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Activities / Phulkari / Phulkari Toran

Phulkari Toran

Phulkari Toran: Festive Door Hanging with Darned Pennants

Level
Intermediate
Duration
5 - 8 hours (over a few evenings)
Budget
₹315 – ₹1,260
Age
12+
State
Punjab

Materials

  • Plain cotton cloth, coarse even weave
  • Stranded cotton embroidery floss in three colours
  • Embroidery hoop, 10 to 13 cm (4 to 5 in)
  • Hand embroidery needles with a big eye
  • Cotton cord or wide ribbon
  • Water-erasable fabric pen
  • Sewing thread for seams and tassels
  • Beads for the tassels (optional)
  • Scissors, ruler, pencil, paper for the pennant pattern and iron (adult help)

Steps

  1. Set up a bright table and gather your supplies
    Work near a window or under a bright lamp, because you will be counting cloth threads. Lay out the cotton cloth, three colours of floss, needles, a small hoop, scissors, a ruler and a washable pen. Thread a needle with 3 strands of floss about 45 cm (18 in) long. Common mistake: using all 6 strands at once, which makes the stitches thick and the cloth pucker.
    Tip: Split the floss strand by strand and put 3 back together. It tangles less.
  2. Cut five 15 x 20 cm squares of cloth for the front panels
    Cut five rectangles from the cotton, each 15 cm wide and 20 cm tall (about 6 x 8 in). They are bigger than the pennants on purpose, so the hoop has something to grip. Keep the edges roughly straight by pulling out a thread and cutting along the gap it leaves. You will cut the pennant shape only after the embroidery is done.
  3. Draw a pennant and a diamond on each square
    On each square, draw a 12 cm line 2 cm below the top edge, centred. From its two ends, draw lines meeting at a point 16 cm below it, so you have a triangle pointing down. In the middle of that triangle, 6 cm below the top line, draw a 6 cm wide diamond, then join its opposite corners to make four small triangles. Use a washable pen so the lines vanish later.
    Tip: Draw the first pennant carefully, cut a paper copy of it, and trace around the paper for the other four.
  4. Stitch the first small triangle in darning stitch
    Put one square in the hoop, pulled drum tight. Knot your thread, bring the needle up at one corner of a small triangle, pick up 2 cloth threads, skip 6, and repeat across the row so the floss lies in long, even stitches on top. Make the next row 2 cloth threads below and shift each stitch half a step. Common mistake: pulling the thread tight, which puckers the cloth.
    Tip: Say it out loud while you stitch: pick 2, skip 6.
  5. Fill the other three triangles with alternating directions
    Fill the opposite triangle in the same colour and the same direction, then fill the other two triangles in a second colour with stitches running the other way. Two directions and two colours make the diamond shimmer as you move it in the light, which is what phulkari is known for. Each diamond takes about 45 minutes, so stitch one pennant each evening.
  6. Add a border row in a third colour, then repeat on all five
    With your third colour, stitch one row 3 mm outside the diamond, following its outline. Remove the cloth from the hoop and repeat the whole pattern on the other four squares, keeping the same colours so the pennants look like a set. Take a short rest every 30 minutes, because counting threads tires your eyes.
  7. Press the panels and cut out the pennants
    Lay each panel face down on a folded towel and press it gently with a warm iron for 10 seconds, with an adult's help. Then cut around each triangle, 1 cm outside the pen line, so there is a seam allowance. Cut five backing triangles of plain cloth the same size, with the same 1 cm allowance. Common mistake: cutting on the pen line, which leaves no cloth to sew.
  8. Sew each pennant to its backing and turn it out
    Put an embroidered triangle and a backing triangle together with the right sides facing in. Sew the two long sides 1 cm from the edge with small running stitches, leaving the top open. Snip the tip of the point, turn the pennant right side out and push the point out with a pencil. Press it flat, then fold the open top edge 1 cm inward on both layers.
  9. Stitch the pennants onto a 90 cm cord
    Lay the cord out and mark the places for five pennants, starting 7 cm from one end and leaving 4 cm between pennants. Fold the top 2 cm of each pennant over the cord and hem it down with small stitches through all layers, 5 mm from the fold. The cord should slide inside the fold. Leave the 7 cm at each end free, to tie into loops.
    Tip: Pin each pennant to the cord first so the spacing stays equal.
  10. Add tassels, tie the loops and hang it up
    Wind thread 20 times around two fingers, tie it near the top, snip the bottom loops and stitch the tassel to a pennant's tip with two stitches. Thread a bead above each tassel if you like. Tie a small loop at each cord end and hang the toran from two hooks above a door. Keep it away from candles and diyas, and check that the hooks hold it.

Sustainability

Medium - made from fabric scraps and cord; can be reused every festive season

Safety

Needle pricks; keep the hanging out of reach of candles and diyas; check the hook can carry the weight