Playable heritage game

Phulkari darn-stitch embroidery

Also known as phulkari (flower work)

Phulkari, "flower work", is the embroidery of Punjab in India and Pakistan: long darning stitches of untwisted silk floss are sewn from the back of a coarse handwoven cotton cloth, so that gold, cream, green and orange rows of stripes build diamonds, triangles and lattices.

Play the preview About this tradition

Phulkari darn-stitch embroidery: photograph by Chiswick Chap — Photo: Chiswick Chap, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons

Phulkari darn-stitch embroidery: the game in attract mode

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How to play

Choose a floss colour and a stitch from the strip under the cloth.
Touch a square to darn it: the cloth reads the same turned half a circle, so the square at the opposite end is stitched with it.
Copy the small design shown above the cloth, then press Check.

Rules at a glance

The cloth looks the same when turned half a circle, so each stitch you place is repeated at the opposite end.
Long stitches and triangles turn with the cloth, as the floss runs the other way on the far half.
A square counts only when its stitch and its floss colour both match the design; three stars need a nearly perfect copy.

About the tradition

Women across Punjab on both sides of the border have embroidered phulkari on handspun cloth for generations; the fully covered form is called bagh, "garden", and the craft is still worked in homes and cooperatives.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of South Asia.

Credits

Pattern design: World Heritage Games (original bands after traditional darn-stitch layouts)
Photo: Chiswick Chap, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.

Sources

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Phulkari_with_traditional_flower_pat

Get the app

Phulkari darn-stitch embroidery is one of 17 textile crafts in the Textile Crafts of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 17 textile crafts in the app

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