Auction House Treasures

I had a successful bid at Kilshaw's auction house this week.

In a cardboard box I had my eye on 4 textiles in particular - this NW Indian shisha embroidery.

It is not as fine as one I already have in my collection but it is in very good condition and I like that the pieces haven't been cut out for the garment yet.

The 2nd textile is this large linen pillow case. The linen is fine but still surprisingly heavy.

It doesn't look much at the present but once it is laundered and ironed it will look beautiful.

There is pulled thread work around the edge and in each corner with a satin stitch floral motif.

I'll show it again once it is laundered.

Rabari & Bandhani Embroidery, NW India

We visited a Rabari textile collector in his home.

Next we had a workshop with the National Award '85 Winner who does Bandhani embroidery, Aminaben Ismail Khatri . We learnt how to tie minute circles of cloth in patterns. She now employs 500 women to tie lengths of silk & cotton in her designs. The image shows a sack of tied lengths of cloth ready for dyeing.

The tied cloth is dyed.

At this stage it may be re-tied to build up the design before being dyed again. This process can be repeated many times depending on how complex the design is.

India Days 1 & 2

After flying into Mumbai the day before, we flew on to Bhuj to join our tour party. We visited a Rabari textile collector.

We walked through the market area and had a thali lunch.