South indian sarees have a quality and characterstics of their own. They are very heavy silk and rich in color. South Indian are popular both in silk and in cotton. The shades of these sarees are traditionally dark with very contrasting borders. The designs are typical south Indian motifs and a lot of importance is given to the border and the palla.   

The best south silk come from ‘Armi’ and ‘Dharmavaram’ in Tamil Nadu and Kanchipuram also in Tamil Nadu and Ikat in mysore. 

TRIVANDRUM: At other part of kerala trivandrum produces saree in white with golden borders and pallas other centre of these sources are banglore and tanjore. 

KARNATAKA SAREES: Although dark in color these sarees are different from other sarees. They all have red borders with white designs on them.   

SHAHPUR SAREES FROM MYSORE: They are made in pastel colors with delicate shaded effect that means the warp or weft made of different colors.

VENKATAGIRI: These are unbleached cotton sarees with zari borders The motifs are flowers, birds and animals in contrasting colors. These sarees came from Andra pradesh.

TRAVANCORE: They have a white base with border in pleasing colors and zari checks and strips on the body are popular in these sarees                                                                                                                                                      comes from batore, madras and salem.

COIMBATORE: They make sarees which look like chanderies. They are cotton base with small zari work. 

GADWAL: Also on andra pradesh these sarees traditionally have the body of pure cotton with the border and palla’s being on pure silk. The bodies are of lighter color and the border are dark. Garwal’s may or may not have zari work on them. Today these sarees are also being made on pure silk.

KANCHIVARAM: Made in kanchipuram in tamil nadu. These sarees sometimes have woven designs on the body. The designs may be woven in zari in silk thread. The motifs are of human figures , animals, birds and geometric designs. They often have a temple borders along the lower side of the body coming above the borders. It is important to note that the contrasting color borders are woven seperately and joint with the help of an extra shutle. These borders are heavier and thicker than the body of sarees.

TEMPLE SAREES: Rich in ornamentation and worn as ritual occasion by temple devdasis and dancers these sarees are worn by others on certain ceremonial occasions woven on heavy silk with contrasting border and deep rich color in temple shapes along the border. These sarees are manufactured in madhurai. The silks are thick and often covered with gold work. Also made in cotton these dayz with gold and silk thread borders.

TEMPLE SAREES: Rich in ornamentation and worn as ritual occasion by temple devdasis and dancers these sarees are worn by others on certain ceremonial occasions woven on heavy silk with contrasting border and deep rich color in temple shapes along the border. These sarees are manufactured in madhurai. The silks are thick and often covered with gold work. Also made in cotton these dayz with gold and silk thread borders.

PAITHANI SAREES                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Thiruvanthapuram in kerala produces sarees in very fine cotton with gold borders and rallus. Other known centres are banglore, tanjori, madurai etc. Woven in cotton and silk. The design are traditionally Indian with special stress on borders in red with small designs woven in white.

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The art of chamba rumal involved from the embroidery which was popular in the formal hill station of kangra, basodhi chamba and other states in the region and its interaction with the pahari miniature paintings which flowreds in these hills in the 18th and 19th century. Though practice through this region the art came to be known as chamba rumal due to active and continued patronage of the rulers of the chamba hill in the 17 th century.

The embroidery were called rumals since they were generally done in a square formet. They were used to cover offerings to dyetes present for the royal court, gifts or weddings and other ospacious occasions. The earliest rumal were in the folk style and they were easily done by women on their own without any guidance. Later upper class women took up this art with the help of trained miniature actist who sketch the drawing on the cloth with charcoal and also guided the colors schemes. The rumal thus made in very stylised.

The fabric used for rumal were hand woven, unbleached thus khadi utilized pene silk thread duel in natural colors was used for the embroidery the technique consisted of double satin stitch known as do rukha. After feeling in the figure flora and dauna, outlines were worked in with black silk using the simple stemp stitch.

