A Journey of Stitches from Tradition to the Heritage

Embroidery of Swat

Abstract

The fertile lands of Swat Valley have developed both high art - stone carving and sculpture which has no further extent after the arrival of Islam, and folk arts; practiced in a true tradition until the second half of the twentieth century. There are enough texts of historians and scholars available to understand the historical, geographical, political, and social structure of the valley, but domestic crafts have always been neglected or noticed occasionally. The preceding lines is a description of the so-called 'traditional embroidery' of Swat, based on two envelope-shaped purses, the wedding gifts of my grandfather; embroidered in the 1920s.