India is a land of amazement with its infinitely rich cultural heritage, rituals, customs, religions, and more. The country’s legacy is further intensified with its rich architecture, art forms and crafts. One such mesmerizing kind in Indian embroidery, which has not just survived the tolls of your time and innumerable invasions, in fact, quite this. And as a result, Indian embroidery has been influenced by various rich cultures. Every Indian region features a different flavor of its own.
Each embroidery style has unique stitching and colors, and it’s easy to say the state they came from just by having a glimpse. If you would like to understand the foremost popular embroidery styles (there are many embroidery styles in India), Check them out here at The Loom.
AARI WORK
The list of most tedious needleworks definitely involves the Aari embroidery, which traces its emergence during the reign of Mughal emperors, way back within the 12th century. It came into the limelight thanks to its traditional designs and floral motifs that are mesmerizing. It’s also called crewel work as a crewel (long hooked needle) is employed to make delicate and concentric rings of chain stitch. This fine embroidery creates intricate floral motifs and stylish traditional designs on embroidered Indo western dresses, Kurtis, sarees and Indian suit sets.
ZARDOZI EMBROIDERY
It was considered a royal embroidery style because it was done using gold and silver threads and pearls and precious stones. Even the selection of cloth wont to be regal. However, zardozi embroidery adapted itself to the test our time. Hence, it’s now done using silk threads and copper wire with golden or silver polish. This alteration has not altered the royal feel of the zardozi embroidery style. It’s still the favorite amongst embroidered bridal lehengas, georgette Kurtis, and more.
KANTHA
This is one among the standard embroidery styles with roots within the traditional genre of Indian eastern regions. Classically, it’s used for silk sarees and soft dhotis. Nowadays, it might be found in embroidered cotton and georgette kurtas and Indo western dresses shopping along with bed covers and wall hangings and online fabric shopping. The quirky and exciting motifs of flowers, animals, birds and everyday activities are the chief textile patterns and styles utilized in this bright-colored embroidery style. It’s done employing a simple stitch along the sides, and therefore the thread is typically drawn from the border of the used cloth.
CHIKANKARI
Suppose you’re keen to shop for embroidered cotton kurtas online. In that case, you’d quickly find this delicate and complex embroidery, which is believed to be introduced within the Indian subcontinent by the wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. However, some references suggest that the origin of this embroidery style dates back to the 3rd century BC. It’s often related to the Indian state, Uttar Pradesh. It flaunts flat, embossed and various other stitches popularly referred to as jail work.
A chikankari piece is made by first hand blocking patterns on the material then embroidering the entire pattern. Earlier, white-on-white was the concept of this embroidery style, suggesting white threads were used on white fabric. It’s gradually shifted to varied fabrics and colors. It might be easily found on embroidered cotton sarees, embroidered cotton Kurtis and embroidered Indo western dresses. It’s often mentioned as art for those with a classic taste.
MIRROR WORK
Popularly referred to as shisha in India, Mirror work hales from the Indian state of Gujarat and Rajasthan. It stands out from every other embroidery style, thanks to colorful threads and tiny pieces of mirrors. This embroidery style includes other embroideries and stitches combined with large and tiny mirrors. While this embroidery style adorns the embroidered georgette Kurtis, embroidered cotton kurtas and Indo western dresses, it also adorns accessories, bags, decorative pieces and home décor. The colorful threads in this style make it even more versatile and center of attraction.
PHULKARI
From the lands of 5 rivers in India, Punjab involves another embroidery style that consists of vibrant thread work on thick fabrics like cotton, modal and khadi. Because the name suggests, this embroidery style has flowers on fabric, and therefore the hottest type is meenakari and pachranga. This is often quite a unique style, and it’s found in embroidered cotton kurtas online shopping. The planning is made on the backside of the material, and therefore the final design takes shape on the front side. The contrasting use of bright and lightweight colors makes this embroidery style stand out.
