Chikankari Mul Chanderi Dress Material Crimson Red Floral

A unstitched dress material in a soft greyish white hand embroidered in the heritage needle craft of Lucknow and worked here in crimson red with rose pink shading A dense flower cluster gathers at the neckline yoke over a panel of fine net jaali and small crimson floral butis are scattered down the body of the kameez The sheer matching dupatta carries the same butis a slim golden zari edge and knotted tassels at each end It arrives as three unstitched pieces kameez fabric plain bottom and dupatta ready to be tailored to your size Look closely and the embroidery shows the hand that made it The flowers are worked in bakhiya or shadow work sewn from the back so the crimson thread glows softly through the semi sheer cotton instead of sitting on top like a print The mesh behind the yoke is jaali the karigar teases the woven threads apart with the needle to open the tiny holes never cutting them so it stays soft and very slightly irregular The flower centres are murri and phanda raised grain and knot stitches tied one at a time Turn the fabric over and you will see thread trails and knots a machine or powerloom imitation is flat identical on every repeat and tidy on both sides Chikankari has been stitched in Lucknow since the days of the Mughal court and was granted a Geographical Indication for the city in 2008 A single set passes through the block printer the embroiderer and the washer over many days which is why no two pieces are ever quite the same The crimson on a near white ground reads fresh by day and warm by evening Have it stitched as a straight or A line kameez drape the tasselled dupatta and keep the jewellery simple gold jhumkas or pearls so the embroidery stays the star