The outlines of the design are further touched up and emphasized with silk or woollen thread of different colours run round the finer details; the stitch used for this is at an angle overlapping darn stitch, all the stitches used are so minute and fine that individually they can be seen with the unaided eye only with difficulty. When Pashmina wool is used for the embroidery work, it is made to blend so intimately with the texture of the basic shawl material that it would be difficult to insert even a fine needle between the embroidery stitches and the basic fabric. Michele Maskiell, “Consuming Kashmir: Shawls and Empires, 1500–2000,” Journal of World History 13, No. 1 (Spring 2002): pp. 48-52 It’s quite rare that a book turns out to be just what you hope it will be, but this book was. It was exactly what I was in the mood for and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From the 16th to the early 20th centuries, the Safavid, Zand and Qajar emperors of Iran wore Kashmir shawl fabrics and gifted Kashmir shawls as khil'at within their political and religious practices. [4] In the Iranian elite, both men and women wore Kashmir shawl fabric as fitted clothes, rather than as a loose covering of the upper body. [4] I really recommend this as a Historical read, so very interesting. Even when Mair goes there, there is fighting between the Hindu's and the Muslims. So very sad.

Summary and reviews of The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas Summary and reviews of The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas

Pushing Pashmina: Securing a Wrap". Wall Street Journal. 1999-11-06. ISSN 0099-9660 . Retrieved 2020-03-27. What attracted me to this book was the Kashmir region. I was hoping to see a vivid picture of this place, known as one of the most beautiful places in the world, and of the people living there and the events leading to the conflict between India and Pakistan. The naksha, a Persian device like the Jacquard loom invented centuries later, enabled Indian weavers to create sinuous floral patterns and creeper designs in brocade to rival any painted by a brush. The Kashmir shawl that evolved from this expertise in its heyday had greater fame than any other Indian textile. Always a luxury commodity, the intricate, tapestry-woven, fine wool shawl had become a fashionable wrap for the ladies of the English and French elite by the 18th century. Supply fell short of demand and manufacturers pressed to produce more, created convincing embroidered versions of the woven shawls that could be produced in half the time. As early as 1803, Kashmiri needlework production was established to increase and hasten output of these shawls, which had been imitated in England since 1784 and even in France. By 1870, the advent of the Jacquard loom in Europe destroyed the exclusivity of the original Kashmir shawl, which began to be produced in Paisley, Scotland. Even the characteristic Kashmiri motif, the mango-shape, began to be known simply as the paisley.Bhatnagar, Parul (2004). Traditional Indian costumes & textiless. Chandigarh: abhishek. pp.30–34, 95. ISBN 81-8247-002-1. With their men away at war, the women are left to entertain themselves as best they can in a country where their presence is becoming less and less welcome. Nerys and her friends Myrtle and Caroline could never have dreamed of the changes the war and the absence of husbands will make on their lives. Decades later, Mair attempts to find out both the public and private histories of this staunch group of friends, sitting out the war in a houseboat in Srinagar. A weaver’s son, possessed of a weaver’s patience,” sang Kabir, a 15th-century Indian poet and weaver whose words remain true centuries later. Patience is an essential element in weaving, especially in the weaving of a Kashmiri shawl. Each bundle of wool, too fragile to be worked by a machine and weighing as little as 50g, takes many hours to clean before it is treated with rice paste, washed and spun into gauzy threads, and sent to artisans at the loom. Kashmiri shawls are traditionally decorated using kani, tiny bobbins wound with different coloured threads, and the artisan manipulates the bobbins to create the design one deft move at a time. An intricate Kani piece can take more than two years to complete – and delicate embroideries are likewise time consuming. Each Kashmiri shawl requires human hands and inhuman patience. As we read Nerys’s story and peel away the layers of secrecy, her granddaughter is doing the same but without the benefit that we as readers have. We’re following Mair’s pursuit of the story but we’re a few steps ahead of her most of the way. We watch as she narrows down the location where the shawl was made, finds people who can help her with Nerys’s story, and eventually we reach the final chapters where everything ‘more or less’ knits together and the mysteries are all tied up.

shawls (article) | 1500–1857 C.E. | Khan Academy Cashmere shawls (article) | 1500–1857 C.E. | Khan Academy

We know you’ll discover the right designer Kashmir Shawl or Scarf for ANY occasion in our elite Seasons Collections! While the Kashmir Shawl or Scarf you painstakingly chose for her flatters all of her unique, sensual curves in a way that no other garment can! I do admire authors who have researched their books well and give a true flavour of places they write about. The Kashmir shawl is a type of shawl distinctive for its Kashmiri weave, and traditionally made of shahtoosh or pashmina wool. Known for its warmth, light weight and characteristic buta design, the Kashmir shawl was originally used by Mughal royalty and nobility. In the late 18th century, it arrived in Europe, where its use by Queen Victoria and Empress Joséphine popularised it as a symbol of exotic luxury and status. It became a toponym for the Kashmir region itself (as cashmere), inspiring mass-produced imitation industries in India and Europe, and popularising the buta, today known as the Paisley motif. [9] This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Kashmir shawls came to evoke fairytale status and marriage for bourgeois women. In Elizabeth Gaskell's 1854 novel North and South, Margaret, the heroine, modelled a Kashmir shawl, with Gaskell describing the shawl as having a "spicy Eastern smell", "soft feel" and "brilliant colour". [19] When Margaret met her future husband, Gaskell described her attire as completed by "a large Indian shawl which hung about her in heavy folds and which she wore as an empress wears her drapery". [20] I learned a lot about India that changed my perspective on the current situation with China, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. I also enjoyed learning a bit about World War II and British India.