Embroidery of Kashmir

1) Sozni of Rezkari
Mostly done on shawls and long Kashmir dresses. Sometimes this style of embroidery is also
seen on bed covers of another house hold articles. This technique of embroidery employs a
single strand of thread .This technique is so intricate & skillful that the pattern appears on both
the sides of the shawl. These shawls are called Dorakkhas.
Various colors are used in this embroidery style. Mostly very delicate paisley & leaf pattern
borders are embroidered. These stitches, that are employed are mainly stem, Cretan, fly &
darning.
2) Aari- Chain like stitches done with the help of a hook. Flower designs are firmly worked in
concentric rulings of chain stitch. A range of colors are used for this art & many articles like
cushion covers, also leather items are embroidered in Aari. To perfect this technique of
embroidery it might take up to a year. Phirans - a unisex garment embroidered in varying styles
mostly a silk woollen fabric.

3) Kashmiri Couching this is done by twisting 4 or 6 strands of threads on the right side and
couching it with a single thread of same color, sometimes threads of contrasting colours are
also used. Again this is a very intricate form of embroidery and an extensive training is needed
to perfect this technique.












TEXTILES OF MADHYA PRADESH
1) Chanderi Saree
Origin: It is believed that chanderi the place from where this saree origin was the capital of
empire ruled Shishupal arrived of lord Krishna.
Introduction: Chanderi has been famous for its production for extremely fine cotton sari and
gold thread saree. This sari is also known as Asawali. In this sarees delicate motifs in soft
colour are woven in pallu and borders and body of the saree.

Fabric: Pure Silk, Cotton, Silk Cotton, rayon.
Motifs: Mango, fish scales, karavati designs. The marble jewel in the Taj Mahal or Mughal
architecture. Floral & geometrical motifs are used.
Colors: Pastel shades of green, beige, red & blue.
Weaving technique: The designs are produced to extra warp and extra weft techniques. Shuttle
are used for weaving the border. Sometimes woven with silk warp and cotton weft. Attractive
figures, borders in silk and sari is woven with the help of Naksha. When cotton of silk are
used, the warp will always be of silk which is white in colour, & weft is always of cotton which is
dark in colour.

Pallu, border & body of the saree:
Sari has typical borders with floral & geometrical designs, but has sari stripes of even width.
Pallu is heavily decorated with zari stripes or white stripes. Every time yarn of 120 count is used
for chanderi.
2) Maheshwari saree: These are either in pure cotton or mixture of cotton & silk. These sarees
generally have stripes and cheques and a narrow border in gold or off coloured silk. Usually a
pallu is Ghanderi color with two white bands. The special features of Maheshwari saree are
small cheques with reversible border. The saree are woven in neem-rashmi-means (warp-
cotton & welt- silk) Garbha Rashmi- Pure silk
Colours are soft shades. Sometimes with short effects.





2)Textiles of Maharashtra
1) Paithani :
Paithan is a small town in Maharashtra. The name of the saree is derived from the place of its
origin Paithani is produced in Paithan from last 2000 years. It is essentially a silk saree with ornamental
sari work on borders. The motifs used are traditional. They can he creepers, flowers, fruits, stylized
form of birds etc. The saree is often woven by the motifs that dominates the border or pallu. Special
features in not mechanical weaves like the jacquard or jaal are used to produce the designs. Skilled
workers count the threads of warp for each part of the design by using tiny pins to interlock the silk or
gold yarns on the wefts.,
Material, Motif & Color
The yarns used are silk & zari which are drawn from pure gold or sometimes substitutes with silver.
Oldest traditional paithani designs are A ssawari which means square floral form i. e. Narli- Coconut,
Pankha, Swan, these were popular during the satwan era. Golden lotus belong to the Yadav people.
The Ajanta influence is seen in motifs likes Ajanta human, birds, sealed Buddha. Some other designs like
Queries, paisley, anars, Draksha, pallu and borders have zari lines woven in them also the distinguished
temples designs or rudra motifs running in stripes along the length.
2)Shahapuri Sarees:
Origin : Shahapur
Falric : Cotton and now silk is used.

