Embroidery Designs Guide

Check out these Indian applique patterns on parasols beautifully handcrafted on handloom cotton fabric.

Some of the unique points to note are that these applique embroidery designs are made of colorful and multi pattern cotton fabric and are handmade by artisans from Pipilli (meaning Papillion) in Orissa in India.

I found this interesting product description which I am reproducing verbatim: “Applique in Orissa, India is an old temple art, which has been refined to a perfection. A fine example of the craft is the enormous applique canopies above the reigning deity of Puri, Lordjagannath. Applique art is the process of cutting coloured cloth into shapes of animals, birds, flowers, leaves and other decorative motifs and stitching them on to a piece of cloth that can ultimately be used as a lamp shade, a hand bag or even a garden umbrella. The village of Pipli, close to Bhubaneswar, is the site of beautiful applique work, created by artists, quite a few of whom have won national awards for their crafts. Applique’, which is a French term, is a technique by which the decorative effect is obtained by superposing patches of coloured fabrics on a basic fabric, the edges of the patches being sewn in some form of stitchery. It is distinct from what is known as patch work in which small pieces of cut fabrics are usually joined side by side to make a large piece of fabric or for repairing a damaged fabric. Though the form is not unknown in other parts of India, it is Orissa and specially in Pipli that the craft has a living and active tradition continuing over centuries.”