In one hoop, clasped hands hold a posy of pink, purple and yellow flowers. Another depicts a woman's hands outlined in a red stitch, her nails trimmed in pearl beading, and rings on her fingers. These ...

As she begins to embroider flowers inside a vine leaf border, Uzbek artisan Mukhabbat Kuchkarova pulls the naturally dyed green silk thread through the cotton sheet. “I go to another world when I sew, ...