Introduction : These are cotton sarees from shahapur. Borders & pallus are in contrasting colours. The
border has a diamond shape design in sari and pallu have stripes of zari. Thes sarees are now being
made in silk and are popularly known as Jijamata which have narrow borders.
3) Nagpur Saree:
It is a silk & fine cotton saree. Turban clothes are woven in Sholapur. Vegetative dyes were
traditionally used for dyeing clothes. Sholapur is famous for the jacquard weave bed sheets and chadar
which are in pure cotton, or cotton & rayon blend. Back ground colour is in dark colour shade.
4) Himroos :
Origin: Produced in Aurangabad. They are inferior kind of brocade in cotton and silk threads used in
extra weft featuring, worn in winter and are copy of Kashmiri Jamewar, Inferior quality but still are
in great demand due to low price in comparison with pure silk brocade. Floral designs are woven all
over the field of the fabric. Basic cotton threads are interwoven with art silk. It is a type of silk to
produce multi colored design. Himroo is used by womens for evening gowns, blouses, cholies
(Achkans) & Sherwanis for Nawabs. Floral, mango & boat designs are used.
5) Narayan Peth Sarees : It is made up from pure silk on cotton or cotton silk blend. It has
contrasting lady pallu with sari work. Body is deep green in colour having the harder & pallu
inbred with fumbled design which looks similar to surely series.

6) Irkal saree : Warp and weft of different colours. Producing a short effect (dhup shaaw)
effect. Pallu and body of contrast colour & templed design is there on pallu.

7) Puneri saree : Plain chequed or striped saree of pure Cotton, silk or a mixture of both cotton &
rayon. Narrow border and are also popularly known as poona sarees.

8) Pitamber sarees : Brighly coloureed silk of 4 to 5 yards in length with a gold border.
Traditional colours- Saffron & gold worn during village ceremonies. Rudraskha motif on border.

9) Aswari saree: White borders with a design of asawari plant. Used for wedding. Pure cotton
sarees with butties in silk.

10) Pune Indori saree : Imitation of indori sarees which are made in pune. Pure silk, silk and
cotton, cotton and art silk and rayon. Body has cheques or stripes in various sizes. Contrasting
border in dark green, light green and black, geometrical & floral designs in zari. Pallu has 5
stripes out of which 3 are coloured & remaining 2 are white.




Borders & Pallus of Maharashtra
Sarees are named after the border or motifs used or the place of weaving some of the typical borders
are as follows.
1) Gami Kath = Means insect
2) Karavati kath = Means swan
3) Irakl Kath
4) Rudra Kath
Width of the border of the sari ranges from to 8. The borders in traditional sarees are not very
broad but with the introduction of new styles. The width of borders is increased. Traditional colors of
borders are green, yellow, purple, blue, red, maroon, black, pink and orange.

Style of Pallu :

1) Ganderi Pallu: It is a term applied to a sari in such a way that the widthwise border of a pallu
has stripes in dark & short colors. It is observed that in Gandhari pallu or padar there are total 5
Stripes 3 dark in color (Size to 3 in width) and 2 short wide stripes (3 in width). Warp
yarms remain the same & weft are in dark colour. Rayon & white rayon is used to form dark &
short stripes . The pallu frequently has thin stripes of zari borders usually end with a dark band
of field side as well as tossed side.

2) Tok Padar: This type of pallu is found only in solapur. Warp yarns are tied & dyed only for pallu
region. It is found that yarns of the pallus are dyed in red colour or the shades of blue, purple,
black or Brown. Pallu consist of 5 bands- 3 in red & 2 in white. Red bands are 4 to 4 in width
& white lands are 3 to 3 in width. White lands are decorated with temple designs in plain
weave.
3) Laphe Padar : It is observed that the pallu of paithani saree is very different from other
traditional sarees of Maharashtra. This pallu have varied designs and motifs. Zari thread is used
very commonly & the main motifs are religious super natural powers, Rudrakha, Swastik, surya
etc.












TEXTILES OF GUJRAT
Kuccha Chuneri : They are coloured with dyes that are not colour fast. The designs being more intricate
& produce on fabric of finer textures like muslin. In this case the red dye is produce from safflower. The
flowers are ground up & steeped in water till all the dyes has been extracted. The work is not so minute
nor does it is pretty or nice.

Bandhni sports are given variedly of different names. Some are related more to size than shapes such as
very small spots it outer dark centre is called bindi or baandh & those which have colour in side are
called churi. Various names according spots.
1) Kawadi- given for long spots.
2) Chudadi- for round sports.
3) Ghatani- for square spots.
4) Large square and circle spots with multiple layer of colors, concentric circles called laddu jalebi
5) Dabbi (Small box) are also found
6) White a group of small spots tied closely together to form a block of colour is called motichur.

