CHIKANKARI OF UTTAR PRADESH

Introduction: -
- Uttar Pradesh Is famous for its finely woven metal work and the and delicate chikan work also
called white work.
-Lucknow the capital of Uttar Pradesh Is Famous for this work. Lucknow is an old city with its
earlier name as Avadh. In 1775 it began to attract craftsman, artists and musicians.
-Its Origin is from Bengal and also practiced in Dhaka And Calcutta.
-It’s Influenced by Jamdani weaving and European white work.
- ‘Chikan’ means ‘to raise’ and ‘kari’ means ‘work’. The Name ‘chikan’ derived from the Persian
word either ‘Chikan’,’Chikin’, or ‘Chikari’ means kind of clothes filled with needle work.
-Popularity gained after Noor Jahan got inspired from Taj Mahal (Turkish Architecture) and
produced this raised effect on white fabric with white threads.
-Fabric Used
- Traditionally very fine cotton, or muslin generally white in color.
-Nowadays All Kind of Sheer Fabrics like organdy, chiffon, georgette, jute are also used.
-The Colors Used are all pastels, colors of pink, blue, peach etc. black is also used as base.
-Thread Used
-white untwisted cotton on twisted silk threads were used.
-Motifs
-Floral Motifs and Paisleys are used.
-This Embroidery is done by the muslin workers, thus no animal and human figure used.
-Stiches Used
-Six basic stiches are used.
-Some Work from the right and other from the wrong side of the fabric.
-Types of Chikankari-
1-Taipchi-
-Running stitch worked on the right side of the fabric.
-It is occasionally done with parallel rows to fill petals and leaves in a motif called ghaspatti and
is also used to make the bel Buti all over the fabric.
-This is the simplest chikan stitch, resembles jamdani and is considered the cheapest and the
quickest stitch
(a)Pechni- Taipchi is sometime used as a base for working other variations and pechni is one of
them.
 -Here the taipchi is covered by untwining the thread over to provide the effect of something
like a caver spring and is always done on the right side of the cloth.
(b)Pashmi-Taipchi is worked to outline a motif and then covered it with minute vertical satin
stiches over about two threads and is used for fine finish on the inside of badla.
2-Bakhia- It is the most common stitch and is often referred to as shadow work. It Is of Two
Types: -
(a) Ulta Bakhia: - This is done on the reverse of the fabric underneath the motif.
-The Transparent muslin becomes opaque and provides a beautiful effect of light & shade.

(b) Sidha Bakhia: - Satin stitch with cris-crossing of individual threads.

-This lies on the surface of the fabric. This is used to fill the forms and there is no light &
shade.
3-Katao-
-Khatao, Khatana or Katana is cutwork or applique -more a technique than a Stitch.
-Rampur and Aligarh have special work when the applique is done using invisible hemming.
-All the patches are cut and folded to form lozenges. A single lozenge works out as leaf and 4 to
6 are put together to form a flower. Stem stitch is used to embroidery stem.
4-Gitti-
-A Combination of buttonhole and long satin stitch used to make wheel-like motif
-Button hole is used for small circular flowers.
5-Jangira-
-Chain Stitch is usually used as outlines in combination with a line of penchi or thick taipchi.