Phool Patti ka Kaam

What is Phool Patti ka Kaam?

Phool Patti ka Kaam is appliqué work, which means shapes cut from one cloth are stitched onto another to build a pattern. Here the shapes are flowers and leaves. Pieces of fabric are cut and shaped into motifs, then hemmed, stitched down at the edges, onto a ground cloth, while the stems are worked in stem stitch, a simple embroidery line. The craft sits between patchwork and embroidery. It was done on fine muslin, on white cotton, or on organdy, and it decorated women's clothing, above all the sari. It is practised at Aligarh and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, where many women once earned their living from it.

Where does Phool Patti ka Kaam come from?

Phool Patti ka Kaam belongs to Uttar Pradesh, with Aligarh and Rampur as its centres. It is remembered as famous in the Mughal period, though no founding date or first maker is recorded. In the past it gave work to large numbers of women, so the craft was a livelihood for women as much as a decoration. Today it is described as a dying craft. Efforts are continuing to bring the old skill back, and that is the state of the craft now: still practised, but described as dying.

How is Phool Patti ka Kaam made?

Two skills meet here. The first is appliqué: cloth is cut into pieces, each shaped like a flower or a leaf, and the pieces are hemmed onto a ground fabric. The second is embroidery: the stems that join the blooms are worked in stem stitch, which lays a narrow line of thread along the cloth. The base fabrics named are fine muslin, plain white cotton and organdy, all thin cottons. The sources do not say how long one piece takes, nor name a loom; this is needlework on finished cloth, not weaving.

Colours, motifs and borders

The motifs are floral: flowers and leaves, cut from cloth and stitched down. The sources name no others. The ground cloth in the sources is white cotton, along with fine muslin and organdy, so the cut shapes stand out against a pale field; no set palette is recorded for the pieces. The stems were sewn in stem stitch, which lays a narrow line along the surface and ties the motifs together. Because the craft grew out of patchwork as well as embroidery, the pattern reads as shapes joined by lines, not as a solid filled design.

How Phool Patti ka Kaam is worn

This work decorated women's clothing, and the sari was its main stage. Flowers and leaves cut from cloth were applied on thin grounds such as fine muslin and organdy, so a sari carrying the work would keep the lightness of its base fabric. No special drape or blouse style is recorded for it; the sari was worn as saris are worn, with the floral pattern travelling on the cloth itself, wherever the folds placed it.

What Phool Patti ka Kaam means

The craft is called dying, and that word tells its story. In Aligarh and Rampur it once gave large numbers of women paid work, so it was a livelihood as much as an ornament. Its fame in the Mughal period places it among the flower crafts of that era. No GI tag, award or institution is recorded for it. What the sources do record is effort: attempts to bring the old craft back are continuing, and the work is still practised where it grew up.

Questions people ask about Phool Patti ka Kaam

Good reading and sources

• Phool Patti ka Kaam on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data