Karchupi hand embroidery

About the business

A wooden frame set out in front of the house, cloth stretched tight across it, and sequins, beads and zari worked onto it with a needle - that is karchupi. The work comes from Dhaka. A mohajon takes the order from a Dhaka buyer, hands over the design, and delivers the georgette or chiffon cloth, the sequins, the silk thread and the gum to each house. The worker buys nothing and needs no capital; she sells only her hands and her time. Now the number that decides whether this feeds a family. Women at the Uttara Abason settlement at Dhelapir in Syedpur, Nilphamari say they are paid Tk 700 to Tk 800 per saree once the work is done, and that finishing the handwork on one saree takes at least fifteen days. That works out at roughly Tk 47 to Tk 53 a day. In the same report the women put their monthly earnings at Tk 3,000 to at most Tk 3,500. The Syedpur Karchupi Samiti reckons 30,000 women in that upazila alone do this work. The other side is worth seeing too. These embroidered garments sell in Dhaka's big shopping malls, and on 16 September 2026 karchupi three-pieces and sarees were listed online at Tk 999 to Tk 2,799. The distance between the woman who pushes the needle for fifteen days and whoever collects that final price is the true shape of this trade.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• A wooden frame - at the Syedpur settlement one stands in front of almost every house - plus needles, scissors and enough light to work by at night. That is the whole of what the worker buys.Equipment
• Nothing has to be bought. The mohajon brings the georgette or chiffon bolt, the various sequins, beads, zari, silk thread and gum to the house, and explains the design with them.Starting stock
• Trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type. Not needed to do a mohajon's piecework at home; needed once you take orders, buy cloth and distribute it yourself as a mohajon.Licence
• Working sequins, beads and zari with a needle. The women at the settlement had no training and built the skill by watching others; the upazila women's affairs office also teaches it.Skill
• The local mohajon, who is the single source of work, design and every material. Syedpur also has a karchupi association through which mohajons and workers connect.Supplier
• The courtyard or verandah in front of the house. No separate room or shop is needed - at the Syedpur settlement women, men and children sit in a circle outside the house and work.Workspace

How the work is done

1. 1Get in touch with a local mohajon or someone in the karchupi association. The work comes through the mohajon - in Syedpur they take orders from Dhaka and deliver the materials house to house.
2. 2Learn it by watching. None of the women at the settlement trained anywhere; they built the skill by watching others work. The upazila women's affairs office also runs training in it.
3. 3Set the wooden frame in front of the house and stretch the cloth tight on it. Without the frame the design will not lie even.
4. 4Take the design, cloth and materials from the mohajon - georgette or chiffon bolt, sequins, beads, zari, silk thread and gum. Count them in, because if material is spoiled you will be the one answering for it.
5. 5Fix the rate before you start - how much for this piece and by when it must be delivered. The Syedpur going rate is Tk 700-800 a saree over at least fifteen days.
6. 6Count your own hours. Tk 700-800 over fifteen days is about Tk 47-53 a day. Taking quicker pieces alongside - ornas, blouses, small three-piece motifs - raises the daily figure.
7. 7Work more than one pair of hands to a frame. At the settlement women, men and children sit in a circle working together, and that is how the monthly figure is actually made up.
8. 8Take work against the wedding and Eid seasons. Demand in the Dhaka malls peaks then, and that is when the mohajon has the most orders in hand.
9. 9Do not depend on one mohajon alone. Keeping two or three connections means that when one runs dry in the off season your hands are not idle.
10. 10To become a mohajon yourself, find the Dhaka buyer and take a trade licence. Mohajons receive orders from Dhaka by email, buy and distribute the cloth and materials themselves and deliver to Dhaka on time - a different business with different capital.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

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