I began by drawing birds and flowers in order to get some shapes and designs that I can use later on .For me all design work starts from the drawing. With the use of App.Ollogy I can stylize and transform the … creating more drawings and designs .
Sagheh doozi – stem stitch is usually used as outline stitch
Petk chahargoosh – a geometrical square shape
Petk Sehgoosh – a geometrical triangular shape
Ab Doozi – a long ( 1 to 2 cm ) couched stitch
Matn doozi – the use of ab doozi to fill in the background
Negin doozi – jewel stitch is an intricate combination of ab doozi as to create a jewel like motif with a stitch in one colour enclosed by another on each side .
Gharjar doozi -is a combination of ab doozi creating a grid
To por doozi – fill in stitch like satin stitch
Barg Doozi – is a variety of stitches used to contour shapes
Dookht Jaadoui – magic stitch is done by twisting two yarns together and stitching the Ab Doozi stitch with them . It creates a very rich effect. For instance , making the first couch stitch in red and filling in the background with blue creates a purple effect .Twisting red and blue together and doing all the stitching with both creates the same but at twice the speed! It is considered cheating but personally I love it !
There are a variety of stitches been added to modern pateh doozi by younger and less traditional stitchers like feather and rope stitch. The modernization of Pateh Doozi is causing concern for some traditionalists .’Fantasy’ stitches, colours and designs as they are called are creeping in. Like most things in Iran , people are on the defensive when it comes to change but there have been several renaissances due to various factors like economics and the market place to political factors. For instance , there was a great Pateh renaissance in the Pahlavi era as Farah Pahlavi, the late Shahs wife encouraged and supported arts and craft revival . My own personal opinion is that change is good and progress happens as long as we understand and respect the crafts history and recreate it with the same quality of workmanship . The craft has exploded during the last year and many young stitchers are appearing with the spread of Instagram . They are making little cottage industries selling their crafts and the equipment for it as well as teaching on line. Items from necklaces, tissue boxes , hand bags and purses are being made , even shoes. It is incredible ! A new respect for the crafts is appearing and long needed and it can be a great source of income and support.
The wool ariz is a locally woven fabric usually woven at 90cm wide and you can buy it by the metre. It comes in red and white , turquoise, saffron, navy blue and green. It is a twill weave .This has alway puzzled me as it is not a stable fabric and can be pulled and distorted on the bias very easily and therefore it is practically imposing to embroider straight lines on ! But On reflection, maybe straight lines are few and far between ! It is a medium weight fabric and easily embroidered on .It has a great handle and very pleasing to work with .
Packs are available in assorted colours and yarns from suppliers in Kerman . The designs are printed onto the fabric ready to sew. In the past the designs would have been transferred either freehand or with a stencil marked with charcoal. It is appropriate to wash both the fabric and the yarns before use. The black ink tends to spread during stitching so it is best to wash away the excess before hand. The yarns may bleed dye so washing before use will prevent running when the piece is cleaned.
The designs are divided into four categories, Flowers and Florals , Geometrical, Katibé or Cornice and Birds .
1 – Flowers and Florals : Gol va Boteh designs are flowers including Shah Abbasi flower motif from the lotus flower, water lilies ,carnations, sunflowers and iris.They are incorporated with the Boteh design which is the shape we have come to know as Paisley.
The Boteh design originates from the pre islamic design and motifs of a cypress tree . It has taken on a curl at the top over the years but used to be straight. it can still be seen in designs for prayer mats and is called Boteh Badaami which means almond shaped. This shape comes in various configurations , one of which is Mother and Child which is a large Boteh and a small one in arms as it were. There can be more than one child Boteh on the design . There is also. Boteh Motif called Ghar va Ashti which means to sulk and to reconciliate ! They are usually back to back or all facing in a one direction repeat. Botehs can be used in the border designs . There is also a motif which shows the smaller Boteh inside a larger one which means God and the inferior Human .
Trees are included in this section and are made up of the Cypress Tree and The Tree of Life . They are usually used for curtains or prayer mats and are rectagular in shape from 50×100 cm to 1 x 2.80 metres .
2 – Katibé or Cornice Designs is another category of designs and is usually used for prayer mats , curtains or wall decoration. They are rectangular in shape . The designs are pre islamic and were used on pieces for religious and celebratory occasions .
3 – Geometrical Designs . These designs can be either square or oval and cover the majority of the design repeats in the borders .There are special motif borders called Baazobandi which is an armlet used to decorate a hero or a champion .
