A Swati Shahtoosh shawl in deep mustard gold, handwoven with a fine self-coloured diamond lattice through the ground, then hand embroidered with a narrow leaf-and-vine border running all four sides and a single detailed paisley buta set into each corner.
Swati Shahtoosh is woven from fine Australian Merino wool, chosen for its softness, warmth and light weight. The name comes from the feel of the cloth, not the fibre: no shahtoosh (Tibetan antelope) wool is used.
Block-printed, then embroidered by hand
The design does not go straight onto the cloth. It is first printed on with carved wooden blocks — an outline in washable ink that maps every vine, leaf and petal the embroiderer will follow. The blocks themselves are cut by a separate craftsman and a workshop may use the same set for decades.
The embroiderer then works the whole design by hand over that printed line. The ink washes out at the end, leaving only thread. It is worth understanding what this does and does not mean: the block guarantees the placement is even and the borders match corner to corner, but every stitch, every colour change and all the shading is still done by hand, one needle at a time. A printed shawl would be finished at the printing stage. This one is where the work begins.
The stitching here is the finest we stock at this price. Where our other Swati Shahtoosh shawls carry a bolder line, this one is worked in sozni — a needle stitch so small that the border reads almost as a printed ribbon until you look closely, and only then resolves into individual leaves in rust, teal, rose and green. The corner buta is the same: barely two inches across, and drawn with a full flowering spray inside it.
Fine work of this kind takes far longer per inch than a bolder stitch, which is why the design is kept small and deliberate rather than spread across the shawl. There is nothing in the field at all — the whole piece rests on a thin line at the edge and four corners.
The ground itself carries a self-coloured diamond lattice, visible only when the light moves across it, and the mustard gold is deep enough to read as warm rather than bright. It suits men and women equally and works over black, brown, cream and olive alike.
Details
- Swati Shahtoosh in fine Australian Merino wool — handwoven in Salampur, Swat, and hand embroidered in Multan
- Self-coloured diamond lattice through the ground
- Fine sozni hand embroidery over a block-printed design — narrow border on all four sides with a paisley buta in each corner
- Approximately 45" × 85"
- Dry clean only
Hand embroidery varies slightly from piece to piece — that variation is the mark of handwork, not a flaw.
Ships in Attan's branded box with a thank-you card, ready to gift.