Textiles of Gujrat
Patola :
Introduction & origin:
The technique of patola dying & weaving originated in 5 th century AD. Revived by 11
th
century, by 16
th

& 17
th
century it became very popular & was used for covering royal animals.
These sarees were woven in Patan & Surat. Now only two jain families weave them in Patan. Patola
imitation are woven at Rajkot & suarashtra.
Weaving technique : Warp called tana & weft called baana. These threads are separately dyed before
woven together. The silk yarn is first dyed in the lightest color. Set of individual mark threads are tied &
dyed at regular intervals which when woven forms a pattern which is already been mark by the pencil at
regular intervals.
Then yarn tied with wax thread on those marked areas & dyed into next dark colour. The same
procedure is carried out for weft threads then the taana baana are woven into the aesthetic & charming
designs of shrubs, elephants, humans, birds & flowers.
Loom : Patola loom requires lot of labor. The weavers arrange the bundles of dyed warp in the loom.
Then he takes the weftone at a time placing it as per the designs. The designs appear the same on both
side of the fabric.
Patterns of Patola :
1) Patterns are lead sideways i,e, facing the side not end of the saree.
2) Border stripes with the series of elephants, flowers, shrubs, human figures & birds.
3) Colours : Dark blue, green, with patterns in red, white & yellow.
Weave done on simple handloom 6 to 10 inches plain weave is woven each day.
Motifs:
1) Pan bhat: leaf of peepul tree.
2) Chabaribhat : Basket design, square containing elephant.
3) Naarikunjar bhat : Dancing girls with parrot & elephant motif.
4) Phulwaari bhat : Floral design.
5) Ratanchaowk Bhat : Cross & diamond design.
6) Acrobat: Walnut mollifies.
7) Wagh kunjars bhat: Tiger & elephant motif.
8) Boharacheer bhat: A geometrical pattern usually worn by bohara Muslims on a wedding dress.
9) Tranphool : One stem with three flours.
10) Paanchphool : One stem sith 5 flowers
11) Raashbhat : Dancing women with sticks in rounds.
Colours:
Red , yellow, green, black & white & Nowadays body is plain, border filled with heavy patola designs.
Tanchoi:
The origin of this saree is traced to three parsi brother by name choi who learn the craft in china &
settled in surat. The fabric came to know after three chois. Tanchoi is figured with silk, where satin
weave is used with extra weft floats on the fabric. It is also known as reversible brocade. It was woven
on pit loom in the past but nowadays on jacquard loom. Motifs are floral, flying birds, peacocks, or
bunches at flowers.








Textiles of Bengal:
1) Baluchar Butidhar : These saris from Bengal are very famous. The name of the saree is derived
from the name Blucher near Murshidabad. At this palace these sarees were manufactured
before the time of moghuls. The field, border & pallu of Baluachar is made up of one colour
fabric, but the pallu & border are ornamented with silk yarn & contrasting colours. Sometimes
golden & silver threads are also used. The pallu has elaborated designs from Hindu Mythology,
usually the khari Prints (Prevails riding houses). These prints are influenced by the Moghuls.
Sometimes the pallu has designs depcting the court scenes. One pattern is made on one sari
only & it is never repeated.

2) Tircha Baluchar: As the name suggests, patterns are made diagonlly on the field of saree. It is
made of very fine cotton where the colour of saree range from light blue & grey to off white off
bluish gray.
Embroideries thread are either in gold or silver or sometimes multi coloured yarns are also used.
These sarees are procession of Bengali saree & it is passes from mother to daughter.
3) Jaldari Saree: These saree are made up of finest cotton. These sarees are mostly in gray colour
with brilliant lines of gold & silver on edge. Nowadays these sarees are not manufactured &
there is only one jalidar which is kept Harraranian museum in Calcutta.
4) Dhanikala: The field of this saree is generally white & off white in colour. A number of multi
coloured stripes are spread all over the field. These stripes can be embroidered or weaved.

5) Tangail : It is a cotton saree in which border & pallu are worked in cotton embroidered thread
during the weaving process. It has small motifs spread all over the field of saree. It is made on
unbleached cotton fabric.

6) Jamdhani : These are muslin sarees of Persian origin. This is a sister sari of Baluchar.

