Chamba Rumal

 

Can an embroidered fabric look alike from both the sides? Ya, Chamba Rumal! It is a distinctive style of embroidery, in which the embroidered motif appears the same from right as well as from the wrong side. Surprisingly, there is no difference between the wrong and right side! It’s the identical on both the faces of fabric!! That is the reason why a rumal (handkerchief) can cost thousands of rupees.

It is famous for transforming the art of Pahari and Kangra paintings of Himachal Pradesh into the intricate embroidery patterns. It is an imitation of paintings of scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata and other scriptures. The delicate and detailed designs are mesmerising which depicts Krishna Leela and circular Gopis dance with floral motifs on its borders. The wedding scenes and hunting scenes were embroidered. Animals like tigers, boars, horse and rams and birds like peacocks, parrots, swans and ducks were also beautifully embroidered in bright colour scheme. Unusually tree motifs of willow and cypress trees were also embroidered in magnificent colours. A rare design of Chapad game which was played in between Yudhistra and Duryodhan in Mahabharata was depicted in it. It was used to be given as a gift to daughters at the time of their marriage.

It used to be embroidered on white tussar or malmal, cotton cloth. Multicoloured threads like crimson, green, yellow and blue colour threads of pat, untwisted silk were used. Dohara tanka or Double satin stitch was mostly used but sometimes stem stitch was also used to embroider square piece of fabric and rarely rectangular ones. It was used to embellish cushion covers, pillow covers, wall hangings, caps, hand fans etc.

This art is dying a slow death and the revival of this art is the need of the hour!

 

Maximize your wardrobe

Anybody can have a versatile look by mix and match of old and unused garments in the wardrobe. From a minimum number of garments, the novel outfits can be created by intermingling, swapping, mixing and matching. A variety of new combinations can be created as per the mood and taste of the wearer. It is an art to give new life to your untouched or not so frequently utilized clothes in your wardrobe that can be mastered easily. That is the reason it is too economical and fits in everybody’s budget. Who doesn’t want it?

The basic formal wears like white T-shirt, black blazer, black pants, dark blue jeans and plain coloured shirts can enrich your wardrobe by mix and match with dots, checks, strips or floral prints. Multi piece dresses like sari-blouse, salwaar-kameez-dupatta, skirt-top, jeans-top, ghaghra-choli-chunari can open up unlimited options to look elegant by creating pleasing combinations where as mix and match technique is restricted to single piece dresses like gowns, nighties, frocks, kaftans etc.

Are you bored of wearing the same dress again and again? Break the monotony by applying different colour schemes with your dresses and create your unique style that perfectly goes with your mood. Monotonous colour scheme in which all the shades of the same colour are used can create a serene and calm effect. It is pleasing to eyes. Whereas complementary colour scheme in which colours on the opposite side of a colour wheel are used gives a powerful and energised look to the wearer.

These days, one has no to bother about the harmony, colour combination, hues matching. It has been simplified by various fashion and style apps. More and more apps are coming up in the market with innovative ideas to not only to match dresses but also accessories with them. These apps randomly generate outfit ideas mostly selecting those clothes that are not in much use from a quite a long time. It creates new combinations, which you have never tried before and give new life to your existing wardrobe.

For mix n match, you want to use your brain or app it is a matter of personal choice!

Interesting facts about Phulkari and Bagh

 

You must have heard the word ‘Pulkari’ and must have used this word numerous times while purchasing outfits for yourself and for your loved ones. But do you know what is the difference between Pulkari and Bagh? Nah!  

Pulkari literally means a flower craft in which flowers are blooming here and there where as Bagh means a garden where flowers are blooming everywhere. In Pulkari, the floral patterns are dispersed and base colour of fabric is visible where as in Bagh, mostly geometrical patterns are used to cover the whole area and not a single strand of the base material is visible from the right side.

The Pulkari like saloo was worn during a household work as it had very light embroidery work on it. Til patra was presented to servants on various occasions and it was made of inferior quality of fabric with very minute patterns scattered widely apart. Chope and suber were given as wedding gifts to the daughters. Sheeshdar Phulkaris had mirrors embroidered in between the floral motifs. Ghungat Bagh as the name suggest was use as a veil by young women. It was embroidered in a triangular shape. Kakri, mirchi and dhunia bagh were named according to the size and shape of the motifs. The Bagh that contain five or seven colour was named panchranga or satranga respectively. The white and golden threads were used to give a unique effect of sunlight and shade, a dhoop chaun. The circular white motifs were embroidered on dark blue khaddar to create a mesmerising view of moon in a dark night was known as chandrama bagh by many.

Before partition, in East Punjab Pulkari was popular in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Rohtak, Hissar and Ludhaina and in West Punjab Bagh was done in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Sialkot.

Despite all these differences, they share a common thing that they both were embroidered from the wrong side of the fabric. It was unique technique to embroider a fabric by not looking at the right side but was done gently and intricately from the wrong side. Therefore, this art not only required good eye site but also practice for a long time to master.