The salwar kameez originated in South and Central Asia as a unisex garment. It consists of loose pants called salwar and a long shirt called kameez. For women, a dupatta scarf is also worn. The salwar kameez dates back to at least the 12th century. An important embellishment technique is phulkari embroidery, which involves floral designs done using silk thread on the reverse side of cotton fabric. Common fabrics used include cotton, silk, chiffon, georgette, and lawn.

1. SALWAR KAMEEZ WITH PHULKARI WORK
History of fashion

2. History of salwar kameez
Shalwar kameez (also spelt
salwar kameez or shalwar
qameez) is the dress worn by
both men and women in South
Asia and Central Asia. It is a
unisex dress similar in manner to
shirt and pants worn by
westerners.Traditionally, it has
been worn in Afghanistan and
Pakistan and then adopted in
Northern India

3.  Since the 20th century, women in
Southern India have also copied this
dress complementing the Sari, the
traditional dress of India. The Shalwar
or Salwar (as pronounced in India) is a
loosely-fit pyjama-like pant. The legs
are often wide at the top, and narrow at
the ankle, although there are several
styles of shalwar pants in modern times,
some trendy and jean-like.

4.  The kameez is a long shirt of tunic
length which hits at the middle of the
thigh, but traditionally, it would come
down to the top of the knee. The side
seams (known as the chaak), left open
below the waist-line, give the wearer
greater freedom of movement. On a
female, the shalwar kameez ensemble is
completed by wearing a dupatta (loose
scarf) around the shoulders, draping
over the chest

6.  Shalwar are gathered at the waist and
held up by a drawstring or an elastic band.
The pants can be wide and baggy or more
narrow, and even made of fabric cut on the
bias.
 The kameez is usually cut straight and
flat; older kamees use traditional cuts, as
shown in the illustration above. Modern
kamees are more likely to have European-
inspired set-in sleeves. The neckline,
sleeves and bottom edge (daaman) are
many times decorated with embroidery or
laces

7.  For women, an integral part of shalwar
kamees is the dupatta — a long shawl
wrapped around body or to cover head
in more conservative families. The
shalwar kamees fashion has revolved
around the cuts and lengths of shalwar
and of kamees and the print styles and
color palette of the dupatta. Most
women in Afganistan were forced to
hide their faces even when wearing a
shalwar kameez by the Talibans

8. Salwar kameez with
Dupatta

9.  Garments cut like the traditional kameez
are known in many cultures; according to
Dorothy Burnham, of the Royal Ontario
Museum, the "seamless shirt," woven in one
piece on warp-weighted looms, was
superseded in early Roman times by cloth
woven on vertical looms and carefully
pieced so as not to waste any cloth. 10th
century cotton shirts recovered from the
Egyptian desert are cut much like the
traditional kameez or the contemporary
Egyptian jellabah or galabia

10.  Salwar kameez dates back to the 12th century, the Islamic
or the Iranian era, which was then followed by the Mughal
empire in the region now called Punjab.
 The pants, or shalawar, are known as shalvaar qameez
( ‫قمیض‬ ‫شلوار‬) in Urdu, salvaar or shalvaar (शलवार क़मीज़) in
Hindi, salvar (ਸਲਵਾਰ ਕ਼ਮੀਜ਼) in Punjabi and salvaar or shalvaar
(શલવાર કમીઝ) in Gujarati. The word comes from the
Persian: ‫شلوار‬, meaning pants.
 The shirt, kameez or qamiz, takes its name from the Arabic
qamis. There are two main hypotheses regarding the origin
of the Arabic word, namely:
 that Arabic qamis is derived from the Latin camisia (shirt),
which in its turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European kem
(‘cloak’).[3][4]
 that Mediaeval Latin camisia is a borrowing through
Hellenistic Greek kamision from the Central Semitic root
“qmṣ”, represented by Ugaritic qmṣ (‘garment’) and Arabic
qamīṣ (‘shirt’).

11. Visuals of salwar kameez
with phulkari work

14. phulkari
 Phulkari literary means flower craft. A bagh
or Phulkari is not only a beautiful traditional
art but a symbol of maternal love and faith
expressed in embroidery.
 The oldest reference of Phulkari could well be
traced back to the 15th century – as even the
holy book of the Sikhs mentions: “Only then
will you be considered an accomplished lady
when you will self - embroider your own
blouse.”

The origin of Phulkari is not quite fully known.
Some say that the art was brought by Gujar
nomads from Central Asia and then
developed further during Maharaja Ranjit
Singh's reign.

17.  The main characteristics of Phulkari embroidery are use of
darn stitch on the wrong side of coarse cotton cloth with
coloured silken thread. Punjabi women created innumerable
alluring and interesting designs and patterns by their skilful
manipulation of the darn stitch. The base khaddar cloth
used in Western Punjab is finer from those of Central
Punjab. Black/blue are not preferred in Western Punjab,
whereas white is not used in East Punjab. In West Punjab, 2
or 3 pieces of cloth are first folded and joined together. In
East Punjab, they are joined together first and then
embroidered. Many women also stiched ornamnets as part of
the design and even a special thread made of gold was used
along side silk threads.The creative ability of women scaped
wonderful and sometimes complex patterns along side the
colorful flowers.

