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
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.
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.
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
Patola is created by tying and dying a pattern into both the warp and weft threads, which are laboriously aligned during the weaving process.
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
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
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
