The Embroidered Tales of Marwada Harijans - The Art of Embroidery

Lakhmaben doing Aarekhani( base drawing of an embroidery motif)

In the Banni region of Kutch, The Marwada Harijans use various types of embroidery techniques and patterns conveniently classified as- Kharekh, Kambhiri, Soof, Pakko , Mukko, Naeran,  Bawadiyo , Chopad ,Ashrafi , Tunn ,Phooladi , khudi Teba and Chugg.

The first step to any embroidery is the base drawing that goes on the fabric, and is known as Aarekhani.

Once the aarekhani is done, the next step is to embroider the boundary of the motif which is followed by the filling stitch.

Creating the boundary of the Motif over the Aarekhani.

Filling in the outline 

For the embroidery, exquisite silk threads are used only in colours that are used traditionally which includes Neelu/ Savo( green) , Gulabi/ Piyado (pink), peedau/ Haidro (orange), safed (white) , Mawo ( Blue) , kaado (black) , Ratto ( Red), Mor peechi ( Turquoise).

Once the filling has been done, the next step is to highlight the embroidery using the white silk thread.

Motif on the right after being highlighted using white thread.