Glossary
- Abrash:
- varying colors in a single warp, deliberately caused or inadvertently caused during dyeing.
- Amlikar:
- shawls with allover embroidery; in contrast to woven shawl (kamikar).
- Band-woven:
- narrow bands or fabric strips, woven separately and attached to shawl.
- Beading:
- as used in shawl weaving is a repetitively spotted line used as a minor accent for border edges.
- Bel:
- floral motif, blossoms and leaves on zigzag stem; common on hashias and tanjirs.
- Boteh:
- conventionalized teardrop-shape floral motif; paisley, pine cone, or mango shape (also buta, buthi).
- Buta:
- see boteh.
- Buthi:
- see boteh.
- Buti:
- small flower.
- Caparison:
- ornamental covering for a horse.
- Cari:
- mango shape, Hindi term for boteh motif.
- Chandar:
- moon, moon shawl.
- Charkha:
- wheel, Indian spinning wheel.
- Dhor:
- a figured motif that borders the field (also daur).
- Dochalla:
- long shawl.
- Field:
- main central panel of shawl; can be surrounded by gallery, hashias, tanjirs, pallas.
- Fringe gate:
- different colored blocks of woolen fabric, often embroidered with mihrabs, forming the fringe of a shawl.
- Gallery:
- wide border, surrounding main central portion (field) of shawl and separating it from the hashia borders.
- Ga'u:
- class of objects from reliquary boxes to amulets.
- Hashia:
- side panel of flat weave textile, typically woven separately and pieced.
- Ikat:
- resist dyeing process in which designs are dyed into warp or weft threads.
- Jhal:
- fine floral detail.
- Kairi (Hindi):
- mango shape, another name for the boteh motif (also kairy or cari).
- Kamarband:
- sash (cumberbund).
- Kamikar:
- shawls in which designs were fully woven in (contrast to allover embroidery, amlikar).
- Karkhana:
- workshop, under state supervision.
- Khaddar:
- coarse plain-woven cotton cloth, base for Phulkari embroidery.
- Mihrab:
- prayer niche of mosque; in shawls, the architectural element was echoed in fringe gates of the mid-nineteenth century.
- Moon shawl:
- square shawl containing a central medallion and quarter medallion in each corner.
- Mughal:
- South Asian empire, which ruled Kashmir from capitals in Delhi and Agra, A.D. 1483-1757.
- Nal:
- pairs of warp that occur in a 2/2 twill.
- Naqqash:
- shawl designer.
- Nimsuzani:
- Uzbek wall hanging.
- Odhani:
- veil.
- Ombré:
- French term meaning "shaded." It is used in relation to textiles as an adjective to describe fabrics with a dyed, printed, or woven design in which the color is graduated from light to dark and often into stripes of varying shades.
- Palla:
- end panel of flat weave textile.
- Pashm:
- unwoven Kashmir goat hair.
- Pashmina:
- woven Kashmir goat hair.
- Patka:
- sash; long and narrow shawl wrapped around the waist; could be used as a turban.
- Phulkari:
- exacting form of embroidery.
- Rafugar:
- male needleworker, shawl seamster.
- Rangrez:
- dyers of wool yarns.
- Roundel:
- a circular decorative ornament, from the old French rondel, meaning "small circle."
- Rten:
- amulets.
- Rumal:
- square shawl.
- S-twist:
- a yarn that has been spun to the left, or in a counterclockwise direction. The twisted fibers slope to the left, in the same direction as an "S."
- Selvedge:
- edge on either side of a woven fabric.
- Shed:
- space between raised and unraised warps, through which weft thread is passed; each shed comprises one row of weaving.
- Soumak:
- weaving technique, used for texture, consisting of weft-wrapped groups of loom warps.
- Suzani:
- embroidered textiles from Central Asia, used for home furnishings.
- Talim:
- written coded plan containing instructions for shawl weaving.
- Talim guru:
- code master in weaving shop.
- Tangka:
- portable religious painting on cloth.
- Tanjir:
- horizontal border, lying above and below the palla. Often identical to the hashia.
- Tarah guru:
- color caller in weaving shop.
- Tiraz:
- palace factory or workshop.
- Toji:
- bobbin, wooden sticks around which warp threads are wrapped.
- Turanj:
- mango shape, Kashmiri term for boteh.
- Verge:
- see gallery.
- Volute:
- spiral or scroll shaped form.
- Warp:
- the lengthwise threads which are stretched on a loom, forming the underlying structure or foundation of a cloth.
- Weft:
- thread which crosses the cloth at right angles to the warp, forming the pattern.
- Yun-tsai-t'ou:
- geometric motif found in textile borders of Central Asia and Kashmir, converging lines above a trefoil.
- Z-twist:
- a yarn that has been spun to the right, or in a clockwise direction. The twisted fibers slope to the right, in the same direction as a "Z."