Fabric : grey cotton.
Weaving technique : Pre loom preperation, sizing is essential. Weaving is complicated & time
consuming causing much strain to the warp threads as they are constantly manipulated for the
designs. The cotton brocade effect is achieved by the master weavers by using extra weft.
Jamdhani is woven on pit loom by expert weavers. The motifs & layout of designs are woven in
looms without adding any additional steps likes the jaal or graphics.

Motifs: Large and bold motifs on the corner of sari. Small sprays of flowers are arranged in
diagonal fall. Scattered motifs are known as Butidaar.

a) Pannahagar : (Thousands emeralds) floral arrangement with jewel setting.
b) Phulwaar : (Allover flower arrangement of large flowers
Colours : Bluish black & sometimes brilliant colours and designs.
7) Neelambari sari : Traditionally produced in Murshidabaad.
Fabric : Silk & cotton
Waving Technique: Gold treads are used for extra weft figuring and borders.
Colors : Blue
Motifs : Fish on borders.




















TEXTILES OF U.P
1) BANARAS BROCADE : The brocades of India are of very ancient times made with both
the ruperi (silver threads) & soneri (gold thread) are offen segmented with richly colored borders.
The earliest mention of this brocade is found in yajurveda. This art was already known by the
hindus in the times of Mannu and before Ramayana & Mahabharata. Indian Brocade or King
Khwabs are Known by the follwing names.
a) Chand Tara, Majadhar
In that repells of silver are made.
b) Dhup chaav : Sunshine & Shade.
c) Bul Bul Chashm :
d) Morgala : (Peacock & Snake).

Designs : Butte- a flower of spray
Butta- Same as butti but larger in size.
Jali : Lines forming a net work in closing sprays of flowers.
Phulwar: A floral pattern running all over.
Doriya : Longitudinal warp wise stripes. III
Saludar : Weft wise stripes.
Charkhana: Strips running south longitudinally & cross.
Aridoriya : Diagonal Strips.
Khamzariadar : Zig- Zag or wavy strips.
Bulbul Chasm: Diagonal lines running both ways longitudinally & across to form diagonal shape
which enclose a dot.
Bale: Floral border
Aribale : Zig zag border.
Minatashi : Field is of gold or silver and flower design is of colored silk.
Shikrgarh : Hunting scenes.
Chaand Taara : Moon & stars
Majadhar : Flowing water.
Designs from Ajanta Presscos are also seen.
Colors: Shades of different blue, red, Magenta, Parrot Green & Maroon are used &
delicate designs are created by using warp & weft of gold and silver along with a special weft of
silk.
Weaving Technique: The exclusive brocade of silk and gold are woven an simple pit
looms in Varanasi & kashi. The naksha i. e, map of pattern is drawn & suspended above the warp
close to the usual hiddles. Pairs of hiddles are separately connected to strings & are worked from
above half of the pattern by manipulating it. In making better class of brocade the loom is more
complicated & more elaborate.



















TEXTILES OF TAMIL NADU
Sarees from T.N in silk & cotton are famous for their attractive colours & elegant motifs.
1) Kanjivaram : it is famous for silk sarees. It is a brocade woven in light colors
like deep blue, red, green, purple, saffron, saffron, yellow, rust brown, bright pink & black. Sarees
have elaborate sari borders and pallv, the finest part of the sari. Motifs are stylized animals &
birds with geometrical patterns. In traditional motifs are mango, peacock, elephant, deer, leaf &
continuous flowering borders. Designs are woven on pit looms with extra warp & weft threads.
Sometimes the pallu & the borders are woven separately & then attached to the body of the
sares. The pallv of the sari is 1 to 2 feet in length. The width of the border may vary from to
8 inch. Pallu generally has motifs in zari. The traditional Kanjivaram sari has very brialliantl
colours that are now produced in all shades and sometimes may not have any borders.

2) Kalashetra saree: It is produced at Kalashetra in Chennai. Sarees come in cotton or
silk with a broad woven border with tradition motif. Border of the sari is in
contrasting color with the body. Different colour schemes are used in Kalashetra
saree which resemble those in kanjivaram saree. Common colours are blue, red,
green, and rust, brown, white & purple. Width of the border varies from 1 to 8.
Motifs used are floral, animals such as elephant, swam, peacock. These motifs are
only wooven in borders the pallav has woven strips in different colour along its
width.

