Varanasi has long been renowned for it’s gold-highlighted silk saris, though I’m told that nowadays they are more likely to be woven from Chinese silk than Indian.
Varanasi: Benares Saris
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Tag Archives: India
Benares Saris Techniques
Seeing the dark and cramped space where these saris are woven, I perfectly understood why the senior weavers from this workshop had taken their warp to the local park to prepare it for mounting on the loom. Continue reading
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Toda Embroidery Techniques
Beyond Koranur near Ooty, Tamil Nadu, these Toda women embroidered black and red synthetic yarn onto cream fabric to produce designs that look from a distance as if they are woven into the fabric.
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Ooty: Toda Embroidery
These striking fabrics are produced by the Toda women living in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. Glancing only briefly at them in Ooty shops I had presumed the patterns were woven, but Continue reading
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Patola Techniques
Patola is created by tying and dying a pattern into both the warp and weft threads, which are laboriously aligned during the weaving process.
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Patan: Patola
Patan in Gujarat is famous for the tradition of weaving patola, or double ikat since the 12th century. The process of tie-dyeing both warp and weft threads with such a fine pattern, and weaving so as to align these patterns in both sets of threads requires enormous skill and care. Continue reading
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An Embroidery Lesson
A couple of weeks ago I enjoyed a lovely visit to a village north of Bhuj and was given a brief lesson in the type of couching embroidery these women do so well. Continue reading
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Gujarati Goodies
Here are my Gujarati purchases so far. Some I chose simply because I loved the colours; others I bought for a particular technique. Continue reading
