Chikankari

Chikankari is a craft of intricate needlework, with its heart in Lucknow. Traditionally, it employs white thread on white cloth: delicate, disciplined, and deeply skilled. Stitches are classified broadly into flat stitches, raised stitches, and jaali work.

Becoming proficient requires significant dedication. An artisan typically masters four to five stitches out of thirty available, after at least fifteen years of training. A single Chikankari garment can take ten to fifteen days to complete.

Source: IMP-ART, “Chikankari”

Three families of stitch

Flat stitches sit level with the surface of the cloth. Raised or embossed stitches stand up off it, so the motif has some height and catches light along one edge.

Jaali work is the third, and it is the odd one. The threads of the fabric itself are teased apart with the needle to open up a mesh of small holes, held that way by stitching around them. The cloth is pushed aside and stays whole.

Learning it

Fifteen years to be good at five stitches out of thirty. That arithmetic shows up in how a garment gets made. If a piece uses more stitch types than one person has, more than one person has worked on it, and the cloth has moved between hands with each pair doing the part they know.

The pattern reads by texture and by the shadow the stitching throws, so the closer you hold it to the light the more of it you see. Coloured threads and silk threads are a recent addition. Some of our pieces take the same stitches into gold on black.