I spent ages looking
around for Paisley inspiration for a cushion cover I was making to paint with fabric colors.
I was on a mission to
shop for my fabric stash since long. I am still working on the mission….one day
I noticed that most of the fabrics I bought contained paisleys…not only that I
noticed that there are lots of paisley designs on my bed sheets/
cushions/shawls/ even on greeting cards contained paisley design on them.
Today, I thought I’d take a little look
at paisley—it’s an Indian design named for Scottish town. Stay tuned a little
later for my paisley round-up!
The pillow in Above two photos were what i found on my couch.....
And these were on a wedding card........
Paisley Inspired by Nature
There are many theories as to the genesis of the paisley pattern. One theory is
that it originated in ancient Babylon and took its inspiration from the growing
shoot of the date palm. For ancient Babylonians, the date palm represented the
tree of life – the palm was the source of their food, wine, thatch, wood, paper
and string and represented prosperity and plenty. The motif spread from Babylon
to India where it was incorporated into all types of design.
From India to Europe via the East India Company
The East India Company had the monopoly on delivering luxury goods to Britain from the East. The Kashmir shawl, so highly prized that it was often the gift of choice for nobility, was quickly appreciated by officers in the East India Company. So taken with the quality of the wool (cashmere), those officers began to bring a few shawls back to Britain as gifts. The Kashmir shawl quickly became all the rage. The shawl became firmly cemented as a fashionable item when Empress Josephine in France began wearing them as a compliment to her “antique style” of dress. Josephine was said to have owned hundreds of shawls. Everyone wanted one of these rare Kashmir shawls but at Rs 10000-25000 it was certainly not something everyone could afford.
The East India Company had the monopoly on delivering luxury goods to Britain from the East. The Kashmir shawl, so highly prized that it was often the gift of choice for nobility, was quickly appreciated by officers in the East India Company. So taken with the quality of the wool (cashmere), those officers began to bring a few shawls back to Britain as gifts. The Kashmir shawl quickly became all the rage. The shawl became firmly cemented as a fashionable item when Empress Josephine in France began wearing them as a compliment to her “antique style” of dress. Josephine was said to have owned hundreds of shawls. Everyone wanted one of these rare Kashmir shawls but at Rs 10000-25000 it was certainly not something everyone could afford.
It’s all in the Materials – Kashmir
British textile manufactures seized the opportunity to reproduce these Kashmir
shawls. The real hurdle was in creating a shawl that had the same feel
as Kashmir. The Himalayan goat produced an underfleece to protect it from the
intense cold – this under fleece (known as pashmina) was shed every summer and
would be collected from rocks and bushes. The higher in the mountain, the
better quality the fleece would be. To supplement this limited supply,
domesticated goats were also raised for their fleece but even these goats
produced only two pounds of down each year (which could be used to weave one 4
foot by 6 inch shawl). The earliest British imitations were priced at £20 and
were made mainly of silk.
My today’s
creation with Chameli
The day is still
young, but I already feel so much better having worked with Chameli
(Yes this is named as Jasmine too) , who enticed me
with his scent to play....for Jasmine is known to be the King of Flowers.
Have a good day!!!!!!!!!!!
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