Jat embroidery

Kutch Embroideries: Detail of an embroidery panel showing different styles of embroidery Dastkari Haat Samiti.

In the Gujarat state of India, the Kutch region is renowned for its fine folk, colourful and mirrored embroideries. Traditionally stitched by village women, for themselves and their families, to create festivity, honor deities, or generate wealth, this craft has passed on for generations from mother to daughter. While embroideries contributed to the substantial economic exchange required for marriage and fulfilled other social obligations which required gifts - unlike most crafts they were never commercial products. Each community in Kutch , due to historical, socio-economic and cultural factors, has a distinct tradition, its own and unique style of embroidery, different motifs, combination of stitches, patterns and colours that give them a visual identity. The identity of every Kutchi person is woven in the stitches of these embroideries.

Jat embroidery

Kachchh Embroidery. See Kachchh Embroidery. In Maiwa staged an exhibition of Kachchh embroidery. Read about that exhibition here. Below, meet some of the communities Maiwa works with:. Rabari are expert camel breeders, cattle herders and shepards. Over time as a community grew too large for the environment to sustain, they would divide and a subgroup would migrate to a new region. Today there are myriad subgroups of Rabari. The main ones in Kachchh are Dhebaria, Vagharia, and Kachchh i. All trace their ancestry back to the mythical Sambal, created by Lord Shiva to look after the camels.

However, their social status and poor economic condition often forces them into the commercialized craft sector where jysk shelving ruthless pace of production, low quality and low wages are jat embroidery norm. Very few Meghwars are landowners; some herd livestock, jat embroidery, some men are letherworkers and many work as labourers. Though technique varies, Mutwa style is uniformly fine and geometric.

Dhanetah Jat women design and produce exquisite, labour-intensive embroidery. The power of Jat embroidery comes largely from the closely stitched patterns that completely cover the cloth. Each embroidery is a unique expression of the woman who made it. Size is approx. Features: Hand embroidered Dhanetah Jat piece set on a silk backing. There is a sleeve sewn along the top and bottom at the back that could be used to fit a dowel or rod for hanging. For centuries embroidery has been an expression of personality

The Kutch Embroidery is a handicraft and textile signature art tradition of the tribal community of Kutch District in Gujarat , India. In certain patterns, it is also crafted over silk and satin. The signature effect of the colorful embroidery sparkles when small mirrors called abhla are sewn over the geometrically shaped designs. Depending on the tribal sub groups of Rabari , Garasia Jat , and Mutava involved with this craft work many hand embroidered ethnic styles have evolved. History of the Kutch Embroidery is traced to the 16th and 17th centuries when people migrated from the countries such as Afghanistan, Greece, Germany, Iran and Iraq to Gujarat.

Jat embroidery

Kutch Embroideries: Detail of an embroidery panel showing different styles of embroidery Dastkari Haat Samiti. Many private collectors of antique textiles and museums acquired a large quantity of embroideries from Kutch during the last decades of the 20th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, progress and development had brought realization of the value of the embroideries of this region. Lovingly made for personal use, some had remained in the possession of their creators. Today, they serve as reference pieces for new work. The old work indicates designs, patterns, motifs and stitches that point clearly to the identity of the community to which the embroiderer belongs. There was no attempt at story-telling as in embroideries found in some other parts of India.

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Rabari embroidery is unique to the nomadic Rabaris. Within the confines of the home, however, they create and earn with cloth, needle, and thread. Rabaris also use decorative back stitching, called bakhiya , to decorate the seams of women's blouses and men's kediya jackets. Jat women design and produce exquisite, labour-intensive embroidery. Suf is counted on the warp and weft of the cloth in a surface satin stitch worked from the back. Most men now work as labourers. In Maiwa staged an exhibition of Kachchh embroidery. It is a source of identity that is transferred from one generation to the next. Detail: panel showing Ahir embroidery Dastkari Haat Samiti. It serves as a living reference and comparative style chart of some of the embroideries of Kutch.

It is rightly said that Gujarat has given India the greatest heritage in embroidery work and craft through its famous and versatile Kutch embroidery. The hub of the Kutch embroidery work is basically located in the regions of Kutch and Saurashtra wherein the local artisans churn out the most creative and exquisite designs.

Below, meet some of the communities Maiwa works with:. Today, they serve as reference pieces for new work. The Mutwas are a small culturally unique group of Muslim herders who inhabit Banni, the desert grassland of northern Kutch. Essential to Rabari embroidery is the use of mirrors in a variety of shapes. Each embroidery is a unique expression of the woman who made it. Suf is counted on the warp and weft of the cloth in a surface satin stitch worked from the back. In Maiwa staged an exhibition of Kachchh embroidery. Things seen in daily lives: flowers and bushes, peacocks and camels, women doing household chores and men tending to cattle, all these are inspirations for these beautiful designs. Rabaris outline patterns in chain stitch and then decorate them with a regular sequence of mirrors and accent stitches, in a regular sequence of colors. In an oral culture the stitched language records everything of importance from the epic to the personal. This work done by a Debhariya Rabari uses both thread and patchwork but no mirrors. Share this. Maiwa works with Dhebaria and Kachchh Rabari. The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.