3) Chundadi Saree: These are from Madurai. These are tie-n- dye cotton
sari. Now available with block printed designs in variety of colours they normally have a
contrasting bordedr. The border & pallav may have zari in strips with rudraksha motif.

4) Coimbatore Saree : Pure cotton handloom sari with woven designs in the form
of buttis allover the body and small border. Sometimes artificial silk, rayon & Metallic silk are
also used. Motifs are peacock, fish & chequed designs.

5) Chinarpeth saree : These are art silk sari with contrasting colour short effect are also
produced by using red warps & green wefts.

6) Temple saris: It is a pure silk sari with a dark colored body & commonly having white
border & pallv with temple stoops.

7) Tanjori : Fabric in which colour with attractive block print with floral & scroll designs
are produced in Madras & Coimbatore. These are generally in white or pale colours. They have
allover chequed effect.

8) Bleeding Madras: Madras has been famous for its ancient craft & now known as
bleeding Madras. These are cotton cloth in the south. Specially specialty of this textile was that
some of its colour threads bleed with every wash & spread to the adjacent thread. Thus goring
a new appearance to the fabric after every wash. The designs are either checks or woven
flowral patterns.

9) Hand block printing: Main centre is Tanjori which produces attractive prints in light
colors for sareees & the dress material, Designs may be floral, scroll or animals, mythological
themes. Designs are done with many colours. Most popular color, green, red, yellow, blue &
black. Coimbatore was famous for hand printed bed covers, curtains & handkerchiefs.



















MANIPUR
It has unique embroidery of its own. Manipur is surrounded bay hills and lakes abound in
people who enjoy dance and music. The meaning of Manipur is land of Gems. There are many
legends in Manipur and 1 of them is that an ancestor, Manipur Raja dropped the jewels hidden
in his headdress, seen the beauty of Manipur. Hence, the name is Manipur. The people of
Manipur are skilled in many arts specially dance, music, in creating beautiful things. The women
looks after the house, practice craft and find a market for their goods. The women of Manipur
do delicate and fine embroidery. The embroidery is usually done in order of Phanek which is
worn by women like a lungi or Sarong.
The phanek is woven pieces a dark strips against light background and it woven by
women. Sometime a plain fabric in a dark shade is also no used or the whole thing is striped in 3
different colours with a plain black colour border on the side. The emb. Is done on the plain
border of phanek using dark matching shade. The pattern is first drawn and then worked out.
The motifs commonly used is a circular design called akoybi. The elaborate & elegant design
called Akoybi is said to have been copied by a lody of legendary snake. Some people believe
that akoybi is inspired by swireel of the water. Another design is at boat design known as
Hijaymayak. Hijaymayak design is associated with older people & latter with widows. Now it is
mostly used by some elderly women only. The emb. if seen at a glance is appears like a weave.
The thread used is untwisted silken floss or coarse cotton threads giving a smooth surface. The
stitches used are tiny satin stitches. The colours used in akoybi are the shades of red with a
litter black and white, whereas the overall pattern in Hijaymayak is shown in black & white to
accentuate the running lines & circular movements.
There are other eimb. In Manipur lassies the emb. Used in phone.
1) Jhamphie known as war cloth worn as special, should by warriors at the time of war.
This is emb. of the women of the house. This shawl is worm only by few people who
have to be honored by the king.
2) Ningthoruphee : This was cloth women by king only.
3) Saijounbe : It is a long coat worn by only a trusted courtiers of the king.
4) Phiranamba : These are little embroidered flags worn on the turbans and each flap
designated rank of the courtiers.

Appliqu work is also popular in Manipur. Mostly white on white, during marriage the
mother prepares special curtains and present it to the daughter and they are prepared by
appliqu work.
Since, Manipur is famous for its dances, the costumes worn for the dances were
important. The Rass skirt known as (cumin) (Ghagra) is emb with abla or mirror work . In
Manipur abla work is done only on Rass costume worn by the Radhas & Gopis. This emb. Is
not found on any other costumes. The kumin or rass skirt has a border or akoybi design
appliqu with red material on yellow background. The mirror work & sequence are work out
in the pattern above akoybi design. Other than this there is the angaminga shawl or chadar
known as Samilamiphee, in Manipur meaning is the wide animal warrior cloth because it has
animal motifs like elephant on it.
Today the Naga chadar is very popular among the tourist visitors going to Manipur. It is
sold as a wall hanging or a bed cover. Besides this, animal motifs and butterflies are used on
the cushion cover, small shawls, table cloth etc.
