With the loss of patronge because of the declined of courts, along with this art have one florished chamba rumal, one distinguished by their grace and charm were reduced to mere embroidery and calender art. Delhi crafts council took up the project of chamba rumals with the intention of creating an awareness amongst the crafts persons in chamba as well as the general public that it was possible for this art to continue under charged condition and circumstances.

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Applying color to the surface of a garment or paper by printing gives the opportunity to create a wide variety of coloring effects. The method used in print depends on the materials used, the number of colors required and complexi ty of the design .

Block printing is one of the printing methods.

Block printing is similar to the potato printing done by the young children. The design is traced on to a block which is then cut away, leaving the design standing out. The block is coated with color and stamped onto the fabric, transferring the design. Each seperate color needs a seperate printing block.

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India has a vast tradition of textiles and handicrafts. In the past it was a way of life for the people. For the past 2000 years Indian history has been closely bound up with her pre-eminence as a producer of textiles. In the ancient world as well, indian fabric were proverbial. As early as 200 B.C. the romans used a sanskrit word for cotton- carbasina from sanskrit karpasa. In nero’s reign delicately transluscent indian muslin were fashionable in rome under such names as nebula and venti textiles meaning woven wind.

The quality of indian dyeing too was proverbial in the roman world. The influence of indian textiles in the english world in such names as calico, sash, shawl, pyjama, dungary, bandana, chintz, khaki and these are only a few among the textile terms which india has exported with her fabric.

In the 19th century with the advent of power loom and due to impact of industrial revolution, indian textiles and handicrafts industry suffered a massive blow and as a result the weavers suffered starvation. But even then traditional weaves, colors, prints and designs have always been reflected in indian clothes and even with western influence, the process is combined assimilation and invention rather than total replacement of indian traditional clothes.

In india there are endless possibilities to lend garments, even under western ones- a subtle ethnic touch, moulding traditional wear to produce works uniquely one’s own. This is what has happened in the past, this is what happening today. Designer’s like Ritu Kumar, Rina Dhaka, Gitanjali Kashab and JJ Valaya are using lot of Indian traditioanal styles in their creations. Ethnic wear and design is now considered to be ‘Houte Couture’ by the ethnic indian society and why not it be when india has a plethora of designs.

A convenient classification of fabrics made in india can be made on the coll basis:

1. Skilled work of professional weavers and dyers who usually worked close to the large market towns. Examples are brocade, tie dye etc.

2. Articles of luxury made under court patronage or in the court traditions.

3. Folk embroideries specially Gujrat, Rajasthan, Bengal, Punjab, Himachal, Manipur etc.

4. Fabrics of aboriginal tribes.

The tradition of cloth painting known as kalamkari flourished throughout India from 14th century long before chemical colors and dyes were discovered. The dyes used even today in kalamkari follow mostly the tradition of entracting color from plants, roots, parts of trees, leaves, flowers and similar natural growth. Colors are also made from minerals like iron, coal, and compounds like vegetable dye and earth colors. The most important places producing kalamkari are ‘masulipatnam’ and ’sri kala hasthi’ in andra pradesh. The art is also alive in tanjore district in tamil nadu.  

SRI KALHASTHI STYLE OF KALAMKARI: Kala hasthi near temple town of tirupathi north of madras is an anchient centre which developed this craft around places of pilgrimage. The function of temple kalamkari was to narrate theme dreams from Indian mythology. Sometimes they described a single episode. The whole sweep of a great epic dream in strong outline in black and brown. Only kalams made of bamboo is used for painting the line work. Illustrated epics from legends the story was pictured and printed together to reveal the story . No two pannels are ever alike. For kalamkari drawings rough cotton cloth are used mostly in rectangular pieces.  

