For all lovers of hand and silk embroidery, you should not miss this. Kasooti is an ancient art form of hand embroidery credited to the Lambani tribes, the gypsies of India. The process is as follows: Initially the silk cloth to be hand embroidered is decorated with bits of cut mirror, costume jewellery and coins. Then the intricate stitching of Kasooti comes into play. The stitches are called Ele, Mente, Negi, Gavanthe and Marige. The designs are in tune with nature – flowers and creepers interwoven with animals such as cows, parrots, peacocks. The choice of the needles and the coloured threads is critical for the success of this embroidered product. Most of these designs are mirrored designs – that is, the left half would be a mirror image of the right half. You can view quite a few examples at the above mentioned site.

Kasooti embroidery is very useful for bridal trousseau, embroidered sarees (traditional dress of Indian women), bedsheets, cushions, wallhangings and table mats.

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The Indian shoes were first designed 400 years ago and were called jooti or nagra. Even today, they retain the first position in the world when it comes to the best fashioned footwear. The Indian embroidered shoe is generally made of plain upper leather and the shoe takes the shape of the wearers foot. Have a look at the beaded And embroidered handcrafted leather slippers beside this post which is worn by women. This is studded with beads and the upper portion of the shoe is embroidered with silk thread and decorated with Khasida embroidery. This is generally used as casual wear. You have other varieties of Indian footwear which are adorned with appliqué and bead work. Dying in various colors or fixing brass eyelets has been another way of decorating jooties.

I am doing an analysis of flip flops and footwear of unique varieties and if you have come across anything interesting, do let me know through the contact form below. That would be helpful. Thanks.

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Cutwork embroidery designs are most of the times invisible – yes you heard it right – Invisible. This technique originated by initially embroidering the design, then cutting out pieces of excess cloth and finally finishing the edges with different stitches or connecting bars of thread in a creative manner to give the end result a beautiful look. Cutwork can be placed on apparels, handkerchiefs, bedsheets, curtains, pillow covers – you name it. Even as you are reading this, there would be a cutwork design somewhere around you but not noticeable. If you remember, I had mentioned about the Lucknowi Chikan work at Indian embroidery designs. The cutwork resource – LaceFairy – has designs that look similar to those patterns, but the style and technique of stitching is quite different from Indian. The Spanish cutwork is distinguished by it’s hemmed satin stitch edges and the Venetian cutwork is characterised by its thick buttonhole stitches. We also have the Moorish Cutwork with colorful filings of silk and gold with gold embroidered cords forming loops and the Hedebo category which are essentially Danish cutwork with satin stitches which include fillings of wheels, triangles and ladders. But the one that stands out over the rest and which has been displayed next to this post is the Broderie Anglaise, which is a Whitework technique and uses the presence of eyelet holes of various shapes and sizes amidst floral embroidery designs to give the motif a stunning look! This is indeed a time consuming and complex work involving hours of involvement of the designer. You might be interested in knowing more about other forms of hand embroidery.

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Among many Indian embroidery designs, Chikan always has a special place in my heart. Not because of its beauty, but more so because of its history! The legend says that there was a particular king who had many wives and the youngest of wives found it difficult to draw his attention towards her. Somebody advised her to make an article in such a manner that it would be difficult to emulate. She made a cap with a peculiar stitch form of embroidery design. This had never been done before and the king was very happy. Tradition has it that the teaching was percolated down to the masses and this became famous as a form of hand embroidery art that would never leave a person penniless, since it appeared to sell easily. Even today, we have specialised workers who have mastered this art.

Chikan embroidery designing is a very laborious and time consuming task. (The craftsmen are trained for 15 to 20 years and sometimes it takes 10 to 15 days to make an outfit with hand embroidery as they fill in the designs with threads with detail work). This is why Chikan is so expensive as compared to machine embroidery. But it is worth it as you really do feel like a queen when you wear it – a Chikan suit is a regal treasure in any fashion connoisseur’s wardrobe! Really, the great thing about this form of embroidery is that it never goes out of fashion and it suits women of all ages. If you are going to invest in a few pairs of elegant wear, try adding chikan to your wardrobe. And before the men (in your heart and home) start feeling left out, they too can wear this form of embroidery – get a Chikan shirt for them!

Some excellent chikan embroidery designs can be viewed at Lucknow Chikan House.

I was surprised and happy to see an organisation called Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA, which means “service” in hindi). Its only objective is to improve the living standards of 5000 poverty stricken crafts women. This organisation has become internationally known for the famous Chikan products that it exports to various parts of the world.

In case you want to hear about the history of Lucknow and Lucknowi chikan, please see City Details.

I used to personally sell this through word of mouth a few years ago (when I had some time in my hands) and the sales were very quite exciting due to the unique touch that each particular form of embroidery had. The famous works of chikan are shadow, murri and taipchi.

I would be delighted to have your views on chikan and hand embroidery art and also maybe share some of your views on other unique forms of hand embroidery designs.

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