Phulkari

A phulkari (flower work) is a traditional shawl from the Punjab region, which is now divided between Pakistan and India.  The phulkari, which usually shows stylized, floral forms can be used for everyday wear or, in the case of heavily worked shawls, called baghs (garden), using mainly gold colored silk floss, are used at marriages.

From “Traditional Indian Textiles” by John Gillow and Nicholas Barnard (Thames and Hudson):

“The rich agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana are famous for the phulkari (flower work) shawls, that worn with a tight fitting choli and gaghra, formed the traditional costume of rural women of this region.  It was a costume both spectacular and eminently practical.  Phulkaris were made for everyday wear.  Usually the border and field of the shawl were not so densely embroidered, with much of the ground cloth exposed. For ceremonial occasions, however, a special kind of phulkari known as a bagh (garden) was made, in which the whole of the ground was covered with embroidery, so that the base cloth was not visible at all.  On the birth of a baby, the grandmother, after a ceremony of prayers and distribution of sweets to the baby’s aunts, would start to embroider a bagh.  It would take several years to complete and was embroidered with special care to be used later at the grandchild’s wedding, after which it would be kept as a family treasure.”