MASIPATNAM STYLE OF KALAMKARI: The hand painted ‘palam pores’ are famous. The method of painting resist dyes on cotton was familiar in India as well as Iran for centuries. The palampores are used for curtains, bed sheets, mats, pillow covers, table cloth etc. The motifs are the tree of life, geometrical designs etc. From a distance the palampores looks like kashmiri embroidery because of their fine quality. The colors are harmonal and never gaudy and harsh. There is lot of persian influence on the design. The beautiful traditional designs mainly with perssian motifs have been used in masulipatnam for many years. However before the revival of this art some of the best designs lay hidden in the dark corners in the homes of old craftman. The designs which appear again and again in the palampore is the tree of life symbolizing the sacred mount complete with birds and branches. Animals resting under its shade. This tree is said to symbolize the linking of earth to heaven.

The process is very much the same as used for the batic work. Resist dying for outline of the design is applied with method. Wax with the steel brush and the hand woven material dyed in a very soft pink. The fabric is deepered and finally is washed in hot water to melt away the wax. Nowdayz chemical colors are also used instead of vegetable colors.                                                                                                                                                  

Kalamkari is also done in small quantities in rajasthan, gujrat, orissa, madurai etc. Resist dyeing in the earth color tradition revives today in many villages in gujrat, katiawar, rajasthan and central India. From harappa and moha judai encanation it is quite evident that the art of modeent dyeing and printing was known in India ever then.

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Famous traditional sarees are from Gujrat. It’s a type of tie and dye. Patterns are very intricate. As a rule a dark ground of red, choclate, brown or black. The work is in white, red, yellow or green. Where more than two colors are used, the design is known as ‘phulwari’ and where animal motifs predominate it is known as ’shikaris’. Elephants, birds flowers and dancing dolls are tie and dyed to form the traditional designs. In more expensive ‘Gharcholas’ gold charkhanas or square are woven into the original fabric and tie-dyed pattern produced within these squares. There are some design in Gujrat where bandhani work is restricted to border of saree and to large circle within the body which are intricately patterned, usually in the form of a circle of figures in a traditional dance pose.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Although the splended silk sarees and odhnis decorated peacocks, flowers, dancers ar used as festival dress the most highly preceed type of bandhani in gujrat is most frequently made of not silk but of cotton. This is the Gharchola. The traditional wedding odhni of gujrati hindu brides now also adopted by jain ladies even worn as a saree by guest at wedding. Fine cotton or malmal is divided into compartenents by woven stripes of gold brocades. The gold checked fabric being made in purbandar in saurashtra. Although it was formally imported from varanasi. The main gharchola designs are called bar bagh(12 section) or bahavan bav(52 section) depending upon the no. of motifs or squares. In order to save cost, the design may be tie and dyed on to red cotton cloth without the gold brocade. But if the buyers can afford it zari check sarees are better and are designed more. Another compromise can be achieved by sewing gold ribbon in strips on the tie dye saree. Yet invitation gharchola on georgette often furthered sunblished by sequence are now popular in the bazars of jam nagar. The gharchola is given to a girl at the time of their marriage. She usualy drapes it over her head and is entirely covered by underneath. Traditional white silk wedding sarees with a red border.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The gharchola fabrics is alwayz in the auspicious red color associated with weddings and varieties happiness with tie and dyed design in white and yellow dots. With green areas highlighted by localised dyed painting. It is also known the term derived from kusum of red dye. The motifs are usually a combination of plain instruments and favourably regarded as such as elephants and peacocks.

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Chikan is a traditional embroidery style from Lucknow. India literally translated the word means embroidery. Believed to have been introduced by Nur jehan, mughal empror jahagir’s wife, chikkankari is one of lucknow’s most famous textile decoration styles. Patterns and effects created depend on types of stitches used and the thickness of the threads used in embroidery. Some of the varities of the chikan stitches used include back-stitch, chain stitch and hem stitch and results in an open work pattern, jali or shadow work. Traditionally, the threads used are in the same color as the fabric.                                                                                                                                                                                     

The little white stitches of their individual excellence provide the ornamentation. Its charm lies in its miniature size and evenness. Inverted satin forms are worked on the right side with minute stitches, while the thread accumulates on the wrong side giving an opaque quality to the pattern. Another style of chikan is ‘Murri’ work consisting of spike like stitches very delicately worked. ‘Pandha’ is another type of chikan. There is another type of chikan. There are in all 22 stitches in it. The variations in tankas make up the white chiaroscurro effect chikankari is known for today. Chikan cannot be mass produced. Each piece, whether it is a saree, kurta or even table linen is one kind and cannot be replicated. This muslim art has been adapted to meet the demand of International fashion market.