The circular designs are called Toranji and are either round or square pieces used for boghche , as wrap used for wedding gifts and for keeping precious things in . The pieces are also used as cushions, table cloths, especially for traditional occasions. Dark Pateh pieces are used for burial ceremonies either decoration or to place over the bodies.
4 – Birds & Animals . Peacocks, parrots, love birds, nightingales and cocks as well as deer and fawns can be seen in antique Pateh Doozi especially from tthe Ghajar period and they are reappearing incorporated in a new calligraphy design Pateh Doozi.
There are many new designs on the market in this modern renaissance.
https://instagram.com/pate8colors?igshid=d8q5mp3ew5ta
https://instagram.com/pateh.ghorbani?igshid=zehgihanr0ij
https://instagram.com/dastineh_needlework?igshid=1cir307b0ychf
Pateh originates from Kerman in the south of Iran and is worked by women . The earliest Pateh dates back to the 18 the century . It goes further back but wool does not keep well, therefore we have little remaining evidence.
Pateh consist of a woolen fabric or shawl called ‘Arriz’ اریز and the embroidery threads which as usually of the same woolen yarns.
It is a folk art needlework which means that the objects usually have a practical use . There are 8 traditional colour yarns and is usually worked on a red or white background . Although in recent years working on orange , turquoise and navy backgrounds has become popular .The designs are traditional and most definitely have their origin in the carpert designs of the area.Paisley patterns بتجقه the central Toranj design and the Tree of Life are familiar designs used in Pateh Doozi .
The goat wool that is produced in Kerman goes back to Roman times and before . It was called Carmenian Wool and was prized for centuries and raised a high price.Pashmina is now forbidden due to the fact that the pulling of the down from the undercoat and behind the ears of the animal and is considered cruel. The fleeces are now sheered off in Australia,China and Iran but some illegal pulling still goes on in Pakistan and India. . Fleecing occurs and is produced and spun in Kerman but the Pasmina producing goat is now an endangered species. These days , the Merino Sheep wool is used for both carpets and crafts.
The word Pashmina comes from the Farsi word”pashm” which means wool and is the name of the fine fluffy wool that is harvested from the neck region and behind the ears of the goats. Due to the very cold climate the goats have developed a double fleece which molts in the Spring and can be easily combed from the animal.
There are often inquiries as to which came first , the Indian /Kashmir woolen industry or the Iranian . The fact is the Iranian export was really taken on and expanded in a superb way in India and became dominant during the 18 th and 19th century as trade with the British Colonial power boomed.
The story starts with the Central Asian Mountain Goat.
A sufi called “Seyyed Ali Hamedani” from Hamedan, Iran ,travelled several times to what we now call Kashmir but was then know as Ladakh region of India in the year 713 . He recognised a similar kind of goat to the Central Iranian Plains and decided to harvest the wool as he had seen in his home country , spin it and knit a pair of socks which he presented to the king .Sultan Qutabdin was so impressed with their warmth he requested Hamedani to go back to Iran and bring the industry to Ladakh . It is said that Hamedani took over 700 artisans from Iran , from breeder, spinners, weavers and stitchers and a whole industry began .
In 2014 , The United Nations agency Unesco reported and honoured. Mir Seyyed Ali Hamedani as one of the principle figures who shaped the culture of Kashmir both architecturally and through the flourishing of arts and crafts and hence the economy. The skills and knowledge he brought from Iran to Ladakh gave rise to a whole industry.
The Boteh design which is familiar to all Iranian crafts from carpets to the shawls is what we call in the West , the Paisley design . It is described as a tear shape but the motif is actually derived from the evergreen tree , Sarv . The anglicanisation of the name came about as the shawl weaving industry took shape in Paisley ,Glasgow in the 19th century .
These shawls were replicas of the Indian Kashmiri shawls and were being mass produced in Renfrewshire ,Scotland as the industrial revolution brought in the Jaquard looms . The shawls were extremely popular during Victorian times and became a fashion statement for the women of the day .
The wool used in Kerman for Pateh Doozi today varies from the same local wool spun and dyed locally or imported wool from Australia. The yarns are both chemically and naturally dyed but are used separately as the naturally dyed yarn pieces are more expensive and are usually of a more finely spun count.
Pateh takes many of its designs from the famous Kerman carpets designs and similarity can be seen clearly as to a central mandala with borders. Kerman in situated in a dry desert plain and has severely cold winters and hot summers. Life is spent indoors and therefore the art and crafts have replaced flowers, gardens , birds etc… with their weaving and stitching and brought them into their homes.
Dzignpatch 