Judy Frater, an American researcher doing work on Rabari culture and crafts, approached Dastkar in 1990 for help in creating viable products and markets for the traditional embroidery made by the women of this and two other communities doing the finer Suf as well as Pako embroidery. These women were un-organized but highly skilled and badly in need of a source of alternative earning. Dastkar strongly believed that traditional craft, an economic activity in harmony with local, social, cultural and environmental norms, could be a catalyst not just of earning and employment but to the development process as a whole.

From the beginning Dastkar emphasized the vital importance of the initial process of group formation, and the principle that all other training be coordinated to the pace of the group rather than the individual. Workshops were organized, identifying women with appropriate skills, personalities and potential to take on managerial and organizational responsibilities at various stages of the project. Costing, sizing, quality and production systems were kept very simple, with each group of women interacting and being involved in the process.