With the growing popularity of chikankari clothing, the market is flooded with machine-made and fake products sold in the name of hand embroidery. If you are planning to buy chikankari online, knowing how to identify original chikankari work is extremely important.

This guide will help you clearly distinguish between authentic Lucknow chikankari and machine-made replicas.

### 1. Check the Embroidery Carefully
Original chikankari is completely hand embroidered. The stitches may look slightly uneven, which is actually a sign of authenticity. Machine-made embroidery looks too perfect, identical, and flat on every piece.

If the embroidery looks overly neat and uniform, chances are it is not handwork.

### 2. Examine the Back Side of the Fabric
Turn the garment inside out. Authentic chikankari shows clear thread movement on the reverse side. You will not find glue marks or artificial finishing. Machine embroidery often has loose threads, backing sheets, or stiff patches behind the fabric.

### 3. Feel the Fabric Quality
Genuine chikankari is traditionally done on breathable and soft fabrics such as cotton, muslin, chiffon, georgette, and modal. The fabric should feel light and comfortable on the skin.

Stiff, shiny, or synthetic-heavy fabrics usually indicate mass production.

### 4. Look at the Stitch Types
Original Lucknow chikankari uses traditional stitches such as:
- Bakhiya (shadow work)
- Tepchi
- Phanda
- Keel Kangan
- Jaali

These stitches take time and skill to create. Machine-made pieces usually imitate these patterns but lack depth and delicacy.

### 5. Be Realistic About the Price
Authentic hand-embroidered chikankari cannot be extremely cheap. If a seller is offering heavily embroidered chikankari at very low prices, it is most likely machine-made.

Handwork involves artisan time, skill, and effort, which reflects in the price.

### 6. Buy From Trusted Lucknow-Based Sellers
The safest way to buy original chikankari online is to choose sellers based in Lucknow who work directly with local artisans. This reduces middlemen and ensures authenticity.

At Lucknow Best Chikankari, we source our products directly from skilled artisans to provide genuine hand-embroidered chikankari with transparent pricing, cash on delivery, and easy returns.

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