Chikankari Work at a Glance

Chikankari Embroidery is fascinating our eyes through ages but have you ever thought, What are the steps taken to make a chikankari embroidered masterpiece.

Chikankari is a fine artwork done by expert artisans in which the 5 essential steps are as follows:

1. Design
2. Engraving
3. Block printing
4. Embroidery
5. Washing and finishing                

Design 

A design is conceptualized the designers for the complete piece viz a saree, a top . a sherwani etc. At the time of deciding the design various motifs and their placements are finalized, to get that complete effect on the final apparel.

Engraving

These design patterns is then engraved on a wooden block or at times sketching it manually. There are thousands of pre made blocks/ motifs already available and the new ones are designed from time to time to meet the new fashion demands.

Block Printing
Once the block is ready then the printing is done on the fabric. Printing is carried out by the use of wooden blocks dipped in dyes like neel and safeda to make a pattern.

Embroidery
The printed fabric then reaches the craftsmen who get to work with the cloth stretched by a wooden frame. They do the enriching embroidery using a variety of stitches. These stitches are done on the same pattern which are engraved on the fabric by block printing.

Washing and finishing

After the embroidery, the fabric reaches the laundry and is thoroughly washed and given the finishing touches. This includes bleaching, acid treatment, stiffening or starching and ironing. 

Here's The Life Of Chikankari Artisans

Sitting in a room and playing videogames during winter vacation , I've received an Email from my college course leader that I have to do research on different art and craft, design movements, tribal and folk art. 

Hola! I am Mohit Ranjan and I am here to take you through my journey of a college assignment. 

I have always loved to learn and know about new stuffs around the world. 

When I received the mail from my course leader, I was so excited to explore and know about things.

I told my parents that I got assignment and they suggested me that it would be better if i do research about my city art and craft and its culture. 

So, the journey started next day! I got an idea to visit the older part of lucknow to know about Chikankari. Nazrana chikan shop has been famous from decades in lucknow, So i talked to the owner of Nazrana chikan and he was ready to show his factories where the chikankari work is done. 

He told me about all the process of getting a chikankari garment, but i was not satisfied with this this much of knowledge about it and asked an artisan that where is chikankari work done in nearby villages ? and he gave me the address.

Second day! I visited a village called Mizwan Village , according to the address given by artisan. 

There i found that mostly chikankari embroidery work is done by women only.

So, I met a lady whose name was Tabassum, She was married at the age of 16 and had gone through a lot. She never went to school, was pushed into early marriage and then had to go through the heartbreak of a broken relationship, all in her teens. That’s when she decided to take up chikankari with the intention of supporting herself. She mastered the art craft under the guidance of notable tutors. However, earning a decent living through chikankari seemed like a distant dream.

Tabassum told me that mostly women from muslim community practice chikankari embroidery to support themselves, who makes only 2500-3000 rs per month. 

Tabassum told me about a man who transformed the lives of all the artisans, it was jaspal karla , a professor of fashion design , is the founder of Sangraha Kala Foundation.  The organization not only conducts a four-month training programme in design for chikankari artisans, but also connects them with prospective buyers through an online platform, thereby making entrepreneurs out of them. Their sole motive is to bring about positive changes in the socio-economic conditions of these artisans.

So, at last i realized that social reformers like jaspal karla is very important for our society and we should inspire from people like him. 

At last a quote from shaukat tangewala came in my mind that "लखनऊ ही एक ऐसा अनोखा शहर है जहां चिकन खाया भी जाता है पहना भी".

Types of Chikankari Embroidery used to make a Garment

I am trying to know more about chikankari.

hola! People. I was searching about the types of stitches used in Chikankari.

Types Of Chikankari Stitches 

Flat                                                                    Embossed                                                  Jaalis

•Flat stitches –these are delicate and subtle and lie close to the surface of the fabric giving it a very distinctive textural appearance.
•Embossed stitches –these stitches are highlighted from the fabric surface lending it a characteristic grainy texture.
•Jaali work –this is the most striking feature of ‘chikan’ embroidery, and creates a delicate net effect. The fabric is broken into holes by teasing the warp and weft yarns and holding them in position using small stitches.

