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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Gopuram Stitch Update-Part III

My previous posts on this topic are here:

http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/search/label/Gopuram%20Stitch

I wanted to explore the stitch further, but don't feel up to it. I have many ideas for this stitch  but don't have the strength to execute them. Any way here is one I have tried out so far.

It is a four petalled flower. Watch out for more updates......

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Gopuram Stitch Tutorials-Part II

My first part was only the basics. My grand mother taught me these flowers. If I remember correctly, these flowers were stitched with a white thread (coarse cotton yarns) on her velvet blouses usually of dark colours. The flowers had 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 petals with a mirror in the center or sometimes a chain stitch  or French knots or satin stitch in the center of the flower. These were used as motifs on the back, around the neck and hem of the sleeves. They were also worked on pillow covers(minus the mirrors) and cloth bags, door curtains etc.

 I learnt them from her much later. Here are some samples I worked out:

3 petalled flower 

7 petalled flower

Here I have anchored the last stitch with French knots and bullion stitch. Sorry my bullion stitch are not state of art work especially when I am working with wide eyed needles :) :).

Some more patterns I have worked for my sampler.

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Gopuram Stitch Tutorials

Friends, I was going through some of my very old doodling clothes on which I used to practise my embroidery stitches learnt from various sources and came across this stitch.


I have learnt many from my maternal Grandma. In her childhood she studied in a school run by nuns. Such schools were called as Convents by the local people. My Gran was very proud of having studied there. Her English was impeccable. Well she learnt embroidery, crochet, sewing etc in her school. She had a very good knowledge of embroidery stitches not only the Indian ones but also those from across the world.We grand children used to sit with her and talk about her school days. We also used to learn embroidery and crochet from her. She had good memory and even after 70 years or so, she could tell us the name of the stitch both in English and local language. But alas at that time I never bothered to note down those names. 


Here is one of the stitches I learned from her. She named it as Gopuram Stitch. Gopuram means Temple dome. She was not sure from where she learned this nor the name of the stitch. When she taught me I remarked that this stitch reminded me of a temple dome-so we named it as Gopuram stitch. We used to (re)name many stitches to remember them easily--:)...:)...

If any one knows about the origin or name or any other information about this stitch, please let me know. I have not come across any similar stitch so far. Though it looks like an inverted Feather Stitch.

I have tried to put it down properly for you as tutorials:


The stitch belongs to Chain Stitch or Looped Stitches family. It can be stitched on any fabric-that is this is not a counted thread stitch.


STEP-1

Fig-1

This is how the stitch goes. I have marked the points for illustrative purpose. When we actually stitch we need no marking.

STEP-2

Fig-2

Bring out the needle up through the fabric from underside at point 'A'.

STEP-3 

Fig-3

STEP-4

Fig-4

Now insert the needle  at 'B' a little away from 'A',  going under the fabric and come out at 'C'. Loop the thread from left to right from under the needle forming a loop. Now pull the needle to get the first stitch or loop.

This is almost like a chain stitch, except that that in chain stitch we insert needle at A where as here we leave some space in between. 

STEP-5

Fig-5

STEP-6  
Similarly make another loop from 'F' to 'G'. 

Fig-6

Now again make a loop by entering at 'D'  a little away from 'B' and coming out at 'E'.


STEP-Final

Anchor with a little straight stitch at 'H'. We have completed the basic part of the stitch. it should look like this one as shown below.

Fig-7

SOME TIPS:

The points A, B, D and F should be equidistant from each other. I have put more space between points, A,B,D and F (Fig-6)so that the stitch is clear to you. 


Similarly points C, E, G and H should also be equidistant from each other. 


Also notice that point 'C' should be a little to the right of A and so on and not mid point of A and B. That is the original stitch taught to me (a part of it). 


Actually there is more to the stitch I learnt. I will be posting it in my next post.


Here I have tried to vary the stitch for my sampler. 

Fig-8

In the stitch at 4, I have placed points C, E, G and H as mid point of A-B, A-D and so on. In 5, I have placed them to (almost) right side.

