Embroidery is perhaps the finest expression of Greek folk art and is of particular artistic interest. The product of the assimilation of the influences from both east and west that left their mark on all aspects of 18th and 19th century Greek artistic practice, Greek folk embroidery went on to create a decorative quality all its own.
Embroideries –of the colour-thread, of the white thread or lacework and of the gold-thread-variety – were used for decorative purposes on garments, as well as in houses and churches. The needlework was done on silk, cotton and wool thread or in thin gold and silver wire. Embroideries may be classed into three main groups, according to the technique used: Embroideries executed in a traced design (“grafta”), embroideries done in counted stich (“metrita”), and embroideries worked with gold or silver and silk cord (“terzidika, syrmakessika”)
