Shiri

See Jali.

Chikan work made in India, so called because it looks like a " jal " or a fishing net. It is mostly based on drawn thread work and commonly includes the following varieties: - (1) Jali - In this a fine reticulated effect is produced by taking up a few threads of the warp and weft on to the needle and drawing them together with a thread on the needle. It is done within the outlines of a design and is carried up one way and down another, the result being a number of small holes separated by minute button-holing. No threads are drawn out from the fabric, only very fine cotton thread is used on the needle and the work is done from the wrong side of the cloth. (2) Bilati Jali - In which the actual process is the same as in Jali, except that some threads of the fabric are drawn out before sewing begins and thicker thread is used in the needle, the result being that the holes in the pattern produced are squarer and larger than in Jali. (3) Chatai Jali - In which the holes are made as in Bilati Jali, but an alternating band of fabric is left between each two parallel bands of openings. (4) Mandraji, or Madras Jali - In which, Croceeding as above, the band of fabric between the large openings is further broken up into minute Jali openings, the large openings themselves being usually round. (5) Shiri - Which is simply a single line of Kholas and corresponds to the French Jour Echelle. (6) Kholas - In which five or six threads are drawn out right across the fabric, three or four then left, five or six again drawn out, and so on, in as many lines as may be desired, the work then proceeds as in Bilati Jali. All the various kinds of Kholas are done mainly on the borders of handkerchiefs. (7) Basket - Which is a species of Kholas in which a differently shaped pattern is placed between two lines of Shirli. According to the intervening pattern this work is known as Kholas basket, Chand basket, or Gajar basket. (8) Renda, or Jingir - These are further similar varieties of Kholas.