19.  Phulkari, an embroidery technique from
the Punjab in India and Pakistan literally
means flower working, which was at one
time used as the word for embroidery, but
in time the word “Phulkari” became
restricted to embroidered shawls and
head scarfs. Simple and sparsely
embroidered odini (head scarfs)
and shawls, made for everyday use, are
called Phulkaris, whereas garments that
cover the entire body, made for special
and ceremonial occasions, are known
as Baghs ("garden").

22.  The literal translation of Phulkari is flower craft
and this art of embroidery is related to the state
of Punjab. Baugh, which literally means garden, is a
Phulkari wherein the entire facade is splendidly
ornamented by a continuous design through skillful
handling of darning. Chobes is another type
of Phulkari Embroidery in which the edges alone are
ornamented with the center being left plain.
 The beauty of Phulkari is enhanced by the color of
the ground material. The thread used is invariably
pure silk. The uniqueness of the Phulkari
embroideryis that its long short darning stitches is
worked on the wrong side of the cloth. However, the
pattern takes shape on the right side.

23.  The thread used for phulkari is pure silk
,thread used is untwisted that is dyes in five
 Basic color
magenta,golden,yellow,green,crimson and
orange

26. The fabric used for salwar
kameez
 Silk
Silk is reputed as the symbol of wealth and pride and luxury. It is
most commonly used in party wear and wedding dresses. Silk is among
the oldest textile fibers in human use. Silk shalwar kamees is loved to
use in wedding and formal celebrations.
 Cotton
Cotton is the pride of Pakistani textile industry. Finest Pakistani
cotton is being export worldwide and is liked in almost all countries.
Cotton is made from a natural vegetable fiber of great economic
importance. This fine quality cotton is used as a raw material for cloth.
There are various types of Cotton fabric such as Pure Cotton, Khadi
Cotton, Mix Cotton, South Cotton, Crush Cotton etc.
 Chiffon
Chiffon is a light, thin and see through fabric of silk, nylon, etc. it is
very lightweight, pure, transparent, made with very fine, firmly
warped yarns. A variety of chiffon shalwar kameez , stitched or un-
stitched is available with remarkable hand and machine embroidery
and other fancy work for party wear. The tightly twisted yarns could
be either in the filling or the warp or both. Despite of its flimsy and
delicate look, it is very strong in use.

27.  Georget
 Georgette has acquired an admired position. It is a very elegant and stylish
fabric and also very light in weight, thus easy to carry, comfy to wear and
easy to wash even in machine. It is made by a combination of silk
thread. georgette is also used in casual wear shalwar suit
 Lawn
 Lawn is the finest soft and thin fabric used in summer season. This is very
fine and cool kind of cotton. Lawn is used to make casual and party wear
dresses in summer season. Gul Ahmed is big name in the field of lawn and
cotton. Lawn shalwar kameez is very rich and comfortable in daily use.
 Khudder
 Khudder is another type of fabrics and abundantly used in making of
shalwar kameez in Pakistan. Khudder is used to prepare the shalwar kameez
of both men and women. Even men use to wear khudder kurtas with Jeans
and cotton pants and trousers.
 Jamawar
 Jamawar is fancy fabrics only used in wedding dresses and party wear. This
fabric has a bit hardness in it and most of the saarie’s and lehnhga’s are
prepared with jamawar. Jamawar is used to make shalwar kameez and
dopatta is used in organza

28.  Fabrics

Fabric refers to any textile material made through
weaving, knitting, braiding or plaiting and bonding of
fibers. The term fabric has its origin in the Latin term
fabrica meaning a workshop. It means that which is put
together like building. Fabric can be classified based on
various criteria. On the basis of fiber used for
manufacturing, it can be classified as natural fabrics
such as Cashmere, Cotton, Hemp, Jute, Linen, Ramie,
Silk, Wool and synthetic or man-made fabrics like
Acetate, Acrylic, Chiffon, Denim, Georgette, Lastex,
Nylon, Organza, Polyester Fabrics, Rayon, Satin, Velvet
etc. It can also be categorized on the basis of its usage
for making Apparel, Curtains, Drapery, Home
Furnishing, Quilting, Upholstery among others.

29. cotton
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30. sa

31. The beauty of
Phulkari is enhanced
by the color of the
ground material. The
thread used is
invariably pure silk.
The uniqueness of
the Phulkari
embroidery is that
its long short darning
stitches are worked
on the wrong side of
the cloth. However,
the pattern takes
shape on the right
side.

32.  Fabric ManufacturingTechniques
The traditional methods of manufacturing
fabrics are weaving, knitting and braiding.
The more unconventional method include
bonding fibers by mechanical, thermal,
chemical or solvent means.

33. Geometrical, floral and animals motif