Mojari - embroidered Rajasthani footwear

In Jodhpur we saw these beautifully embroidered traditional slippers being made. These are for a wedding; those with the open back for the bride and the ones with the closed back for the groom. These ones are expensive and are also embroidered on the soles as well as the uppers (see below). Although there is a distinction between male and female footwear the shoes can be worn on either foot, they aren’t shaped for right or left.

The embroidery is worked in chain stitch with a hooked awl called an ari. The work is similar to tambour work but the stitches are worked through fairly stiff leather which means the ari have a working life of about 12 days and then they have to be sharpened or replaced. The hooks are made of metal and the ones we saw had been constructed from the spokes of an umbrella. An awl is also used to attach the embroidered upper to the leather sole of the shoe.