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| This long blouse is decorated with handsewn shisha and silk-and-cotton embroidery. It was made bU the Harjan clan oj Kutch, India, in the late 19th or early 20th century. |
No one has yet documented how these mirrors came to be used in Indian embroidery or who developed the technique. In A History of Textiles, Kax Wilson claims that the mirror work originated with the hill tribes of southern India, who sewed beetle backs onto wedding garments. Orthodox Hindus, disapproving of this practice, used pieces of mica instead. Eventually bits of glass or mirrors were used.
Author Jacqueline Enthoven believes that shisha was developed by clever servants who admired the jewels embroidered onto the maharanis' clothing. At first they probably salvaged chips of broken jewelry. Later, the mirrors were manufactured and practically everyone could afford them.
The most charming story is Jean Simp-son’s in Shisha Mirror Embroidery. Shah J than erected several buildings with rooms of mirrors, called shish mahals (palaces of mirrors). His wife, Mumtaz Mahal, developed the technique of shisha embroidery so the shah's beloved mirrors would appear on clothing, pillows, and wall hangings. When she died, the shah built the Taj Mahal as a monument to their love and a mausoleum where they could be together forever. Later, Shah Jahan was overthrown by a son who imprisoned him across the river from the Taj Mahal. From there, the shah was only able to view the resting place of his dead lover by gazing at one small shisha mirror embedded in the wall.
Shisha embroidery is practiced all over India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In some regions, bright-colored peacocks, elephants, and flowers are embroidered around the mirrors; in others, the designs are geometric and the colors subdued. But no matter what the variation, shisha work is always laden with mirrors, and applying them by hand is a time-consuming task.
Caryl Rae Hancock, of Vienna, VA, has devised a quick, clever way to attach shisha with free-machine embroidery. In this technique, the fabric is not advanced by the machine’s feed dogs as you stitch; instead, it is manipulated by hand so that you are almost drawing with thread. On a piece of organza, you stitch a circle slightly smaller than the shisha. Next, you cut out the circle’s center and free-machine embroider satin stitches. Then you cut around the outside of the circle and lay the organza ring on the shisha, which has been glued to the foundation fabric. You straight-stitch to attach the shisha to the fabric and free-machine embroider again to hide the edges of the ring.
To apply shisha by machine, you need a zigzag machine with a size 10/11 (70) needle and thread that matches the fabric. I use extra-fine machine-embroidery thread. The bobbin thread will show, so use the same color in the bobbin as you used to thread the machine, or choose complementary colors. You need a 6-in. to 8-in. machine-embroidery hoop or a screw-type hoop—one that's not too large to work with on your machine. You need a piece of organza, a foundation fabric heavy enough to support the mirrors, a pencil or fade-out pen, and a glue stick or white fabric glue.
Shisha mirrors are available in three forms: antique, perfect, and rainbow. They range from about % in. (9mm) to 1 in. (25mm) in diameter. Antique shisha are the best for embroidery because they're washable and lightweight. They are hand- cut into small disks from silvered glass blown about 1 ft. in diameter, and their imperfections—uneven edges, irregular sizes, surface bubbles—are part of their charm. Perfect shisha, as their name implies, are pcrfect. Mass-produced in round, squarc, and rectangular shapcs, they are thicker than antique shisha. They're also not washable, so if you put them on clothing, you must have the garment dry- cleaned. Rainbow shisha are two-sided: a plain mirror on one side; a colored mirror on the other. Either side may show.
To apply shisha, set your machine for free-machine embroidery, as you would for darning: Use a straight stitch with 0 lengths and width or a medium-width zigzag stitch, as shown in the drawing on the facing page. Lower or cover the feed dogs, and either put on a darning foot or use no presser foot at all. If you loosen the top tension slightly, you will decrease the chance of dropped stitches.
Once you have mastered the techniques, you can prepare organza for four mirrors at the same time. Use a piece of organza that fits over an 8-in. to 10-in. embroidery hoop, and position the shisha so you won't stitch too close to the edge of the hoop.
Instead of organza, you could use WSS, Aqua-Solv, or Solvy—transparent, plastic fabrics that dissolve with water. After the shisha are in place, spray the mirrored areas with water. (For a moment the stabilizer will look like melting jellyfish, then will disappear.) Make sure that you've secured the zigzag stitches with the straight stitches (Fig. 9), or they will flap loose.
To create a different look, or if you don't have a zigzag machine, you can hold the shisha in place with a nonfrayable fabric like felt or a material like leather or Ultrasuede. Trace the shisha on the underside of the fabric and cut a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the shisha. Then trim the fabric at least Vs in. larger than the shisha. Place the ring of fabric over the shisha that you have already glued to the foundation fabric, and straight-stitch (or zigzag) around the edge of the fabric.
You can put the foundation fabric in a hoop to make the free-machine embroidery easier, but as the fabric becomes covered with shisha, you won't be able to position the hoop without breaking a mirror. If you're decorating clothing, especially necklines or other edges, attach the minors before cutting out the pattern pieces.
