Bridal “sayas” costume

The dress has red cloth with embroidered designs on the chest and on the turn-ups of the sleeves. The lining is of white material.

The “sayas” characteristic of most of the costumes of the Macedonian lowlands is nearly always made of a cotton fabric in balanced plain weave or in twill. It may be left white or dyed dark green, blue or black, and it often has a glossy finish (by being heavily starched and then ironed) by a professional dyer. It is embroidered on the inside of the front flaps of the skirt (“podies” or “skoutes”) and the turn-ups of the sleeves, so that the embroidery will be visible when it is turned back, except in the costume of Pylaia (Kapoudzida), where it is never turned back. A specialist tailor and embroiderer, the “terzis”, cuts, sews and embroiders the sayas. Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation Collection