The design is worked from the centre (the chashm-e-bulbul) of the ground material outwards. Popular designs include geometric patterns, as well as stylised figurative, animal and plant forms. Traditionally phulkari work was used to decorate shawls, head coverings (odini) and long, wide scarves (dupatta). These embroidered garments were called by the general term phulkari. Those items with a scattering of embroidery were called adha bagh (‘half garden’), while special occasion garments that covered the whole body and that were totally covered in embroidery were called bagh (‘garden’).
Bridal versions were traditionally worked in shades of red, while those worn by widows were in cream or white. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, a much wider range of items was being decorated with phulkari, including bags, cushion covers, footwear, jackets and tablecloths.
See also: Gillian Vogelsang and Willem Vogelsang, Encyclopedia of Embroidery from Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau and the Indian Subcontinent. 2021. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 270-276.
Online source of illustration (retrieved 17 May 2021).
GVE