Patterns of Phulkari:Then and now

This study explores the patterns of embroidered textile craft of Punjab. Being embroidered by women in their leisure time, it is an important part of Punjabi culture. Phulkari has been so densely interwoven in the lives of women that these two seem inseparable. Learnt through the teachings and experience of the elders, a girl used to embroider her own world, dreams and aspirations onto a canvas of khaddar. The designs and motifs were innumerable. With the change in this form of textile, women still embroider it for economic gains. Womenfolk paints the geometrical motifs of phulkari using a needle and thread with an unlimited colour palette. This study reveals the patterns of the old phulkari versus the new one.