Development of Value Added Shawls Using Danka Work

The earliest recorded history revealed that man decorated the fabric surface with natural sources perhaps his clothing decorated first, than the other items necessary to his existence. Embroidery is a kind of surface decoration, evolving variety of threads silk, wool, synthetic and metallic threads like gold and silver. India has a rich cultural heritage and its traditional zari work, is a great source of inspiration for apparel decoration. In Rajasthan many styles of zari embroidery are famous. Laape-ka-kaam, mukke-ka-kaam, mukashi and danke-ka-kaam. Danka work is done only lengha and odhni of women only in Mewar region. A questionnaire developed by the researcher to know about the current status of danka work. Danka motifs were collected by the researcher and rating Performa developed by researcher to select 15 motifs for shawl design. Further, the selected fifteen motifs were used to develop 15 shawl designs to select the best five placements for development of danka work shawls. A five point ranking Performa and a questionnaire was given to 30 respondents (women belongs to middle income group selected purposively) to find out the acceptability of the danka work shawls. The developed /modified designs were highly appreciated by the respondents and consumers as shown by their higher acceptability (above 70% for each shawl).