Crewel embroidery of Kashmir - one of the regional textiles of India.

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Regional Textiles
CREWEL EMBROIDERY

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Contents
 Introduction
 Jammu & Kashmir
 Origin
 Facts
 Motifs & Colours
 Stitches
 Crewel Embroidery
1.Hook work
2.Crewel work
3.Crewel work(on flooring
4.Chain stitch (on other products)
5.Chain stitch on NAMDAS
 Conclusion
 Bibliography

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Introduction
In words of Kamla Devi Chattopadhyay (social reformer & freedom fighter) “It
(Kashmir’s embroidery) is essentially a child of landscape and bountiful nature
and is, therefore, as varied in its richness, as superb in its beauty… the
embroideries of this region seem so overwhelmed by nature’s riotous beauty
that they are caught up in its alluring embrace. The floral motifs with their
inexhaustible display of colours, variegated birds, luscious fruits, majestic
mountains, and shimmering lakes – all find a place in Kashmir embroidery”.
There are many kinds of embroidery in Kashmir – may be as many as the
number of people that are doing it, because each person does it in his or her own
characteristics way. Crewel embroidery is now the most common form of
embroidery in Kashmir. It is remarkable even today becauseof the beauty of its
design, technique, colour and texture. Stunning designs, glowing colours and
lavishing patterns are the essential attributes of this form of embroidery. It is
known under three different names – Crewel, Chain stitch and Ari work.

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Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu & Kashmir a state in
northern India is one of the most
beautiful natural areas in the world.
Surrounded by mountains the valley
reflects them in innumerable placid
lakes and paddyfields. Every
hundred feet of elevation brings
some new phase of climate, flora
and fauna. Jammu & Kashmir’s
Economy is predominantly depends
on agriculture and allied activities. It
is not only famous for its
embroidery but many more like
hand woven carpets, wood carving
products, fruits, dry fruits, paper
mache products. Majority population
in Jammu is Hindu and majority
population in Kashmir is Muslim.

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How crewel embroidery came to India?
(Origin)
Crewel work has a rich history,
stretching at least as far back as the
early medieval period. Influenced by
exotic flora and fauna, this form
enjoyed popularity in the Jacobean
era, in Europe and America during
17th and 18th centuries. With
elaborate designs and patterns, this
art was common during the reign of
King James I of England in the late
1500s.
It is said that crewel embroidery
came to Kashmir when traders from
Damascus (Damascus is a city
situated at the centre of the Silk
Road lay at the crossroadsoftwo
trade routes, one from India) Came
to Kashmir in 13th century.
At present about 60,000 artisans are
engaged in this professionproducing
shawls and numerous other
embroidered products, 20,000 in
doing crewel embroidery producing
more than 5 crore rupees a years.

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Hand Embroidery in Kashmir flourished when the ruler, Zain-ul-Abedin Shah
invited artists from Iran to train the local people into a wide range of crafts.
Successive rulers continued to give encouragement to the workers and the
Mughals, who were enchanted with the area and spent the summers there,
extended their informal patronage to the valley and turned all its crafts into arts.
This patronage, combined with the natural artistic aptitude of the people, gave a
firm basis to the crafts which, through the centuries have flourished as a cottage
industry producing objects o f unmatched delicacy and elegance.

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Facts
1. All craftsmen work with their
right hands. There are very few left
handed craftsmen.
2. All embroidery workers use
thimbles or leather finger caps called
nyath.
3. Nyath is used for hook work
embroidery. When it is not used, the
finger is dipped in a little mustard
oil to enable a smooth movement of
the stem of the hook and when it is
used, it is placed on tip of the index
finger, and prevents a constant
rubbing of the stem on the finger.
4. The only two fingers that move
are those that hold the hook – the
middle and the thumb, and the hook
slides back and forth, supported on
the leather cap.
5. Craftsmen who do not use a
thimble, have many deep holes in
their fingers, and needle keeps
making them larger and deeper, until
they look like permanent wounds
that do not bleed.
6. All craftspeople, men and women,
sit with their knees up. In Kashmir
this postureis called zangvaith.
They are always against a wall, and
almost always have a backrest in the
form of a thick hard cushion or a
wooden plank set at a slight angle
against the wall.
7. Men do the finest embroidery
whereas finest pashmina yarns are
spun by women.
8. All embroidered pieces are
washed and pressed before they are
sold. The entire appearance of the
embroidery and fabric is dependent
on it.

