What is phulkari embroidery?

Phulkari (ਫੁਲਕਾਰੀ) means 'flower work' — a counted-stitch embroidery from Punjab. Soft floss silk thread (pat) is stitched by hand on cotton or silk khaddar, following the warp and weft count of the fabric. No template, no printing, no machine.

What is the difference between a chope and a baagh phulkari?

A chope is worked in a single colour with a two-sided stitch — traditionally draped on a bride during Anand Karaj. A baagh (garden) is fully covered on both sides with dense floral work — historically eight to ten years of stitching, passed as a bridal heirloom.

Is phulkari machine-made or hand-made?

Real phulkari is entirely hand-made — one counted stitch at a time. Most fabric sold today as 'phulkari' in retail shops is machine-embroidered or printed. TEEYAN's phulkari is hand-stitched by named karigars in Patiala and Malwa.

How much does a phulkari suit cost?

Price on request. TEEYAN's phulkari suits are quoted based on the density of the phulkari, the size of the area covered, and the fabric. The phulkari alone is 80 to 120 hours per suit for a standard yoke-and-hem coverage.

Phulkari, the Honest History of a Punjabi Craft

What phulkari actually means

Phulkari (ਫੁਲਕਾਰੀ) means "flower work". It is a counted-stitch embroidery from Punjab — one thread of soft floss silk (traditionally called pat) pulled through hand-woven cotton khaddar, one small stitch at a time, following the count of the warp and weft. No template. No printing. No machine. The stitch is the drawing.

What most shops sell today as "phulkari" is a machine-printed floral fabric with polyester thread. That is not phulkari. That is a phulkari-inspired print. The difference is the difference between a handwritten letter and an email.

The three original forms

Chope · ਚੋਪ

The chope is the phulkari a grandmother stitched for her granddaughter's wedding — over a lifetime, one thread at a time. The chope is worked in a single colour (usually deep gold or red pat) on cotton khaddar, in a bold two-sided stitch. When the granddaughter walked around the sacred fire during her Anand Karaj, the chope was draped on her shoulders. This was the phulkari of blessing.

Baagh · ਬਾਗ਼

Baagh means garden. A baagh phulkari is fully covered — every square inch of khaddar is filled with counted-stitch floral work, until you cannot see the cotton beneath. A baagh took eight to ten years of patient work. In Punjabi villages a girl would receive her baagh at her wedding, and it would then be passed to her daughter, and then to her granddaughter. A real baagh phulkari today is a museum piece.

Darshan Dwar · ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਦੁਆਰ

The darshan dwar phulkari carries the shape of a temple gate — arches, doorways, sometimes small human figures. It was made as a thanksgiving piece after a blessing was granted (a child, a marriage, safe passage). The darshan dwar is not for wearing — it is for offering.

What TEEYAN does with phulkari

We do not sell antique phulkari. We stitch new phulkari, honestly, by hand. Our Peengh suit carries counted-stitch phulkari across the yoke and hem — 80 to 120 hours by one hand, one thread at a time. Our anarkali and gharara suits carry phulkari borders where the bride asks for one.

Every TEEYAN phulkari is a counted stitch on cotton khaddar or silk khaddar — never a printed motif, never a machine-embroidered fill. The thread we use is soft floss silk from a Ludhiana pat mill. The stitch is the same stitch the grandmothers used.

How to tell a real phulkari from a print

Turn it over. Real phulkari has visible thread work on the reverse — not a clean printed backing. On a chope, both sides look almost identical (a two-sided stitch).
Look at the thread ends. Real phulkari has small knots where new thread was joined. A print has no knots.
Test the stitch depth. Real phulkari sits above the fabric surface — you can feel it with your fingertip. A print is flat.
Check the count. Real phulkari follows the warp/weft count of the khaddar — the stitches will be evenly spaced along the grain. A print does not follow the grain.
Look at the colours. Real pat silk has depth and shifts colour slightly in light. Printed phulkari looks flat under any light.

Why we care ji

Because most of what is sold as "Punjabi phulkari suits" today is polyester machine work. The craft is dying not because women stopped wanting phulkari, but because women stopped being able to tell the real thing from the fake. That is the honest state of things.

Every phulkari suit we make is a small vote — for the karigar, for the counted stitch, for the language. If you want a real phulkari suit for your daughter, your bride, or yourself, speak to us. We will show you the reverse of the fabric before we quote a price.

What we do not claim

We do not claim to have "kept phulkari alive" — the grandmothers of Patiala and Malwa kept it alive long before we existed. We do not claim our karigars are the last phulkari embroiderers — they are not. We do not claim our phulkari is antique — it is new work, freshly stitched, honestly documented.

What we do claim: every TEEYAN phulkari suit is a counted stitch on natural fabric with soft floss silk, made by one named karigar, photographed at ninety percent completion so you can see the work before it is finished. If a suit says "phulkari" on our site, the phulkari is real.

Speak to us on WhatsApp: +91 94920 00054