Embroidery, an expression of aesthetics, rendered withpatient labour, is an art described as "painting by needle".Embroidery adds grace and elegance even into articles of everyday use. Indianembroidery takes its inspiration from nature and the products of variousregions reflect the colors of the flora and fauna of that area. Embroidery onleather, velvet, net, cotton, hessian and silk is done all over the country.Designs in Indian embroidery are formed on the basis of the texture and designof the fabric and the stitch. The dot and the alternate dot, the circle, thesquare, the triangle and various permutations and combinations of these go tomake up the designs.


Religious motifs such as gopurams, the tulsi plant, thetemple doorway etc., are all equally popular. Enriching fabrics with the use ofprecious stones and metals is also well known. Beads and mica have also beenused to embellish embroidered fabrics. Traditional embroidery materials such aswool, cotton, silk, beads and gold or silver thread and exotic materials asbeetles wings and various seeds are being used to add richness. Today,practically all the known embroidery stitches employed in any part of the worldare used in India.

 

Kashmiri work has a rich color spectrum and exquisite workmanship withbeautifully composed designs depicting common local symbols like the chinarleaf, the grape, the cherry, plum, apple blossom, lily, the saffron flower andvarious birds of the region.


 

The Punjab-Haryana specialty called the Phulkari (flowered work), is traditionally worked on coarse cotton in red or blue or flossed silk. One can find the scenes from Krishna leela and other religious subjects, depicted in the dark silk embroidered 'rumals' of Chamba.


Karnataka's Kasuti is famous for sketching ofreligious themes. They make use of backstitch, the running stitch, the cross-stitchand the zigzag running stitch on hand woven cloth, using brighter colors likered, purple, green and orange.


The practice of the famous Chikan work is nowcentered at Lucknow (U.P.) and Gaya (Bihar) This Chikan work dates back itsorigin to the royal courts of Oudh. This is done with white cotton on a finewhite muslin base using a variety of stitches minutely worked together withknotted stitches resulting in designs with raised surfaces. The creation of'jali' or the net effect is one of its specialties.


Kantha Embroidery: The 'Kantha' Embroidery of Bengal makes imaginativeuse of waste rugs, which are sewn on a base with simple running stitches toform motifs.


Tribal embroidery:


The tribal embroidery is a class by itself with a wide rangeand varied style and composition. It generally features bright colors andsimple motifs. They are often free hand, with no signs of being marked, ornecessarily symmetrical. They are usually done with colored thread, and thetypes of stitches, subject matter, and layout define the tribes who producedthem. Among the most colorful works is the work of the Lambadi and Banjaratribes. The Nilgiris' 'Toda embroidery' is also distinctive.


Shisha Embroidery: A tribal technique, Shisha mirror embroidery is theprocess of attaching tiny mirrors to a textile, usually in combination withother types of tribal stitches.


Zardozi Embroidery: An Islamic technique, Zardozi is the process if attachingvarious types of gold thread to a piece of fabric. It includes chain stitchinggold thread, attaching gold beads and sequins, couching on thick gold threadsand twists, and sewing on a variety of gold coils, called "purl" or "bullion".Silver and copper metals are also used to show a variety of silver metaltechniques on a thin chiffon shawl.


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