BY Zunaira Saeed Khan | November 21, 2012 Phulkari Punjab’s
colorful embroidery Pakistan, a land-locked country, has a rich
history of handicrafts; all the regions have a wide variety of
traditional art, craft and culture where one is always
mesmerized by the beauty of the handicrafts. Phulkari embroidery
falls under that category and is considered as one of the
ancient textile arts of Punjab. Phulkari translates to growing
flowers. The embroidery includes floral motifs in bright colors.
The flowers are beautifully arranged in rows. The more
elaborated ones floral patterns is called bagh, meaning garden.
The origins of Phulkari are difficult to trace, but it is
embroidered by women for their own and other family’s personal
use. Phulkari was not sold or purchased in earlier times, but
was worn on ceremonies or were given exclusively as gift items
on propitious events such as a wedding gift for the bride or for
a newborn. The embroidery is done on a coarse local cotton
fabric called khadder, a handspun khaddi c