Muntenia (throughout)	Decorations with altiţa, increţ and râuri
Gorj
Romanţi
Vâlcea
Zona Slatina, Olt
Muntenia	Muntenia – râuri - Vertical wider bands
Argeş	Sleeves turned up at wrist to show embroidery on wrong side.
Argeş - Muşcel	Older blouses use striped material.
Buzau	Red woollen embroidery, straight râuri
Buzau - Râmnicu Sărat	Red woollen embroidery, diagonal râuri, frills at wrists
Ilfov	Plain white chemise, little decoration, in some cases gold or silver sequins (fluturi) attached.
Prahova	Cămaşă încreţită with red and black decoration
Teleorman	Pink / red /gold embroidery vertical râuri on sleeves and vertical lines of embroidery on front of blouse, decoration with gold or silver sequins (fluturi)
Vlaşca	Gold or silver sequins (fluturi) were used for decoration
Dobrogea	Simple yoked blouse (cămaşă cu umeraş), thin material, open sleeves, lines of delicate embroidery, older version has less embroidery.
Moldavia - North
Suceava
Rădăuăţi	Blouse made of thin flax, hemp or cotton, gathered round neck on cord. Sleeve decoration is made up of - altiţa - shoulder piece, încreţ - small monochrome ornamental band, râuri - embroidery down sleeve - diagonal on this case,
Vatra Dornei, Suceava
Câmpulung Moldovenesc	Colour scheme of decoration brighter and more rich than rest of Bucovina
Valea Bistriţei.
Moldavia - Central & South
Gyimes
Iaşi	Older style simple cut blouses worn with ghiordan
Vasului
Neamţ
Gyimes	Embroidered shirt with laced wide cuffs, held in at elbow. Diamond patterns are embroidered on back.
Vrancea	Older style blouse has twisted sleeves, which are rolled up so râuri look like spirals, newer style had gold, black and coloured embroidery, square geometric motifs. More recent shirt have gathered neck cămaşă încreţită cămaşă încreţită made of white linen, with yellow woven stripes. It is gathered round the neck and decorated with large black embroidered motifs.
Moldavian Csango	Women’s shirts are usually embroidered in red (or black) with blue band between horizontal band on upper arms and diagonal strips on sleeves. Shoulders and sleeves are embroidered first and sewn together after. Thick (woollen) embroidery. No cuffs, sleeves gathered in with string at wrist
Central Moldavia, Bacău, Romanului, Colinele Tutovei.
Bulgaria	Type 1 – gathered chemises - Burchena, riza, burchanka - found in West and along banks of Danube. 3 types - those found in NW, Central North and along Danube in NE. Both types found with same apron combinations. 2 principal variant of burchanka chemise worn in N Bulgaria, both types are gathered round the neck and at the ends of the sleeves and have patches on the shoulders.
North West	Shoulder patches are shape of isosceles triangle; Most beautiful chemises have slit at side front and have an inset in front.
Iskar Gorge and valley of river Vit	Variant of this chemise from Iskar Gorge and valley of river Vit is called an oplechka. His has side opening and 2 gussets on breast decorated with rich embroidery
Vratsa	19thC Vratsa district burchanyanka chemise – made of hempen material, embroidered in woollen and spun yarns in dark wine, olive green and blue. Stem stitch and cross stitch are used.
East	Type 2 - Plain tunic style - found to east, division along middle reaches of Yantra River. Worn with same combination of apron styles.
North East	Called altitsa and worn along banks of Danube and in NE Bulgaria
Popovo, Razgrad, and Provaida.	Tunic shaped chemises with narrow collar and wide sleeves is only worn in certain villages of NE Bulgaria near towns of Popovo, Razgrad, and Provaida.

Women's chemises and blouses regional summary

Bulgaria

References