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Block print is the oldest method of calico printing in which wooden block is used. It is the simplest method. Rajasthan is the main center for block printing. Jodhpur, Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Nalhdwara, Jaipur are some of the main centers for block prints.                                                                                                     

 The main centres in India for block printing is gujrat and western rajasthan. The block prints of rajasthan are mughal inspired floral prints. The cities like Bague and Sangaver closed to jaipur, the capital city of rajasthan produce much block printed fabric for the export fashion trade. They originally produced textile for the local market. The prints produced were aimed mostly at local, rural women but the designs in both places reflected the purssian influence which is very permanent in rajasthan since 17 th century. Bague prints are usually on a light brown background whereas sangaver prints have a white background. In recent years Bague is more famous as a block printed fabric. Sangaver on the other hand turned in many parts to screen printing their design on  fabric.                                                                                                                                       

In western India cloth printing blocks are usually made out of teak or sisum blocks made at pethkur near ahmedabad and considered to be the best centre for making blocks. Other centres are Farukhabad, Mathura, Delhi and Jaipur. The block printing trade in India is controlled largely by business who produce fabric dyes, blocks and designs to have good work. Blocks and designs discarded by them are used by the poorer counter parts in the villages. Hand block printed in India is much appreciated in the whole world. However even today the method of printing are very primitive and extreamly labour intensive.                                                                                                                                                                   

Centres of block printing is Rajasthan. The others are Bikaner, Jaiselmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaipur which are closed to it. In earlier dayz Udaipuur used blocks made of sandalwood which would leave its perfume on the fabric.                                                                                                                     

Sangaver is situated about 50 miles to the south east of Jaipur. The designs are common and well known. The designs are based on traditional motifs like paslies, flowers, leaves, birds, centre line patterns. Border with grape wine movement are well used in design. Most of these pattern have an outline block. This is printed in black or any other dark color. The filling is done with one two or more lighter shades. Commonly colors used are yellow, brown, indigo, rust, black etc.                                                                                                                                                       

A special feature of this block printing is that a variety of design is used on same piece of cloth. The pattern of floral motifs are strongly influenced by mughal designs. The block prints possess richness and purity of color.The prints produced by this method are of great decorative value but it is a time consuming process. Delicate shedding is not possible in block printing. It is very difficult to obtain it.    

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The origin of this technique are uncertain but proof that it is very old method of dying and producing design on fabric has been found among artifac in parts of the world where the fabric of early cultures have been preserved. Tie and dye may be applied to fabric directly or to yarn which is later woven as ikat                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Tie and dye is a resist method of dyeing like batic only. In this case, the areas the tied instead of being waved to resist the dye. Hence the areas which are tied keep the fabric from absorbing the dye bath. Tie and dye is a technique of gathering the fabric with running and overcast stitch to follow a preplanned design. Other effects are obtained to trying variousitems into the fabric.                                                                                                                                                                                                

The amount of dying that penetrates the cloth depends on how loosy or tightly the fabric has been bound and how long it has been left in dye bath. A beautiful effect of blending colors can result from tie and dipping again and again by tying new areas and dipping as many times as needed to shade from light to dark.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Even if one knows how to mix colors it is best to first experiment with small pieces of sample cloth.

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Georgette is quite slippery in touch. The biggest advantage of georgette fabric is that they are durable and doesnt need much care. Good quality georgette apparels can be handwashed and hung to drip dry in shade. Georgette generally have dull crinkled surface. These are heavier than chiffon fabric. It is a matt finish fabric which give a slimming effect and a very good fall. Georgette requires mild or no ironing. One could find ideally evening wear in this fabric. Georgette is basically a summer and sheer sensuous fabric which gives a wearer a younger look.

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