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Motifs & Colours
Kashmir is beautiful all the times but
when autumn lights up the poplars in
clean gold and the big chinars burn
red against the dark blue rock
ground, there are few more brilliant,
more breathlessly embracing sights.
The rose, the cypress, the pine, the
nightingale, along with verdure,
water and wine.
Poplars, chenars and cypresses
dominate the scene along with other
trees like the walnut, almond, plum,
apple and cherry. The climate is
temperate and the flora reflects it
The iris, the tulip, the lily, plum,
almond and apple blossoms flourish
along with the lotus, the
pomegranate, of course, the lovely
saffron flower, a field of which seen
in bloom is said to be so beautiful
that it makes the observer burst out
laughing. The colours are there but
they lack the exuberance of the flora
of tropical regions.
All these shapes and colours are,
naturally, reflected in the crafts of
the area. Surrounded by so much of
nature’s bounty the craftsman does
not have to look elsewhere for his
designs. The chenar leaf and the tall,
tapering cypress dominate Kashmir
designs. Among the birds the
kingfisher is a great favourite
followed by the magpie, the parrot,
the woodpeckerand the canary.
The designs are always evenly
balanced and even show numerous
flowers, leaves, fine stems and
curving stalks, a sense of restraint is
always evident keeping the
decoration well under control and
never allowing it to overflow the
boundaries of good taste. Shades of
red, pink, blue, yellow, mauve,
green and white are used but these
reflect the natural colours of the
objects depicted and are always
subtly blended to avoid garishness.
The whole effect is flat and
formalized.

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Colours
Colours Localnames Hue, tint, tone or
shade
White Safed Achromatic
Green Zingari Hue, shade
Purple Uda Tint
Blue Ferozi Tint
Yellow Zard Hue
Black Mushki Achromatic
Crimson Gulmor Hue
Scarlet Kirmiz Tone

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Stitches
In crewel or hook work embroidery only chain stitch is done with various
thickness and fineness of the thread and they do the stitch with the help of a
hook.
Step – 1 Step – 2

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Crewel Embroidery
Hook work Embroidery
There are number of beliefs about
the origin of hook work embroidery.
Some believe that it originated in
France since the hook is similar to
the one used there for crochet, which
is a French craft. Some other
believes that the shoemaker’s hook
inspired the Kashmiri craftsman and
he began this work by
experimenting with the same hook.
Yet another group believe that the
craft started almost 700 hundred
years ago in the time of Shah
Hamadan.
It may take as many as 5 years to
learn how to handle the hook with
ease. Little children are trained to do
this work right from the age of 8.

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Tools
Hook, thread, fabric, scissors,etc.
Technique
Each craftsman makes his own hook
by filing a thin steel rod which is
fitted into a turned deodar wood
handle that a carpenter makes for
him.
In all hook work, the thread is
always held under the fabric to be
embroidered. The hook is then
pushed in along the lines of the
design. The point of the hook is
always towards the right and there is
a mark made on the wooden handle
so that when the hooks towards the
right the mark is on the top. On this
mark (which is always in the form of
a slightly carved out portion) the
thumb of the right hand is placed.
The index finger extends till as
much of the length of the stem of the
hook as it can reach. Some mustard
oil is applied so that it reduces the
friction with the stem of the hook or
they use a leather cover on finger
call thimble or nyath. The left hand
is always under the cloth, hand holds
the yarn.

