Phulkari is known as the traditional embroidery technique from the punjab in india, literally means an art of floral motifs in bright colors of fabrics, which was at one time used as the word for embroidery, but in time the word phulkari became restricted to embroidered shawls and head scarfs. simple and sparsely embroidered odini (head scarfs) and shawls, made for everyday use, are called phulkaris, whereas garments that cover the entire body, made for special and ceremonial occasions, are known as baghs (garden). The origin of phulkari can not exactly be traced. there is reference of this embroidery though goes nack to 2000 years back to the vedic ages. phulkari has been mentioned in the famous tale of heer-ranjha by the poet waris shah. its present form and popularity goes back to 15th century, during maharaja ranjit singh's reign. Phulkaris are worked with the darning stitch, placed at different angles, vertical, horizontal and diagonal. the darn stitch is used in phulkari work while the base material for the embroidery has traditionally been hand-spun, hand-woven and natural dyed khadi. colours like white, dark blue, black and brown were used for the base material but the preferred colour was red. the embroidering is done from the reverse side of the fabric with the silk yarn which gives a shaded effect to the fabric. the uniqueness of this work is that the fabric itself is used as an inner decoration so that the pattern sewn on becomes an integrated combination of colours. the smoothness on the reverse of the fabric speaks volumes of the quality of workmanship and skill of the embroider. the motifs used are karela bagh, gobhi bagh, dhaniya bagh and mirchi bagh are based on motifs inspired by vegetables while shalimar charbagh and chaurasia bagh are motifs based on the famed gardens. satrangas are seven-coloured motifs and panchrangas are five-coloured motifs while the most common and beautiful motifs is based on the wheat and barley stalks that grow all over punjab. It is worked on curtains, bedspreads, cushion covers, wall hangings, chiffon saris, kurtas or shirts and dupattas or shawls.