A Swati Shahtoosh shawl in deep wine, embroidered by hand across the entire field with a jaal — an ogee trellis in copper and old gold, a small flowering buti set inside every compartment, shaded in rose, saffron, ivory and pale blue — and closed on all four sides by a wide scrolling border.
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 line of the trellis and every buti 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 trellis stays square from 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.
Full embroidery, and what it costs
This is the reason this piece sits above our bordered Shahtoosh shawls. A bordered shawl is embroidered at the edges and left plain in the middle; this one has no plain ground at all. A jaal is also the least forgiving layout to work by hand — the eye follows the grid, so a compartment that drifts by a few stitches shows at once, and the lattice has to hold true along the whole length of the shawl.
Copper on wine is a warm, closed pairing: the two colours sit near each other, so the shawl reads as a rich solid from across a room and only resolves into pattern up close. Each buti is shaded individually, which is what keeps the field alive rather than flat.
Details
- Swati Shahtoosh in fine Australian Merino wool — handwoven in Salampur, Swat, and hand embroidered in Multan
- Hand embroidered across the entire field in a jaal trellis, with a wide border on all four sides
- Design block-printed first, then embroidered entirely by hand
- Approximately 45" × 85"
- Dry clean only — store folded and away from direct light
Each shawl is embroidered by hand, so slight variation between pieces is expected and is the mark of hand work rather than a fault.
Ships in Attan's branded box with a thank-you card, ready to gift.
