Tie N Dye with Shisha Work

Bandhani or Tie and Dye is one of the oldest dyeing techniques of India. The state of Rajasthan is very famous for it. We Indian women have at least two or three saris and dresses of Bandhani. Mostly cottons, silks and also in modern times synthetic fabric is available. 

Bandhani fabrics have beautiful bright colours often contrasting colours like red and blue, red and green, yellow and green and more than two or three colour combination. They have various patterns of dyeing like dots, circles, squares, waves or stripes and many more.

These fabrics are further embroidered with fine wool, mirrors and beads. Saris, skirts, chunnis or dupattas(scarfs), and churidar or shalwar dress material is available in cottons, silks and synthetics. 

Here is one such dupatta. The fabric is light weight cotton or mulmul (soft and fine muslin), dyed by using Bandhani technique. 

As we can see, both ends of the dupatta has been stitched with a printed fabric border, and then big circular paillettes sequins have been added. Chain stitch with white coloured wool on the edges and with coloured wool on the paillettes sequins can also be seen. We can also see the small sequins embroiderd around the motif.

 Here a metal frame has been used for attaching the paillettes sequin. 

 A small circular paillettes sequin attached to the fabric.

Look at the tie and die pattern and the use of paillettes sequins.

The edges have been decorated with silver coloured beads and cowrie shells. 

This beautiful work is done by the artisans of Rajasthan. I have some beautiful tie and dye saris and dresses and dupattas of Rajasthan. I cannot resist their beautiful bright colours or the shisha work. Our wardrobe is not complete with out these beautiful collection.

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Shisha (Mirror) Work-4

Frame Work Stitches-2

I have been wanting to post this for long. But photographing the shisha is really difficult. I wanted my photographs to be clear. Moreover writing the tutorials is also a bit difficult since the elaborate explanations should be simple and clear. Hope you are able to understand my posts.

My previous posts on this topic are here:

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/search/label/Mirror%20Work

Continuing from my previous posts...

2. Square Frame: This is the traditional or most used method. I am posting for a circular Mirror. But the same goes well with a square mirror. Look at the pictures below:

Stick the mirror where you want to stitch it. Or if you can hold it with you fingers,  it is well and good

Bring the thread from under the fabric at A and insert at B making a long straight stitch. Again take out C and bring down at D.

Take out the thread to the surface at E and bring it under the fabric at F.

Finally take out the thread on to the surface of fabric at G and bring down at H. With this we have finished one square frame. But we need to stitch one more square frame intersecting this one.

 So start at I and finish it off as shown below.

This is the basic frame. For paillettes we can stop with this as they are very light and if the frame is tight they will not fall off. But for mirrors, we need to cover the rough edges as they will damage the fabric and also may be dangerous for the person wearing the dress. There are many ways or varieties of stitches covering the edges which I will be posting in the next posts.


3. Rectangular Frame:

This is stitched like in the above one. But here the frame is in the shape of rectangle. This is used for square as well as round mirrors.


4. Sri Chakra or Triangular or Six point Star Frame:

This is stitched the same way as in Square Frame. But instead of four only three stitches per frame are used. This is suitable only for round mirrors.


I hope my tutorials are clear. If they are not or you have any doubts, please mail me...


Wait for more posts.....on mirror work....

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Shisha (Mirror) Work-3

Frame Work Stitches-1

Mirrors or Shisha used for embroidery or decoration on fabrics do not have holes. Similarly some Paillettes also do not have holes. In such cases we need fasten them and hold them on to the fabric by using a frame work of stitches. 

For Paillettes, the basic frame work of stitches are enough to hold them as they are not heavy. Care should be taken to do these stitches neatly and precisely.

In case of mirrors, we need to encase the sharp/irregular edges in stitches, so that it will not slip out of the stitches, as the bigger ones are more heavier, the edges harm the fabric as well as our hands while washing them. For this one has to stitch around the mirrors, over the basic frame work of stitches.

There are many ways of stitching the basic frame work stitches which hold the Shisha to the fabric. These stitches depend upon the shape of the mirror, size, ground fabric and thread used. Similarly, there are variety of stitches made over the basic frame work stitches to cover the edges. Apart from this one can use many stitches, and other materials to adorn Shisha work  to make it more attractive.

As far as our Indian Embroidery is concerned, there are some Shisha Stitches used in the Banjara Embroidery (Banjara-Gypsies of India) and embroideries from Gujarat(Kutch, Ahir), Rajasthan and others. Usually wool, cotton or silk floss was used which were hand dyed (in earlier days). The fabric used was mostly cotton. Now commercial embroidery threads and other fabrics are being used for commercial productions.

