Phulkari Embroidery: Khaddar, Silk Floss and the Punjabi Bride's Trousseau

Phulkari, "flower work", is the embroidery of Punjab: bright silk worked in darning stitch across coarse handwoven cotton until the cloth glows. For generations it was made by women for their own families, not for sale, and it was central to a Punjabi bride's trousseau.

Phulkari and bagh

There are two broad kinds. A phulkari is sparsely embroidered, with the base cloth showing between the motifs. A bagh ("garden") is so densely stitched that the cloth disappears. The V&A describes the finest pieces as headcovers in which nearly the whole cloth is covered with dense stitching, traditionally made in preparation for weddings.

The cloth and the thread

The base is khaddar, a rough handspun, handwoven cotton. The thread is pat, a silk floss that the Philadelphia Museum of Art describes as unplied and usually imported from China. Because it is barely twisted, the silk spreads and lies flat, which is what gives phulkari its sheen.

Sources differ slightly here: the Philadelphia Museum calls the silk unplied, while the V&A describes it as loosely twisted spun silk. Both agree it is soft floss rather than tightly twisted thread.

You may read that phulkari was worked on fine mulmul (muslin). The museum and government sources we checked all name coarse khaddar as the traditional base. The coarse, plain weave matters: the embroiderer counts its threads to place each stitch.

How it is stitched

Phulkari is worked in a long darning stitch from the reverse of the cloth. The embroiderer counts threads of the khaddar to build geometric shapes, changing the stitch direction to make the same colour catch light differently. There is no drawn pattern; the design is carried in the maker's head and hands.

Motifs

The Punjab government's phulkari history lists motifs drawn from everyday life: mor (peacock), surajmukhi (sunflower), kaudi (cowrie shell), bijli (lightning), dabba (box) and patang (kite). Because designs were never printed, no two pieces are the same.

What phulkari meant

Phulkari was worn at weddings, festivals, childbirth, Karva Chauth and religious ceremonies. The Philadelphia Museum notes that phulkaris were a primary part of a Punjabi woman's material wealth, often forming part of the dowry. The Punjab government source adds that a bride's skill was judged by the number of phulkaris and baghs in her trousseau.

Phulkari today

Modern phulkari is mostly made on dupattas and kurtas, often in cotton or rayon thread and sometimes by machine. Hand phulkari on khaddar is still made in Patiala and around Punjab. To spot hand work, look at the reverse: you should see short, regular stitches, the mirror image of the long floats on the front.

Read more in our guide to the nine great hand embroidery traditions of India and our post on embroidered dupattas.

Sources

• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Phulkari
• Victoria and Albert Museum, Indian embroidery
• Punjab State Cooperative Supply & Marketing Federation, History of Phulkari