Surface Ornamentation
Surface Ornamentation tests regional embroidery traditions, the hand-stitch and embellishment vocabulary, and your ability to plan a technique in sequence so the fabric does not distort.
Hand embroidery traditions to know by name and region
- Chikankari - Lucknow, white-on-white, stitches include bakhiya (shadow work) and murri.
- Kantha - Bengal, running stitch over layered cloth.
- Phulkari and bagh - Punjab, darning stitch on handspun khaddar.
- Zardosi and karchobi - metallic thread work on a wooden adda frame.
- Abhla bharat (mirror work) - Kutch, Gujarat.
- Kasuti - Karnataka; Pipli appliqué - Odisha.
Other techniques
Appliqué, patchwork, quilting, cutwork, lace, macramé, smocking, beadwork, tassels and fringes. Machine routes include multi-head computerised embroidery and aari work.
Worked example: sizing a mirror motif
A 20 mm mirror is to be set in abhla bharat. The fabric circle must be the mirror diameter plus turning allowance on every side: 20 + (2 x 6 mm) = 32 mm diameter. Roughly 30-36 buttonhole stitches hold it. Reasoning: the cap is a circle of cloth pulled behind the mirror; if the allowance is too small the mirror pops out, if too large the gathers bulge. Time estimate: 12 motifs x 35 stitches = 420 stitches; at 300 stitches/hour this is 1.4 hours of stitching, before framing and finishing.
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing up phulkari (Punjab) and chikankari (Lucknow).
- Forgetting that backing, interfacing or a frame is needed to prevent puckering on lightweight fabric.
- Counting the mirror and the stitch as one operation in a process chart.
- Ignoring pre-shrinking of the base cloth before heavy embellishment.
- Describing machine embroidery without stating the digitised file and hooping step.