Inside the Story · No. 16 · Monday 19 October 2026 · Craft · South Asia

Flower Work, Counted From the Back

This lozenge lattice comes from a phulkari hanging embroidered in Punjab in the late 1800s: floss silk on cotton, worked in darning stitch from the back of the cloth by counting threads.

The inside story of a design inspired by a phulkari hanging embroidered in Punjab in the late 1800s, in The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Hanging (Phulkari work), The Cleveland Museum of Art

The source

Hanging (Phulkari work)embroidered silk on cotton · India, Punjab, c. 1875 to 1900 (record range 1875 to 1900; "Late 19th century") · Overall: 254 x 147.3 cm (100 x 58 in.)The Cleveland Museum of Art · Hanging (Phulkari work), c. 1875 to 1900. India, Punjab, Late 19th century. Embroidered silk on cotton; overall: 254 x 147.3 cm (100 x 58 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. J. Livingstone Taylor, 1942.367. CC0. · object Cleveland Museum of Art accession 1942.367 (web id 122078) · CC0View at The Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden describes phulkari as a counted-thread embroidery of the Punjab whose name literally means flower working: floss silk (pat) on a cotton ground (khaddar), worked in darning stitch on the reverse side of the cloth, from the centre outwards. It was used for shawls, head coverings (odini) and dupattas; a garment totally covered in embroidery was called a bagh, a garden. The Cleveland record gives no description of this hanging beyond its tombstone.

What we saw

Five parts, traced from the photograph

1The lozenge latticeFirst, the lozenge lattice of the left panel. Gold ribbons crossing, and a floret with four stepped arms in every lozenge, cream and magenta in turn.

2The centre panelThen the centre panel: the same lattice, smaller and tighter, with a floret in every cell.

3The chevron panelOn the right, chevrons. Fifteen rows of gold zigzag, three magenta chevrons hanging from each, with a cream cross between.

4The disc borderAlong the top and bottom, blocks of discs: rings of floss, six to seven centimetres across, each with a centre of another colour, and small cream stars between.

5The band and the edgeUnder the discs, a band: a chain of small lozenges between rows of scallops and a fringe of tassels. And down the right edge, a column of squares, each cut into four triangles.

5 prints, each from a different part

Each print starts from a part of the source

From this partThe lozenge lattice

Print 1 · All-over

Floret Lattice with Discs

For the first print, I rebuilt the lattice at a new scale and dropped a disc from the border into every fourth lozenge.

Real ribbon, real florets, real discs, on the cloth's own magenta. Dress material. And the same lattice on cream.

Repeat: Straight repeat · tile 2430 × 2867 px · 41.1 × 48.5 cm
Made for: Surat and Jaipur dress-material processors; Punjab and Delhi boutique labels selling phulkari-look suits and dupatta sets
Why it sells: A 5 cm lozenge lattice with a 4.5 cm floret and a disc every fourth cell reads as a phulkari jaal at kurta scale, cuts any way, and the cream colourway comes off the same screens.

Women's dress material and kurta fabric110 cm width5 coloursdigital pigment or rotary on cotton cambric or rayonthe cream colourway for summer suitsFour colours

From this partThe chevron panel

Print 2 · Stripe

Chevron and Lozenge Stripe

Then a stripe from the chevron panel and the band.

A row of zigzag with its chevrons and crosses, then a chain of the band's small lozenges, over and over. Men's shirting.

Repeat: Stripe repeat · tile 2730 × 3114 px · 46.2 × 52.7 cm
Made for: Menswear ethnic brands (festive kurtas); shirting mills and co-ord labels wanting a horizontal geometric stripe
Why it sells: A 3 cm gold zigzag with magenta chevrons and cream crosses, then a lozenge chain, is an 8.8 cm horizontal stripe on a dark ground that reads as woven at shirt distance.

Men's kurta and shirting150 cm width5 coloursrotary or digital on cotton poplin or a linen blendalso women's co-ordsFive colours

From this partThe disc border

Print 3 · All-over

Disc and Cross Toss

Then the discs and the crosses, tossed.

Every disc a real one from the border, every cross from the field, scattered on the dark ground. A kurta.

Repeat: Mirror repeat · tile 2400 × 2400 px · 40.6 × 40.6 cm
Made for: Surat dress-material processors; boutique ethnic labels; kidswear exporters wanting a small dark-ground toss
Why it sells: A 2 cm disc tossed every way with a 2.7 cm cross between, on the cloth's own dark ground, is a ditsy with no direction and no registration risk beyond the disc.

Kurta and dupatta fabric110 cm width6 coloursdigital on cottonrayon or georgettealso kidswearSix colours

From this partThe disc border

Print 4 · Border

Dupatta Border

Then one wide border, from three parts.

The column of triangles turned along, three rows of discs, and the lozenge band with its tassels. A dupatta border.

Repeat: Border repeat · tile 2715 × 1113 px · 46 × 18.8 cm
Made for: Dupatta printers and Surat saree process houses selling body-plus-border sets with print A or C as the body; home-textile brands for curtain hems
Why it sells: Three real bands stacked, with the tassel row at the hem edge, make a 19 cm border that repeats every 9 cm and carries the whole palette against a plain or small-print body.

Dupatta and saree border19 cm deep7 coloursdigital on georgettechiffon or cottonengineered along the selvedgealso a curtain hemSeven colours

From this partThe centre panel

Print 5 · Placement

Centre Panel

And last, the centre panel as it is.

One real panel of the lattice, at its own proportions. A placement for a pallu.

Repeat: Placement print, not a repeat
Made for: Saree pallu engineers; boutique labels for an engineered kurta back or a table runner
Why it sells: A real lattice panel with its own slight irregularities is a ready-made pallu or runner, four colours, no repeat to match.

Saree pallu or dupatta end panel16 x 52 cm as delivered (scale up to 49 x 158 cm for a true-size pallu with a plain resampler)4 coloursdigital on georgette or cottonFour colours

The palette

Every colour here was already in the source.

#342927Dark khaddar ground (the cotton between the stitches) · from the source

#673039Magenta floss (the maroon of the field) · from the source

#7E3B46Bright magenta floss (the brightest class, chevrons and discs) · from the source

#BFB6A3Cream floss · from the source

#B2986AGold floss · from the source

#93634EOrange floss (disc border, zigzag band, side columns) · from the source

#727360Green floss (disc centres and the triangle column) · from the source

Why now

Magenta, gold and cream on the cloth's own dark ground, with a cream colourway, for the November to February wedding season: a lattice for dress material, a stripe for men's kurtas, a toss, a dupatta border and a pallu panel.

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Source: Hanging (Phulkari work), India, Punjab, c. 1875 to 1900 (record range 1875 to 1900; "Late 19th century"), embroidered silk on cotton. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hanging (Phulkari work), c. 1875 to 1900. India, Punjab, Late 19th century. Embroidered silk on cotton; overall: 254 x 147.3 cm (100 x 58 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. J. Livingstone Taylor, 1942.367. CC0., object Cleveland Museum of Art accession 1942.367 (web id 122078). CC0. View the object.

Facts from: clevelandart.org, trc-leiden.nl.