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It encircles the hook with the yarn
every time the former is pushed
through the fabric. As the yarn is
pulled slightly and held stretched
beside the hook the latter is pulled
up to the top of the cloth and
through the previous loop. Thus, a
series of loops are pulled to the
surface, each one emerging from
within the previous. This forms a
continuous long chain of loops
which moves along the design lines.
Crewel work
This bold hook work is commonly
done on upholstery and drapery,
shopping bags, bed spreads and
cushion covers and some more
items. In this type of hook work, the
ground is left unembroidered and is
normally the off white of the dasooti
fabric used for suchwork; this
embroidery has deep roots in local
soils, having developed into an
important craft.

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Materials
Almost all crewel fabrics are done
on dasootifabric. It may
occasionally be done on thinner
cottoncloth. Woolis the only thread
used for this, and it is produced in
Kashmir and dyed locally,
sometimes within karkhanas, to
obtain the exact colours that are
required.
At other times the wool comes from
Bombay it is called Nagpal pure
wool. It is bought white.
Technique
Since there is less filling up to do in
crewel the stitch is almost always
linear. Since most of it is produced
in the form of yardage, a length of
fabric is spread and many people sit
together to complete their portion.
Outlines are done first, and then the
forms are filled in.

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Designs
Crewel designs are much larger than
those of most other embroideries.
The most common patterns are
different form of flowers, each one
given name by all naqqaashes and
craftsmen. They are almost always
abstracted forms of the roses, lotus
and iris many kind of leaves and
grasses. There are bold flowers,
birds and leaves and occasionally
one sees a paisley.
Crewel work (on floor covering)
This is different from crewel in that
the entire surface of the cloth is
covered with hookworked chain
stitch. This is done mainly on floor
covering, wall hangings, cushion
and some more new products. The
techniques itself is quite new
although it has sprung from the age
Old hook work. Old men in
karkhanas recollect early designs
those that are as old as year 50 – 60
as being sceneries on a bed cover
e.g. Shalimar garden etc. and it was
always embroidery in wool on wool.
Such pieces are not made any more
but the variety in designs of chain
stitch is tremendous.

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Material
The material used for this
embroidery is usually a canvas cloth.
The embroidery is done with good
quality wool. Nowadays, silk yarn is
becoming quite common for floor
coverings, in spite of being costly.
The wool may be used in 1-ply or 2-
ply.
a) 1-ply Embroidery: It uses 1-ply
woollen yarn which is cheaper but
less durable than 2-ply wool. 1-ply
embroidered fabrics are therefore
cheaper than 2-ply embroidered
fabrics. 1-ply wool embroidery
covers larger surface area per stitch
when compared to 2-ply embroidery
b) 2-ply Embroidery: Employing 2-
ply woollen yarn for embroidery, it
costs more than 1-ply and is more
durable. The resulting fabric is
costlier in comparison to 1-ply
embroidered fabrics. Also, 2-ply
wool embroidery has a lower surface
area per stitch therefore
accommodating more colours in a
pattern as compared to 1-ply.
A finer form of crewel embroidery
using cottonthread instead of wool
is worked on apparels like jackets,
shawls, sarees, salwar kameez, etc.

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Techniques
The handling of the hook is the same
for all hook work. Since in chain
stitch, the entire surface is covered
with embroidery, the ground is filled
with a character tics circular
movement of chain. This is usually
done after motif or actual pattern are
completed. Therefore, the ground is
covered with the plenty of circular
form, and the shape in between is
further filled with continuous chains.
After the work is completed, these
rugs/wall hangings are lined with
gunny cloth and backed with a plain
white canvas.
Chain stitch rugs are done in pastel
shades on hessian cloth and are
extremely attractive. The whole
surface is covered with the
embroidery and is then backed with
strong cotton backing material to
give them strength and body. The
light pinks, blues, creams and
greens, blend together in such an
aesthetic whole that the rugs become
almost too beautiful to be placed on
the floor. Bags, screens and cushion
covers are other applications of this
art.
Designs
Completely indigenous designs are
simply those with flowers and leaves
and changes in demand have caused
them to use human and animal
figures in their designs.
Poshkar: Floral Design
Shikardar: Hunting
Janwardar: Animal Design
Jungle Naksha: Animal Design
Meharabuin: one with the arch (like in Persian carpets)
Daltarah: One with ducks etc.
Chavan chotha: 4 quarter moon forms on 4 corners.

