Stitched to perfection: Artisans exhibit talent at crafts show

The exhibition featured unstitched and stitched embroidered apparel.


Photo Ayesha Mir/Amel Ghani December 30, 2014

LAHORE: The work of rural women was showcased at a crafts exhibition at Tollington Market on Tuesday.

The exhibition organised by Kaarvan continued from 11am to 3pm. It displayed both unstitched and stitched clothes for men, women and children. Similar workshops have earlier been arranged in Gujranwala and Sheikhupura.

“The exhibition aims to exhibit what these women have made and to show how far they have come in the past few months,” Kaarvan Chief Financial Officer Muhammad Ali told The Express Tribune.



Kaarvan is a not-for-profit organisation that works with women from rural areas. It teaches them skills such as stitching, hand embroidery and adda work through a four-month workshop.

It also helps them develop market contacts to acquire raw materials and sell their products.

“We’ve learnt where to get bulk materials from and what will be economical for us. This is something we didn’t know before,” says Saima Mehmood, group leader from Majhoo Chak in Gujranwala.

Mehmood, who has had previously worked at a beauty parlour, feels confident that she would be able to sell hand-embroidered shirts that her group has made.

For most of the participating women, including Shahida Bibi from Kharianwala in Sheikhupura, the workshop is an opportunity to become empowered.

“I am determined to establish my own set-up… by teaching what I have learnt to other women and selling my products.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2014.

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