Phulkari Embroidery of Punjab

The art of phulkari has its origins in the early part of the 19th century when the odhini or head
cloth was hoghlighted with embroidered flowers. Phulkari, literally flower-crafting, comprises of
the colourful embroidery that originates from Punjab. Over the years this embroidery became
heavy and the work more complex and the heavily embroidered odhinis came to be known as
bagh (literally garden). In this style the embroidery covered every inch of the entire base material
so that the cloth was completely invisible.
The darn stitch is used in Phulkari work while the base material for the embroidery has
traditionally been hand-spun, hand-woven and natural dyed khadi. Colours like white, dark blue,
black and brown were used for the base material but the preferred colour was red. Imported floss
silk yarn from China or Afganistan was used after locally dyeing. The embroidering is done from
the reverse side of the fabric with the silk yarn which gives a shaded effect to the fabric. The
uniqueness of this work is that the fabric itself is used as an inner decoration so that the pattern
sewn on becomes an integrated combination of colours. The smoothness on the reverse of the
fabric speaks volumes of the quality of workmanship and skill of the embroider. The motifs used
are karela bagh, gobhi bagh, dhaniya bagh and mirchi bagh are based on motifs inspired by
vegetables while shalimar charbagh and chaurasia bagh are motifs based on the famed gardens.
Satrangas are seven-coloured motifs and panchrangas are five-coloured motifs while the most
common and beautiful motifs is based on the wheat and barley stalks that grow all over Punjab.
In modern times this vibrant folk art of Punjab is now embroidered not only on odhinis but also
on saris, bed covers and home furnishing in bright and vivid colours.

Kantha Embroidery of West Bengal

The Kantha Embroidery is the predominantly the most popular form of embroidery
practiced by the rural women. The traditional form of Kantha embroidery was done
the soft dhotis and saris. The thread for this craft was drawn out of the borders of
the used cloth. It is a simple running stitch made on the edges. When five to six
layers of the cloth were embroidered together it formed a quilt. Fewer layers of the
cloth is used to make clothes for other purposes. The outer layers of the cloth
comprises of white or light colored clothes which made the embroidery perceptible.
Depending on the use of the finished product they were known as Lepkantha, Sujni
Kantha etc. The embroidered cloth is used as stoles for women and shawls. The
clothes also find use as covers for mirrors, boxes, pillows etc. The entire cloth is
covered with running stitches and usually has beautiful folk motifs, floral motifs,

animal and birds figures and geometrical shapes. Themes from day to day activities
are also a common subject for the embroidery. Such stitches on the cloth give it a
slight wrinkled wavy effect. The contemporary Kantha is not necessarily done on old
multiple layered saris or dhotis. It can also be seen on the present day garments like
the sarees, dupatta, shirts for men and women, bedding and other furnishing
fabrics. For these fabrics and dresses the base fabric used is cotton and silk.