TEXTILES OF PUNJAB

Different types of hand-made fabrics are produced in Punjab.
Some important are
1) Khadder : It is coarse white cloth with a single warp & weft which is made in almost
every village of the state. Coarse handspun yarn used in its production.
2) Lungis & patkas : Lungi has border at one side only & may have emb. in coloured
thread or zari on the ends. The main centre of its production are Ludhiana. Hoshiarpur
and Jalandhar. The turban cloth is generally a plain weave, muslin fabric.
3) Khes : It is a coarse, stiff plain or chequed fabric with a double warp & double weft. It
is generally used as a covering in winters, as a bed spread or to in covers.
4) Gabroon: It is a variety of khes with cheques or stripes of dull colors and double yarns
are used.
5) Susi: It is a smooth evenly woven cloth with strips of dull colors generally used for
salwars. It is produced in Amritsar, Sialkot & Shalinipur.
6) Peach: It is kind of fine turban, 6 inches wide by 16 feet used as an under turban in
Punjab and Raj putana.
7) Sujni: These are quilted or embroidered covers of Punjab.
8) Durri : It is a floor covering woven in cotton or art silk.
9) Mashru: Mulan is an imp centre for production of mix cotton and silk fabric called
Mashru usually woven from muslin used for turbans and lungi.
BLANKETS & WOOLEN INDUSTRY OF PUNJAB
1) Golkiloi (BLANKETS): Blankets of pre used wool & cotton- These are either in black, white
& sometimes dyed in natural colour.
2) Flannels & twills: These are woven from good quality woolen yarns.
3) Namda: These are inexpensive floor coverings made of felted material.
4) Galicha: Cotton carpets without pile usually has a simple design of strips in blue, red or
black.
CARPETS & FLOOR COVERINGS
Mains centre production in Punjab are Amritsar & Panipat. The carpets are generally plain
sometimes with design. In Amritsar, designs called mauri is very famous. This designs have 8x8 or
12x12 knots / inch. The field is in wine red, ivory and designs are geometrical. The warp & weft are
cotton and the knotting in worsted yarn. There are two kinds of durries, firstly for bed which are made
on pit loom or framed loom, other is for the floor which are made on crowed a type of loom called adda.
The durri generally have a multicolored stripes.
Small Puja durries or mats are made by women at home. They are woven in handspun yarn and have
rough bold folk designs with floral & animal motifs. Centre of production of durries are Amritsar,
Patiala, Ludhiana & Chandigarh. Durries made from Oak Plant fiber are produced in Bhatinda region.
TEXTILES OF KASHMIR
Kashmir emb. & shawls are well known for beauty of colour, texture, technique, designs all over the
world. The emb. Of Kashmir is universally famous probably the best known of Indian embroidery is the
Kashida of Kashmir. The best embroidery is revealed in the shawl. It is a Cottage industry run by several
members of family in their homes mostly around Srinagar.
History
According to kamala S. Dongerkary the shawl industry was introduced bay Zainul Abledin in 15
th

Century. (1423- 1474) The shawl weavers from Persia were brought to India to encourage the craft. The
references to Kashmir Shawls are made in Inn-I- Akbari written by Abdul Farah were, he says that
emperor Akbar was a keen admirer of these shawl. Akbar is responsible for introducing a new type of
shawl i. e, Do- shala means Twin shawl. In this, similar shawls were wooven together & the sewn back
to back so that under- surface of shawls were not visiblel.
The demand for shawls increasd during the Moughal time in India & abroad by the 18
th
century. The
shawls were exported to Europe. The Jamewaar pattern was initiated in embroidery and a shawl was
produced with the help of Rafugar Alibana. These Shawls were later known as Amlishawls & become
very popular.
The shawl weaving industry declined by the end of 19
th
century, due to many factors. The demand for
Kashmir shawls went down probably because of the complicated wooven designs leads to high price.
Another reason may be that in Europe Fashion changed & the shawls were no more involved. Only
people in India & Persia continued to purchase these shawls. Due to that some weavers took carpet
weaving as a profession for which the demand was growing. They started weaving cheaper shawls with
embroidered patterns.
Types of woven Kashmiri Shawls :
1) Pashmina Shawl :
The majority of woolen of Kashmir specially the superior quality shawls are Pashmina or Pashm.
These shawls are difficult to obtained now on account of Indians loss of trade with Tibet. Since
the latter occupies by China pashmina made from wool of Capra Hercus a species of the wild
Asian monuntain goat.
2) Do Shala :
3) Do Rakha:
4) Kasaba Shawls:
5) Jamewaar Shawls : Wooven Wholely with wool or with some cotton mixed thread, but the floral
designs and brocade parts and generally in silk or pashmina wool. The design in emb. are
evenly balanced with the graceful stems running in all directions & their slender tapering leaves
falling in the gaps with the perfection of nature. In the begining of 19
th
century the Amli or Tank
shawl was introduced. This was a plain wooven shawl which was ornamented with needle work
fully. The design firslty drawn on paper & with the needles the lines are pricked. Charcoal
powder is rubbed on design holes to transfer the design of fabric. The emb. stitch used is
darning stitch. The colours commonly used are white, Green (Zingori) purple (uda) blue
(phirose) yellow (Zard) Black (mushki), crimson a deep red (gulmoor) Scarlet (kiremeez) bright
red colour.
Motifs: mostly taken from nature and human figures are not seen in Kashmir embroideries . Birds
motifs used as parrot, Kingfisher etc. The floral are lotus, lily, tulip, saffron flowers others are grapes,
plums, cherries, almond & apple. Chinar leave is considered as an important motif.

