Phulkari embroidery- from Punjab

Punjab in India is considered as one of the rich states. It is rich in natural resources and also rich in culture. Phulkari embroidery represents the colorful and rich side of culture of Punjab. 

All over Punjab, most of the women, irrespective of the caste and community, wear Odhni or duppatta(long piece of cloth. The Odhni are normally embroidered with Phulkari.

Origin of Phulkari:

There is no strong evidence to tell about the origin of Phulakari, several classics and books written , mentions about phulkari. One such book is love story of Heer-Ranja, in which it is mentioned that Heer wore embroidered costume.  Bana Bhatta also mentioned about such embroidered cloth in his book Harshacharita. So some opine that Phulkari embroidery dates back to 15th century.

You can read more about Phulakri here.

Fabric used and thread used:

Normally phulakri is embroidered on dark colored cotton cloths. The thread used is untwisted silk thread. Nowadays it is done using twisted thread too.

Untwisted floss

Designs in Phulkari :

Phul means flower and kari means work. So phulkari embroidery designs include mostly flowers. The stitch used is simple darning stitch. The darning stitch and untwisted threads make it economical. Mostly the flowers Aside from the everyday wear, this is worn in all the ceremonies, by women of Punjab. Different designs are worn for different ceremonies.

Another variation of phulakri is Bhag. In Bhag embroidery geometrical patterns are used.

Here is a cloth decorated with bhag :

Bhagi – geometrical designs with darning stitch

Bhag- geometrical designs with darning stitch

There are many types of stitches are used in Phulakri as well as Bhag. Collecting information about types of phulkari. Will share about those in coming posts.

Until then,

-Love, laugh and live the life to the fullest

Ranjana