The main Flat Stitch

•Taipchi -this is a running stitch done on the right side of the fabric. It is done in parallel rows to fill the leaves and petals in a motif called ghaspatti. Sometimes taipchi is also used to make the bel buti design all over the fabric. This is the simplest Chikan stitch and is also considered the cheapest and quickest to do.

The main Embossed Stitch

Murri -this is a very minute stitch in which a knot is made over taipchi stitches. The murri stitch when elongated is called nukilimurri. And when it is used to fill a blunt edged form it is called mundi murri.

The main Jaalis Stitch 

Madrasi jaali –this is a series of small holes, square in shape, alternating with closed areas.

There are total 32 number of stitches in chikankari embroidery, in which 15 stitches are most commonly used-

• Zanzeera
• Rahet
• Banarsi
• Khatau
• Phanda''
• Murri 
• Jali 
• Turpai
• Darzdari
• Pechani
• Bijli
• Ghaspatti
• Makra
• Kauri
• Hathkadi

So, now as we know about the types of stitches used in chikankari, Next time we will research about the Design and Motifs used in Chikankari Embroidery. 

We will continue our quest, till then keep exploring

Designs and motifs used in Chikankari!

Hola! People. I was searching about the design and motifs used in chikankari embroidery, let's get started.

The source of most of the design motifs is Mughal since that is where the craft originated. The styles of motifs whether they are kurtas, saris or angarkhas had a very distinct quality that closely relate to Mughal motifs. Common elements can be seen in places such as the in the ornamentation of the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri.

The designs in Chikan are named and used according to the stitches employed like murri ka buta, though there are other terms also like haathi (elephant), keri(mango) to signify shapes or motifs predominantly used. Some of the most commonly used designs or motifs are bel (creeper). This is generally in straight lines, between two invisible parallels and is seen around cuffs and hems of garments as also along the button flaps. Butis of animals or flowers or mahi(fish) are also strong elements in the designs of Chikankari. These forms are used in assortment in simple geometrical grids.

There was also a tradition to embroider verses of the Quran in prayer caps or on angarkha borders.

My Color Board

Art of being in a design college is that you learn a new thing almost everyday. People think that design colleges are all about basic drawing and sketching practices. To be honest, in the past 6 months, I have done 0 sketching. Not because I didn’t want to but because we were never asked to! Instead we were told about so many different things.

I mean, before joining the college, I had no clue about what pixelation was, whats paper layering and how to create an entire scene through it? whats stylisation? whats simplification? (not the one in maths) It was a new chapter everyday, and unlike schools, there wasn’t any fixed syllabus, you could go to any extent.

So it was very recently that the concept of boards was introduced to us. We had to create three boards, i.e, material board, color board and mood board. I was, firstly, excited to learn and try them out, but then i got a little confused about how to  go on with my board.

So, basically whats a mood board? Well my understanding of it is that its a composition of elements that are closely related to what the board is about. My board is on chiknkari so every element on my board is actually a part of, or related to my craft.

So this is what I came up with.

Trust me "CHIKANKARI" is not an easy task!

 So yesterday I thought of making some chikankari sample myself. So I borrowed my mom’s embroidery frame and some anchor threads. She has a old rustic round box where she keeps all the “not-so-useful” stuff related to embroidery. Luckily she didn’t throw all of it and now its coming of use to me. Sounds strange but ya.  So I grabbed a basic chikan pattern from internet and tried to replicate the same.

So I tried……and I tried….and concluded that Chikankari is not easy! Its been almost a day and I haven’t been able to complete it.

So what’s my experience? Well at first it was really exciting because its something really new and unique that I was gonna do. There’s actually a rhythm that one has to follow while doing chikan work. If the needle is put at a wrong place it can spoil the beauty of the entire stitch, so it really requires your utmost concentration and focus. It also takes a lot of time. I mean, you see the flower? It actually took me a whole span of 30 mins to complete it. It’s definitely tiring but the final outcome is so pretty!

A big salute to all the chikankari workers to make an entire garment!

I’m almost halfway through the design and it was fun, I really enjoyed doing it and looking forward to completing it. Will surely post when I’m done with it.