Khinkhwab Diaries

A short history of embroidery through time — from ancient stitched hides to courtly gold-work and today's revival of the needle arts.

A founder's essay on the motifs of a Banarasi saree as a language of their own — Harappa's trefoil, Mughal blooms, Persian paisleys, sacred threads and the lotus, read as...

The double-ikat sari of Patan in Gujarat, where both warp and weft are dyed to pattern before weaving — a cloth once worth its weight in gold.

Where the word 'saree' comes from — the Sanskrit sati ('a strip of cloth'), its regional names, the weaver's-dream folktale, and Kabir's loom — and how it leads to Banaras.

What 'kinkhab' and 'kamkhwab' really mean — a 'golden dream' of a cloth — and the three classical families of Banaras brocade: zari brocades, amru and abirawan.

India's embroidery in metal — Rajasthan's gota-patti, Lucknow's mukaish and Udaipur's danka, the crafts that stitch real glint into cloth.

The embroidered sari of the Parsis — Chinese-influenced gara needlework and fine petit point, blooming with cranes, roses and endless knots.

The painting-in-thread embroidery of the Himalayan hills — the double-sided Chamba rumals, stitched like miniature paintings.

The sheer, glass-like weave of Madhya Pradesh — feather-light cotton-silk shot with gold, famous for its translucent, woven-air finish.

The ancient resist block-print of Kutch — a slow dance of natural indigo and madder, printed so precisely that the cloth reads the same on both sides.

The tie-and-dye craft of Gujarat and Rajasthan, where thousands of tiny knots are tied and dyed by hand to bloom into dots, waves and grids of colour.

Real zari vs imitation, and pure silk vs art silk and mercerised cotton — a plain-language buyer's guide to telling what your Banarasi is really made of, with simple at-home...