Phulkari, literally means flower working is an embroidery technique from the Punjab. Simple and sparsely embroidered odini and shawls, made for everyday use, are called Phulkaris, whereas garments that cover the entire body are made for special and ceremonial occasions are known as Baghs (Garden). Phulkaris and Baghs were worn by women all over Punjab during marriage festivals and other festivals. This handicraft did not arise out of any pure artistic motive, but mainly to satisfy domestic necessity. The inborn talent and spontaneous approach of the uneducated village women, her deft hand and resourcefulness have raised such works out of the realm of necessity into the domain of art, pleasing in colour and designs as they are.

There is a custom that Phulkaris and Baghs are given to brides at the time of marriages. Some best Phulkaris and Baghs are known to have been made in Hazara and Chakwal, areas of Northern Punjab. There is a belief that the art of Phulkari came from Iran where it is known as "Gulkari". There is reference of Phulkari in Vedas, Mahabharat, Guru Granth Sahib and folk songs of Punjab.The main characteristics of Phulkari embroidery are use of darn stitch on the wrong side of coarse cotton cloth with colored silken thread.

Phulkari is an art of decorating shawls, dupatas with embroidered floral motifs. The smaller the stitch, finer is the quality of the embroidery. The silk threads in golden yellow, crimson, red, orange, green and pink are usually used for the embroidery. It is worthy to note that a single strand was used at a time, each part worked in one color and the varied color effect is obtained by clever use of horizontal, vertical or diagonal stitches. Many folk songs on Phulkari are part of Punjab culture.

The phulkaris of Punjab are of two types, one carrying a regular row of stylized motifs either of flowers, fruits or birds and other carrying a rich repertoire of the folklore and motifs taken from everyday life. The centre often carries a stylized lotus form the two cross borders at the two cross borders at the ends carry rows of stylized lotus form, the two cross borders at the ends carry rows of stylized animals and bird forms, or flowers. The remaining surface is covered with a variety of motifs : a train on wheels carrying human forms, birds and animals rushing across the horizon, while peacocks move across the surface and strange mythical birds and animals mingle together in harmony.

Procedure of making Phulkari.
The Punjab phulkari is of a spectacular nature. The word means flowering and it creates a flowery surface. The phulkari stitch derives its richness from the use of darning stitch placed in different directions - vertical, horizontal and diagonal. Embroidery is done from the wrong side. The pattern is controlled by counting of thread, but quite often the outline of pattern is embroidered on the cloth in green thread. The needle picks up only one thread at a time, so that the back of pattern is delineated with single lines of color in extremely fine stitches. In the front the stitch ranges from ½ to ¼ cms in size.The stitching is done with silk thread, though occasionally cotton threads in white and green are used, and sometimes even woollen. A peculiarity of phulkari is that the fabric itself is used geometrically as an inner decoration, so that the medallions and diamonds, etc are not just patterns sewn on but become an integrated combination of colours, yellow and madder brown. This is only possible where absolute accuracy in thread counting is observed.

In bagh work the stitch is so refined that the embroidery becomes the fabric itself. The quality of the workmanship is measured by the smoothness at the back that can only result from the evenness of the stitches.