PHULKARI EMBROIDERY

Introduction
Phulkari literally means flower-craft while Bagh that means a garden is also embroidery from Punjab. The term Bagh is used for similar shawls in the West Punjab districts of Peshavar, Sialkot, Jhelum, Rawalpindi and Hazara.
Places
The best phulkaries formarly were found in tht West Punjab districts of Peshavar, Sialkot, Jhelum, Rawalpindi and Hazara while in the East Punjab the places were Amritsar, Jukkundhar, Ambala, Ludiana and former states of Patiala, Kapurthala, Nabha Faridkot and Jind.The Bagh were particularly from Chakwal near Rawalpindi Hazara.
Colors
The colors commonly used are crimson red, white, golden yellow, green and orange.The other colors were blue-violet, dark broun and various shades of red.
Threads
Soft untwisted silk thread known as ‘pat’ was commonly used, though in few of southeast Punjab crude homespun cotton yarn was used more often than silk floss. ‘Pat’ was brought from Kashmir, Russia, Turkistan, Afghanistian andBengal.The best quality thread was received from China.
Stitches
Long and short darning stitches were commonly used. Herring bone, cross stitch, buttonhole, double running and satin stitches were also used occasionally.
Fabrics
The embroidery was invariably done on home spun, hand-woven and home-dyed coarse cotton material known as ‘Khadder’ in several weaves and textures.