The Art of Chikankari Embroidery

Tepchi

It is considered to be the simplest and the quickest form of embroidery. It consists of a sort of darn stitch in which the thread is drawn through the fabric in more or less parallel and straight lines. It is used for outlining and for filling ornamental motifs. Tepchi work is generally applied to the entire piece

Pechni

Pechni is most widely used in chikan for depicting the trailing stems and tendrils which is so typical of chikan decorative idiom . Once the tepchi stitch has been made the needle travels back whipping over each stitch again, in a direction from above downwards generally without picking at the cloth underneath. At a casual glance it might be taken for a stem stitch

Phanda

Phanda looks like a tiny round pearl studded on to the cloth, and it has often been wrongly compared to the French knot stitch. It refers to not that are in shape of millets it is considered to be a very intricate version. It is used in making the center of the flowers

Murri

Murri embroidery is characterized by embossed or Mota stitches. It is a diagonal stitch worked several times with a knot on a basic stitch to form a grain shape It is considered to be more intricate and difficult needle work then bakhiya or shadow work and requires higher quality workmanship by the skilled artisans. 

Ghas Patti

This is the most common stitch in chikan. Ghaspatti is generally considered as a leaf filling stitch. The stitch is worked along a central long foundation stitch. From the back the stitches appear horizontal under a vertical thread. It is occasionally done in parallel rows to fill petals and leaves in a motive

Keel Kangan

Keel/Kil is the name of the nose pin. It is tiny motif frequently interspersed within tendrils and foliage. Keel is often placed in the center of the flower
Kangan is a bangle. It is a round motif with many variations and it can be worked in different sizes by adding more circles of kate stitch around it.

Bakhiya

It is the most common stitch in commercial chikan also known as "Shadow" in English.The crossing of the thread on the back forms a slightly raised texture on the right side. It is predominantly used for working flowers, petals, and leaves, for delicate outlines and for thin meandering stems and trendils

Hathkati

The single line of open work in chikankari is called hathkati and it is similar to the hem stitch. It often defines the grains of leaves and flowers

Chana Patti

It is generally considered similar in look to the ghaspatti but for the fact that the stitches are slanted towards the center of the leaf both on the top as well as on the reverse side and there is a slight overlapping at the center. It is also known as fish bone stitch

Jaali

In Lucknawi Chikan , jaali is executed by pulling apart the warp and weft of the fabric and securing the lattice effect with tiny and tight stiches. Generally the jaali or lattice work decorates the inner portions of flowers, which is usually marked as an empty space in the codified chikan tracings

Hool

It is a tiny hole punched in the fabric with the needle, teasing apart the warp and weft of the cloth. The hole is held in place by tiny straight compact stitches all around and it is worked on the right side of the fabric. It often forms the center of a flower