Fig-9

I have used beads (2) and cut glass beads (3). In 4 above I have anchored the stitch with a chain stitch.

Fig-10

Here the stitches shown at 1,2 and 3 are not correct. I was just practising on a doodle cloth before I got it correct at 4. See 8 and 9, I was trying to build up a pattern.




BEST SUITED FOR:


As a border around the necks, sleeves and hems of blouses, kurtis or tunics, skirts for decorating CQ blocks and on pillows, cushion covers, saris etc.


I am still practising the stitch and trying to build up a sampler. The best part is yet to come. So watch out for more...


Practise the stitch and please do mail me your innovations with the stitch so that we all can share them...

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Friday-Free Patterns

I am always the late Kate. I just could not post the pattern in time. It so happened that my systems hard disk is almost filled up with data. So I had to take a back up and delete some of them to create space. It is a real tiring business. One thing is I am not much organised with my Data and dump them here and there. Saving data on external sources takes time. With the frequent power cuts, it is a nightmare. We have had to discard so may CDs/DVDs due to this. Anyway I have not yet catalogued my disks. With the result I had to search and search. I am still too tired from my hectic travel schedule and need time to recover. So here I am posting this motif late..

                     Peacock Motif

This is again a peacock motif. This looks a like a folk motif found as block printed on one of the saris I think. Earlier I just used to make a mental note of these when ever I came across these motifs and drew them when I was back home. I did not have a camera then. So I may not have remembered it exactly. Most of the time I carefully study the details a make a mental note of it till I can reproduce it on paper. But sometimes staring at some one just to make note of a motif or design is quite embarrassing...:) :)


Even if we have a camera we cannot just click at every one in public places. We cannot breach their privacy. So I still have to rely on my memory.

This can be used for fabric painting and embroidery. Chain Stitch, Satin stitch or Indian Herringbone Stitch would suit it I think.

Try it and let me know. I have still lots of motifs to pen properly. I have just filled my sketch pad with ideas. I need to give them proper shape. So brace yourselves and wait for more motifs........

I would like to know what you feel about these motifs. Are they any good for trying out?

Keep watching......

TAST-2010-24th Week -Siennese Stitch-2

Friends here are some more of my experiments with Siennese Stitch. Hope you like them. I am still experimenting with the stitch. Will post as soon as I create something new.
My previous post on this stitch is here:


http://summersofindia.blogspot.com/2010/08/tast-2010-24th-week-siennese-stitch.html


And if you want to learn it then the link to Sharon B's site, who is conducting this TAST 2010 is here:


http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2010/8/10/tast-2010-week-24-siennese-stitch.html

Here I have used the glass tubes and small glass beads in shaded colours.

This looks very delicate and elegant. This can be used as border on dupattas or saris or even tunics and blouses as well as children's dresses. This is very easy to work and will be completed in no time. 

So what do you think of these?  Please do leave your comments....Keep watching

TAST-2010-24th Week -Siennese Stitch

At last I am able to do it. I could not practise TAST stitches for a long time. But here I am. I am going to try and catch up with back log too.

This Stitch was very easy. So I could do a few. I am not yet satisfied with my creativity with this stitch. ZBut for now this is all I have. Here is the link to the tutorial posted by Sharon B:

http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2010/8/10/tast-2010-week-24-siennese-stitch.html

Here is my trial...

I have to doodle again if time permits so that I can create some more of this stitch. Keep watching......

TAST-2010-5th Week-Knotted Buttonhole Stitch

Friends Sharon B had posted on Knotted Buttonhole Stitch in the 5th week of TAST 2010. Link to her site is here:

http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2010/3/30/tast-2010-week-5-knotted-buttonhole-stitch.html

Its a beautiful stitch. I enjoyed playing with it. I could have done more, but for my precious little time. Here are the pictures

I still have to load pictures of two more Stitches apart from the current one. Please let me know how you feel about my efforts....