Threads, wood, silk, cotton, art silk. Stitches- satin, chain, stem occassionally darning & herringbone also
used.
1) Kashida of Kashmir
Namda: The Nadmda being imp brand of the kashida of Kashmir on account of its wide popularity on
local and foreign market. It has 96% economic potentiality for Kashmir. It is possible for a worker to
prepare two Namdas a day with a assistance of 3 other people. The three workers just engaged in the
process of manufacture i. e, the thrashers, pressurer & finally the person who helps in the sizing of the
namda which is a kind of felt consisting of wool & cotton pressed in a shape.
Namda is a special work on the carpet known as cruel for which chain stitch is the best foundation
supplemented by other stitches such as satin stitch or filling stitch. The patterns are filled with chain
stitch starting with center toward the outline. The namda not being of fine quality the emb. does not
require much preliminary training.
2) Gabba:
The gabba industry comes meet only to the namda industry o Kashmir. Old articles are picked up
thrashed & dyed for the material used in gabba emb. This is an industry connected with waste product.
Gabba is a kind of appliqu work 4 which woolens are used. The material is sewn only the base with the
chain stitch so that the rug appears almost- like a quilt. Gabba rugs looks very attractive in dark colours.
There are 3 types of gabbas.
1) Embroidered, 2) Appliqu, 3) Both
3)Rafugari: Another type of embroidery in Kashmir is Rafugari, which means darning. It is usually
work on scarfs & shawls or shawls of smaller types i. e, 3 yards long & 1 yard wide, provides a very
suitable base for rafugari. Rafugari is a work with the same type of material at that of the waste. It is
the work of high quality, employed in daring stitch & involves great deal of labor & hence have a high
prices. It is said that above 2 months or above is required to produce a good piece of work. The design
is worked evenly to alike on both side.

Textiles of Orissa
1) Vichitrapuri Sari : It is a wedding saree made by singleikat technique i. e, warp is dyed & tied &
weft is plain.
Indigo & white, yellow & red yellow & black are the only combination used for this saree.
Border is always of dark color having fish motifs in white & yellow. The border has 2 woven
strips of black colour. In which usually animal motifs are woven with ikat technique. The pallaw
is feet in length & have fish & other animal motif.
2) Orissa IKat :
It is woven in cotton or silk. This sari is similar to patola sari. The main difference is of colour &
motif use in the sari. It is produced at Kattak, Puri, Balasur, Baripanda & smabhalpur. Fish &
floral motifs dominates in this saree. Animals figure are also common specially the camel which
is never seen in Gujarat motif variety. Warp & weft are tied & dyed & then weaving is done.

















Textiles of Kerala
1) Balarampuram Sari : Saris in fine cotton, blouses material with a zari strips & cheques.
2) Connanore : Shirting material sportswear & weave used as a combination are twill,
crepe & other weaves.
3) Kozicode & Azicode : Bed covers in all sizes & patterns, household linen & fabrics for home
furnishing are made.
4) Koralkuddi : Sari is woven in fine quality unbleached cotton & uses range of textures.




















