Chikankari embroidery of Lucknow
Silk, cotton and polyester threads are employed for embroidery work on sarees, dupattas, table linen and kurtas. Cotton being the most preferred choice, chikankari is also done on mulls, muslins, voiles, organzas and polyester. Some more include chiffon, viscose, georgette, polyester georgette, cotton crepe and net. The designs change every other month, as per the market trends, with colors that perfectly match with the season.
The patterns and effects created depend on the types of stitches and the thicknesses of the threads used in the embroidery. Some of the legendary stitches include tepchi, bakhiya (shadow stitch done from the back side of the fabric), keel (the embossed centre of the flower), hool, zanzeera, rahet (stem stitch), banarsi, khatau, fanda and murri (types of french knots), jali (warp and weft threads carefully drawn apart),ulti-jali,pechani, bijli, hathkadi, kapkapi, madrazi, bulbul, tajmahal, kangan, raza, meharki, ghaspatti, chanapatti, dhaniapatti, jora, sidhaul, turpai and darzdari.Different specialists work with different types of stitches. For example, jali is not done by embroiderers who do the filling work. Each worker completes his/her bit and the fabric is then sent to the next embroiderer. Thus, each hand-crafted piece talks volumes about the number of people involved in making it and the long hours put in.
