The sarees of Lucknow

What is woven here

Chikankari is embroidery rather than weaving. The design is first printed on the cloth with wooden blocks, using a washable dye. Then the embroiderer works stitches such as the shadow work, where the pattern is stitched on the back so that it shows softly through the front, and the jali, in which threads are pulled apart to make small holes like a net. Cotton, muslin, georgette, chiffon and silk are all used, and white on white is the classic look.

The craft and its people

The work is divided between block printers, embroiderers, washers and finishers. Most embroiderers are women who take the work home, and many are paid by the piece. The craft is linked to the old courtly culture of Awadh, the region of which Lucknow was the capital in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The name Lucknow Chikan is protected as a Geographical Indication.

Seeing it

The old city markets of Chowk are the best known place to see and buy chikankari, and shops there sell by the metre as well as finished sarees. Look at the back of the cloth: well made shadow work is neat on the reverse too. Craft organisations and some workshops can arrange a visit to embroiderers, and the State Museum and the old city's buildings show the setting the craft grew in.

A trail idea for Lucknow

1. The Chowk market Walk the old lanes where chikankari shops stand one after another, and compare the stitches.
2. A block printer's workshop See how the pattern is printed on the cloth before any stitching begins.
3. An embroiderer's home Through a craft group, meet an embroiderer and see how shadow work and jali are done by hand.
4. The Bara Imambara area Visit the great eighteenth century complex to see the Awadh setting in which the craft grew.