Embroidery - traditional adornment transforming ordinary fabrics into extraordinary art canvases

Embroidery work is thread work involving threads made from plain silk or cotton yarn to gold and silver zari. It is mainly done on motifs or patterns on the body, borders or pallu (end piece) of fabrics like the saree or the salwar, kameez and dupatta of a salwar suit to add appeal to the fabric. It could be plain decorative thread work to improve upon a plain fabric, rich zari work for a traditional handloom saree right or exquisite zardosi work or kundan work on exclusive fabrics.

Handcrafted embroidery is exclusive and a treasured art that is painstaking and time consuming. A lot of care and dedication goes into the handloom fabrics of ethnic practitioners, resulting in flawless creations of exquisite beauty.

Zardozi, Chikan, Kantha, Bagh, Kasuti, to name a few, are some of the more popular forms of handcrafted embroidery used to adorn sarees. Zardozi is metal embroidery done on various fabrics using gold or silver colour coated copper wire along with a silk thread. Popular since Mughal times, zari thread is employed for zardozi. Real Zari has thread made from gold or silver. Imitation zari uses gold or silver coated copper wire. Today mostly zari is made from metallic polyester film where a polyester core is covered by gold or silver coloured metallic yarn.

Chikankari or chikan work is intricate embroidery on fabrics. An art form since the Mughal period, the design or pattern print is transferred to the cloth, the embroidery done on it and the print washed away later leaving only the embroidery behind. Once done using only white thread on plain white fabrics, today it uses coloured threads too based on market demand. Lucknavi chikankari is the most unique and famous of chikan work from among that of the several places in India where this art form is practised.

Kantha Work, is essentially embroidery work done on sarees, with a running stitch on them in the form of motifs. These motifs could be animals, birds, flowers, simple geometrical shapes and scenes from everyday life. It gives the saree a wrinkled and wavy look and transforms a plain saree into an extraordinary creation. Though the running stitch is mostly used for its ease, other forms of stitch such as darning stitch, satin stitch and loop stitch are also used. Based on the use of the fabric, Kantha is divided into seven different types. Lep kantha and Sujani kantha are the popular types. Bagh is a special kind of embroidery practised by women in Punjab. Heavy and exquisite embroidery on sarees especially the lehenga type, where the base fabric is hardly visible, it is mostly done for special sarees for occasions like festivals and weddings.

Kasuti is a traditional form of embroidery practiced in Karnataka, India. Kasuti work is very intricate and sometimes involves putting a large number of stitches by hand on traditional silk sarees like Ilkal and Kanjeevaram. Kasuti work involves embroidering intricate patterns like chariot, lamps and conch shells on the fabrics. Locally available materials are used for Kasuti.

While different pockets of traditional sarees follow their own styles of embroidery for the adornment of their weaves, the ultimate aim for inclusion of embroidery is to transform seemingly ordinary fabrics into beautiful landscapes of enormous appeal.

Prachi.L She is a freelancer long associated with ethnic fabrics, known for her special leaning towards ethnic sarees. She enjoys the privilege of being a part-time consultant to Unnati Silks. S.E-mail her at unnatikaro@gmail.com.