Pleated baggy trousers (vraka, turk. şalvar) made of white cotton cloth. The middle part consists of six pieces stitched together. Each piece is 50cm wide and the whole length is 1.48m. Each side part, for the legs, is made of four pieces sewn together by hand. The upper part of each side is 47cm wide and 15cm long. The lower part is one piece of the same width (47cm) and 20cm long, while the lowest part, which is attached with a thicker join with stitches, consists of two rectangular pieces of the same dimensions (each piece 23.5cm wide, and 42.5cm long), connected lengthwise. This part narrows downwards because of the gathering and ends to the opening for the leg, which is 21cm wide. Next to the main opening, on the inside, there is a small slit, 5cm long. All around the opening are handmade braids (Turk. kaytan/gaytan) of the same cotton material. Another braid forms a wavy line and this is stitched to a double outer braid. At the waist the cloth is turned and stitched to form a casing through which to pass the drawstring/band (Turk. uçkur/uşkur). It is made of a length of dark beige cotton fabric, 10cm wide, whose ends are decorated with silks forming two flowers with leaves, in orange, lilac and blue colours. The embroidery is simple and naïf. Many of the pleats are still sewn together, indicating that the vraka was not used. Tradition has it that the reason for this was that the person to whom it belonged died soon after his wedding. It was not a wedding vraka, but it was brand new, made as part of the groom’s clothing. After his death nobody wanted to use it. The white colour was typical for the baggy trousers of the Turkish Cypriots.
