Tamil Lambadi embroidery

About Tamil Lambadi embroidery

• The Lambadi community has been practicing the craft of Lambadi embroidery for a long time, which has served the purpose of decorating their own attire and household items.
• It has been an integral part of their identity, and the Lambadis have made constant efforts to maintain it.
• The intricate embroidery is done by Lambadi women on cotton and silk fabrics, using colourful cotton threads. 
• The traditional embroidery designs are all geometrical patterns with squares, rectangles, and circles.
• They have also been influenced by the local forests, birds, fruits and flowers.
• The elderly women of this tribal community continue to wear the Petia, their traditional five-piece dress which is made with Mushru silk from Kutch. 

Key facts about Lambadi community

• The Lambanis are also known as Banjaras and most of them are found in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu Karnataka states in South India.
• This community settled across the country with different names, have permanently abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and settled in their settlements called Tandas.
• They speak Gor Boli also called Lambadi which belongs to the Indo-Aryan Group of Languages. Lambadi has no script.

Q1) What is Embroidery?

It is a decorative and artistic craft that involves embellishing fabric or other materials with needle and thread. It is a technique where designs, patterns, or images are created by sewing various types of stitches onto a base material. Embroidery can be used to add intricate and colorful details to textiles, garments, accessories, and more.

Source: Keeping the intriguing Tamil Lambadi art of embroidery alive