Vietnam Handicraft Research And Promotion Center

Many of the embroidered arts of India takes its inspiration from nature, and the products of various regions reflect the colors of the flora and fauna of that area. Designs in Indian embroidery are formed on the basis of the texture and design of the fabric and the stitch. The dot and the alternate dot, the circle, the square, the triangle and permutations and combinations of these make up the design. Religious motifs such as gopurams, Tulsi plants and temple doorways are also equally popular. Every medium has been utilized in creating embroidery. Embroidery on leather, velvet, net and silks is found all over the country, and recently even raffia articles have come to be embroidered

Specimens of Kashmiri embroidery exhibit a riot of color and excellent workmanship. The designs are balanced and depict the flora and fauna of the area. The chenar leaf, the grape, the cherry and the plum, the almond and the apple blossoms, the lily, the lotus and saffron flower, along with the parrot and canary are all depicted in natural colors. The rumals of Chamba are worked in simple stitches depicting the Krishna-leela, the Räs (a type of dance performed by Lord Krishna and his Gopis), legends of ragas and raginis and other religious objects. The outlines are in dark silk, and the entire piece is done in ordinary running stitch, the gaps on both sides being filled in. Sindhi embroidery is influenced by Baluchistan and Punjab in its stitch, designs and colors, but it also makes lavish use of mica pieces attached to the cloth with button-hole stitches. Kutch embroidery uses mica pieces on a lavish scale but, unlike Sindh, which uses buttonhole stitches, embroidery from this area employs the chain-stitch as the basic stitch.