Bandhej Saree, Kota Doria, Kanjeevaram Saree
Bandhej Saree, Kota Doria, Kanjeevaram Saree
Bandhej Saree
Art of tie and dye is popularly known as Bandhej in the Gujarat region. Bandhej Saree is made in Jamnagar, Anjar, and Bhuj are the main centres where artists work traditionally on First step towards the procedure is the dipping of cloth into a colour after which the cloth is folded to a quarter of its size. Bandhej Saree designs are created with the combination of small dots and circles. The borders of Bandhej Saree are broad and are worked both in matching and contrasting colours.
While making Bandhej Saree The tying of the border and the release of the colour is called sevo bandhavo. The colouring method involves the lightest shade being worked in first order , after which this is tied and a darker colour is introduced. An unlimited number of colour schemes are used for Bandhej Saree. The quality of the Bandhej Saree can be judged by the size of the dots. the smaller and closer to the size of a pinhead the dots are, the finer is the quality of the bandhej. Red, maroon, yellow, golden, black are the common shades of Bandhej Saree.
Kota Doria
Kota in Rajasthan, India is the home of the famous Kota Doria sari made in small villages around the Kota city. Kota Doria is a super transparent yet stable cotton or cotton/silk weave consisting of varied guages of yarn, creating an almost graph like pattern called khats (squares formed between the different thicknesses of fibers). The intermittent heavier guage yarns give the fabric enough weight and lateral stability to fall very gracefully, yet it is incredibly airy and transparent. Generally, these pieces are worn in the heat of summer.
The chequered weave of a Kota Doria sari is a prized possession of many women. The gossamer-fine fabric Kota doria is the finest weaves in India – so fine that they are almost weightless. The spinning, dyeing and weaving are done by skilled artisans and it takes many men hours to do so. The Kota region’s craft is exquisite in its perfection. The Kota Doria weave is very special; the warp and the weft use a combination of threads creating a fine chequered pattern where the cotton provides firmness while the silk lends the gossamer finish to the fabric.
Besides the chequered pattern, there are other weaves in complicated designs in a combination of silk and cotton. The standard Kota doria yardage, in sari width, is always woven in white and later dyed in different colours. Some of the weaves also have a narrow border edged with Zari. In the case of saris with designs, the threads are dyed prior to weaving. Ideal for hot summer, this is a muslin fabric woven with alternating threads of silk and cotton in both warp and weft in an open weave.
Kanjeevaram Saree
No Indian bridal trousseau is complete without the Kanjeewaram saree, characterised by gold-dipped silver thread that is woven onto brilliant silk. Kanchipuram is a town in Tamil Nadu with more than 150 years of weaving tradition – completely untouched by fashion fads.
Kanjeevaram Saree is favoured for their durability. Kanjee silk is thicker than almost all other silks, and is therefore more expensive. The heavier the silk, the better the quality of Kanjeevaram Saree. Peacock and parrot are the most common motifs in Kanjeevaram Saree. Though lightweight kanjee sarees are popular as they are easy to wear and cost very little, the traditional weavers do not like to compromise. While Korean and Chinese silk is suitable for light-weight sarees (machine woven), only mulberry silk produced in Karnataka and few parts of Tamil Nadu, is right for the classic Kanjeewaram saree.