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Buyers place orders at karkhanas, pieces for domestic market as well as export.
Design and colour may be-
1. Specified
2. Decided by karkhana owner
3. Left to choice of the craftsman.
Men and women come to the
karkhanas to collect pieces to be
embroidered. Embroidery yarns,
silk, wool, is also taken from
karkhanas. The karigars take home
the fabric on which the design has
already been printed.

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Chain stitch (on other products)
Hook work is also done on
garments, in this also entire surface
is not covered with the embroidery.
This is done on shawls, stoles,
poncho, gowns, capes, kurtas,
pherans etc. and on household
products to like table covers, tea set
etc.

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Materials
This work can be done mainly on
raffal and cotton. Sometimes it is
done on silk garments. It is done
with the same hook work. The
embroidery is done mainly with
staple yarn and occasionally with
wool and silk. On shawls and stoles
only staple yarns are used.
Techniques
Techniques are almost same but in
shawls and stoles when the
embroidery is only on both the ends,
they are stitched together edge to
edge to get uniformity in the
embroidery and also make the fabric
easy to handle.
Designs
Flowers and chinars designs are also
commonly seen. Shawls may have
an overall design but ground is never
completely covered. Shawls
embroidered in this technique are
usually raffal. Kurtas and pherans
may be embroidered all over or may
have the ornamentation only around
the neck and Sleeves and the hem of
the garments. Colours may be many
or of same shades, nowadays there is
endless range of colours.

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Chain stitch on NAMDAS
Due to the thickness of the material,
namadas cannot be very finely
embroidered, always done in chain
stitch with a hook and wool. The
stitches are larger and take less time
to make. Two people working
together can finish an all over design
in one day.
All designs with comparatively more
of the surface covered are called
purmattan.It may also be called
sozankar. One with the less fine
embroidery and larger flowers is
known as poshkar.
After the embroidery is completed
the namdas are washed. Unlike
earlier when soonafter it was made
it was kept folded during washing,
this time it is opened.
Washing, this time it is opened.

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Namdas are made by pressing felt
together. They are then embroidered
with chain stitch. At one time they
were considered the cheapest floor
covering but designers have taken a
hand in them and made them so
attractive that they have becomean
art form and have been raised from
the floor to the wall where they hang
in place of pictures.

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Conclusion
Kashmir has beauty in everything nature, embroidery, culture, people etc.
Kashmiri embroidery is essentially fine, beautiful and with its fact that it is also
very time consuming. A significant development that has taken place, more
particularly in past few years, is the entry of women in this field.
Two major problems face by craft today, the standard of training nor imparted
on big scale. They have started doing shoddywork to save time and earn faster.
The intricacy which is the essenceof the true Kashmir embroidery is vanishing
slowly.

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Bibliography
 Art and craft of Jammu and Kashmir.
 Embroidered craft of Kashmir – Priya Khanna
References
 https://books.google.co.in/books?id=vQShV9jNzIUC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA7
3&dq=how+crewel+embroidery+came+to+kashmir&source=bl&ots=2Nez_
k9X_0&sig=n52PMb8pVM9ipJ8gIXX006GRy10&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ah
UKEwjP3ovFg87RAhWMqY8KHdKYAIgQ6AEITjAI#v=onepage&q=how
%20crewel%20embroidery%20came%20to%20kashmir&f=false
 http://www.importantindia.com/1394/kashmiri-hand-embroidery/