Research in Progress Yellow silk satin dress embroidered with silk thread and mirrors. This dress, called an aba or abo, was made and worn by a Muslim woman in Banni, a remote part of the Kutch district of Gujarat state in western India. The dress has an embroidered pattern over the front, done in incredibly fine chain-stitch and button-hole stitch, with tiny pieces of mirror-glass interspersed regularly throughout the design. The sleeves also use an intricate interlacing stitch called 'bavaliya' or 'hurmitch' in Kutch and Sindh, where it is used in local domestic embroideries. This dress would have been worn with embroidered silk satin trousers (salwar). Open pocket on right side of dress.
- Collection
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection Textiles Department
- Date published
- late 19th–early 20th century
- Dates
- late 19th–early 20th century
- Format
- Medium: silk, metallic yarns on silk, mirrors Technique: embroidered in chain-stitch and button-hole stitch on satin weave
- Pages
- H x W: 114.3 x 111.8 cm (45 x 44 in.)
- Place Discussed
- India
- Provider
- Smithsonian Institution
- Published in
- India
- Reference
- 1966-9-1
- Rights
- Gift of Mrs. Arnold Abelson
- Source
- Digital Public Library of America https://dp.la/item/533b462299e438321bef7717594052ac
