A tale of embroidery stitches from Indus Valley Civilization

Swati embroidery



Swati embroidery has a great significance and has won a unique status due to its innovative and creative. In the past when modern embroidery accessories were not easily available, pure silver yarn was used in embroidery and the dresses decorated this way were very heavy. As most of the females remain in the boundaries of their home in the values driven society of Swat, they have adopted this art as their past time especially the young girls who have not yet been married. These talented girls of the artistic valley of Swat decorate and adore all the dresses, shawls, blankets, bed sheets, pillow covers, table cloths, veils, head scarves, handkerchiefs, and caps etc which were to become a part of their dowry after their marriage. The verses, mosaics, natural landscapes, animals, flowers, fruits, vines and artistic symmetries created through crochet by these aesthetic girls are the most sought after works of embroidery in Swat. The golden lace embroidery of Swat has acquired a distinct recognition in the valley.
Soof stitch is highly sophisticated embroidery which means triangle. It is done with very fine surface satin stitching worked in only geometric forms, particularly the triangle, which gets composed so that they resemble hills. The counting the threads to make perfect triangle is key to this type of stitch. Mostly shawls are decorated with this kind of embroidery or created on a plain fabric and used as border for dresses.

Swati ladies stitch their clothes manually with the help of needles. They would stitch the dress from the reverse side and then double stitching was made on the dress. The bridal dresses were provided with impressive stitching/design on the collar and on the boundaries with colorful threads. This embroidery was known as chashmi bulbul (nightingale’s eye or mother eye).the stitches used are satin stitch, chain stitch and also embellished with shell and beads.