Khadi chikankari saris start at Rs.4,500, and matka silk chikankari saris at Rs. 9,000.

Chikankari saris

 

Winner of the Unesco Award of Excellence for Handicrafts (South-East Asia & South Asia) 2012 for her work with chikankari, Delhi-based Malavika Chatterjee says she has been focusing on introducing this embroidery on saris and fabrics made from natural yarns such as khadi, matka silk and tussar since 2002. “Traditionally, chikankari is done on muslin, chiffon or georgette saris—these are lighter fabrics and easier to embroider than tussar or matka silk,” explains Chatterjee. However, when Chatterjee approached women in rural areas around Lucknow, she found she was able to convince them to work with silk and khadi because she was happy to pay extra and also because the work included reviving some of the older, not-so-prevalent stitches. “There are 36 stitches in chikankari, out of which only about 12—such as shadow work and tabchi—are commonly used today. The women were keen to try phanda, ghasspati, baalda and kaante stitches too.” Chatterjee works out the patterns, threads, colours and stitches to be used in each sari, and makes a block pattern on the sari with sample stitches which the women then follow. “Of late, we are working on introducing chikankari embroidery on saris with hand-block prints, with kalamkari and with bandhani too,” she says.

Khadi chikankari saris start at Rs.4,500, and matka silk chikankari saris at Rs. 9,000. Contact Chatterjee at chatterjeemalavika@gmail.com.