designmango-What Makes Chikankari Embroidery Unique?

What Makes Chikankari Embroidery Unique?

Chikankari refers to a unique style of designer embroidery performed on colorless muslin or white yarn. It is the traditional embroidery technique of Lucknow that preserves the city’s age-old art and weaving culture and allows it to be recognized and appreciated globally.

What Makes Chikankari Unique?

Chikan Kari is a delicate hand embroidery art that is performed on various textile fabrics such as silk, muslin, chiffon, etc. Then, on the pastel shades of these fabrics, a white thread is used to weave intricate and delightful patterns and floral motifs. 

To make the Chikankari works even more lustrous and precious, numerous embellishments such as bead and mirror works, Sequin, Badla, and Kamdani are also used. These decorative designs are both artful and elegant, and thereby increase the charm of Chikan works to another level.

How is Chikankari Done?

Chikankari work is done on a variety of fabrics such as cotton, crepe, silk, semi-Georgette, or Pure Georgette. All these fabrics are light and fine and therefore, allow the embroidery to stand out and be highlighted. This is because if the fabric isn’t delicate or fine, the needle wouldn’t be able to pierce through it smoothly and there will be obstructions during the embroidery process. 

Weaving a chikankari piece requires the artisan to follow a number of steps. Firstly, one needs to choose the weave’s style and design. Then, as one or more patterns are chosen, they are printed on the light-based fabric through block printing. A fine cotton thread is used by the embroiderer to delicately stitch as a pattern according to the design. Finally, the washing process begins and the color of the printing is removed and the final work is revealed.

At the same time, the effects, the patterns, and the design is defined by the thickness of the thread that is used for embroidery.

 

Types of Stitches Used in Chikankari

Chikankari embroidery features a variety of stitches that results in numerous styles and artistic decorations. Overall, 32 kinds of stitches are used in Chikankari embroidery. Of these 32, five of the most popular ones are:

  1. Tepchi: Chikankari-Tepchi is one the most popular stitch that involves six strands towards the right being worked with a darning stitch. As such, a line is formed as these six strands are taken over four threads, of which, one is picked. This technique is prominent as it forms the base for more stitchery and makes similar shapes.
  2. Bakhiya: Bakhiya, which refers to ‘shadow work’, is another popular stitch of Chikankari embroidery. It is named as such because this technique is done on the wrong side of the fabric and is visible on the right side.
  3. Hool: Hool can be worked with as many as 6 threads and usually forms a detached eyelet stitch that results in the center of a flower.
  4. Murri: Although the number of weavers doing this embroidery has decreased a lot over the years, this is still one of the oldest and most popular embroidery stitches. These are rice-shaped French knots that are typically used to embroider the center of the flowers.
  5. Jali: In this type of stitching, warp and weft threads are deliberately kept separated from each other in order to ensure that both the front and back of the fabric look just as neat.

Kushal Trivedi

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