OK here we go now on the journey of exploring the stitches....


Some Tips Before We Start:

• Use cotton threads and cotton or jute fabric for practising
• Stick the mirror or the paillette to the fabric with fabric glue. This way it is easier to handle
• Work with Paillettes first
• Use embroidery, frames or hoops 

Frame Work Stitches For Round Shaped Shishas or Paillettes:

There are many ways to hold the Shisha on to the fabric. Some are traditional, some modern.

1. Star Stitch: Here four straight stitches are used for holding the Shisha. This is actually star stitch. I have used a Paillette.

After sticking the shisha to the fabric, bring out thread on to the surface of the fabric. Stich from A to B, C to D, E to F and G to H, pulling thread tight enough to hold the Shisha. One can use more stitches in between these to secure it more. Different colours, weights or varieties of threads can be used for interesting effect. I used pearl cotton.

For Paillettes and shishas with smooth edges, we can leave it there. But if the shisha is heavy and edges are not smooth, we may have to add stitches for covering the edges. That I will post in subsequent posts.

Please do drop in your valuable comments and suggestions and any questions...

Watch out for more.....

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Shisha (Mirror) Work-2

Shapes And Sizes

So let us start with the sizes and shapes of the Shisha. 

Here you can see the various shapes and sizes of the mirrors or shisha available. Circular or round shaped, square, diamond and triangular shaped ones are the popular ones. You can also see the rare forms of crescent and eye shaped shishas.

Tiny mirrors in melon seed shapes are also available, but not shown here.

These are the round ones I have. You can see some of them have irregular edges. Machine cut ones have  perfect shapes and edges.

Here you can see the back side. These are perfectly cut by machines and of good quality, hence costlier.

 These are square and diamond ones.

These are all encased in thin metal sheets to protect the edges of the mirrors as well as for safety. They can be stitched without removing the covers or after removing the covers.

These are the paillettes which are like sequins, light weight and available in round square, diamond, oval and seed shapes. If these have holes(one of two) it is easy to attach. If not, one has to attach them like shishas. These days these are more popular because of their light weight and also safe as compared to real shishas.

These (Shishas)are sold by weight(in case of smaller sizes) or in boxes and in pieces, if they are big. Paillettes are sold by weight.

So in my next posts, I will be posting tutorials on shisha stitches.....

Please do drop in your suggestions and comments.....

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Shisha( Mirror) Work-1

INTRODUCTION

Shisha is a Persian word later on adopted by Hindi or Urdu languages. the word "Shisha" means glass and mirror. Shisha work or embroidery using mirrors is perhaps unique to India (Indian sub continent). It is said that this type of embroidery was introduced by the Mughal from Persia when they occupied Indian sub continent.

Where the Royalty and rich had gold, silver and precious gems to add richness and glitter to their clothes, the common folk used mirrors or shisha for adorning their cloths. They were affordable, easy to stitch on to the clothes, shimmered like stars in the sky and added beauty to their clothes. It was also believed that the light reflected by Shisha would ward of evil spirits. So, Shisha Work was the forte of Folk Embroideries of India, practised by the Banjaras(Gypsies of India). The embroideries from Gujarath and Rajasthan use this work.

At first pieces of mica were used. Later on glass was blown into a globe like shape and broken to get the pieces. These pieces which were uneven and had slight curvatures were used. Now pieces of mirrors perfectly cut on machines in various shapes are used.

The Shisha work slowly made its way on to the blouses, kurthas (tunics), lehenga (long skirts), saris, worn by girls and young women and also on bags, purses, cushion covers etc.  Actually the skirts of Banjara women and women from Gujarath and Rajasthan and also their blouses have heavily embroidered Shisha work. But this was scaled down to suit the modern needs and was a huge hit in early 70s to 80s. Even today this embroidery is well appreciated.

Shisha Work in combination with Kutch Work or appliqué work was quite popular in India. In the present times, with the growing appreciation for ethnic art, hand made goods, embroideries of India have again caught the eyes of the fashion designers as well the end users. Today instead of glass mirrors, paillettes are being used, which are light weight. 

So here is my attempt to bring out a series of posts on Shisha work and the stitches used in it some of which I have learnt from my family, friends and some of my own experiments. I promised to do these tutorials for my very dearest friend Dee a long time back but somehow could not. These posts are dedicated to Dee 

I will also try to post some patterns and my sampler as I make it.

Just keep a watch......

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