Textiles of Assam
Assam is famous for handloom textile & sericulture is also famous as cottage industry in Assam. 5 to 6
family jointly owned a sericulture farm on cooperative basic.
Other traditional designs are for flower, tree & temple architecture. Ikat is the term use to denote the
technique, of tying & dying the threads before the fabric. This produces a beautiful mingled effect. The
design is 1 st traced on a piece of graph paper to calculate the no. of threads per inch. The warp threads
are then dyed according 2 the calculations from the graph starting from lightest colour. The weft is
dyed in the same way & this produced a double effect.
Weaving is done with cotton, pure silk or tussar silk. Many times only border & pallav are done in Ikat
technique & the field remains plain. The main colours used are navy blue, brown, red & blue.





Three types of silk our found in Assam.
1) Mulberry silk (Fine & silky)
2) Muga silk (Golden Brown in color)
3) Eri silk (Creamy white with a soft texture but is uneven & less shiny.

The Assamese women wear melkhla chadar. Mekhala is a sort of lungi generally with plain body with
woven & emb. ed borders & designs can he made up of mulberry, muga silk or cotton. The design & the
motif are either woven or emb. ed by silk, cotton or zari. The woven designs used extra weft yarn. The
common motifs are either geometrical abstract & sometimes highly stylized designs such as dancing
girls, animal figures, birds, flowers, creepers etc. the imp handlooms are nalbari & barpeta.



Sarees of Assam

1) Patmuga Sari : This is either warp or weft of mulberry silk or other side is muga silk colours are
brown. It has a pallaw running from 1 to 3 feet width with abstracts geometrical designs &
sometimes have allover butties.
2) Garidia Sari : Pure silk sari with strips in the pallev & border. Sometimes there are cheques
allover with buttes inside them, in red cotton thread (The silk yarn used for the body has thick
& thin places to give it a texture effect.
3) Eri Shawl : The Shawls are made up to Eri silk which is cream in colour & used by men. It is
4x6 feets in size with a plain field. Shawls for the women have border to on both sides & buties
on the field or body. It is smaller in size.
2)Tasmidhadi:- Gomidhadi - The sari is with irkal border so it is also known as irkal sari. This sari were
used by Brahman community. The body of the sari is in pure cotton woven with plain weaver. It was
for the first time a small motif was introduced in border. This motif was woven without any special
attachment like dobby, but the selective harness (needles) were lifted by hands. Border was either in
art silk or pure silk. The pallav was woven also with art silk or pure silk usually of red & white colour.
3) Biligmi sari: It was a pure cotton sari having body, border, pallav all woven with cotton. The plain
body was always white in colour. The width of the border has usually woven with double yarn the
pallav is plain woven but an effect of strips in som times given.

Vondi Sari : Cotton with art silk. Art silk either in border, pallav or both. The plain woven body of the
sari is cotton in red, black or in white. The art silk was always a double yarn called ginta & is relatively
coarser.
Bed sheets, rugs & the saree border our also woven. Motifs are traditional, modern designs
have also been introduced nowadays. Colors, brown, red, yellow, blue, green etc.














Textiles of Karnataka

Karnataka is famous for its silk work. Bangalore and Kollegal are both centers of silk saree weaving in
the southern style. Strong durable cotton handloom textile is produced at vijapur, on the fly shuttle, pit
looms. The weavers of modern Karnataka produces 6, 8 or 9 yards saris of cotton, rayon & silk with
typical, traditional, Top- Teni pallavs & Khans, for choli materials with extra warp featuring in exclusive
borders on either sides which have very good market both in Karnataka & Maharashtra.
1) Irkal:- A village in vijapur district was the pioneer to produce handloom saree of cotton.
Reference is always made in history of traditional handloom textiles and handicrafts about irkal
sarees. The handloom sari are produced in nothern Karnataka, are classified according to their
fiber contents and motifs in the border. The types are,

Noolvi :- (Cotton Sari), chanka : (artificial Silk)
Rashmi : (Silk)
Irkal sarees comes from Dharawhad & made form silk, cotton silk- cotton. The pure silk in red &
yellow colours. Before weaving silk was degummed usually by master weavers by boiling silk
in water. The pallav of the sari is composed of either of art silk or pure silk. but it was always
produced in stripes of red and white. Many times yellow yarns were also used to lineout the
combination of red & yellow or white & yellow. The pallov with yellow strips is called as Top-
pillow or Tan-sari.