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What are the different types of silk used to make sarees?
There are various types of silk used in saree making, including:
Mulberry silk
Tussar silk
Kanjeevaram silk
Banarasi silk
Mysore silk
Chanderi silk
Bhagalpuri silk
Paithani silk
Dharmavaram silk,
Explore the silk sarees types.
What is a silk saree?
A silk saree is a traditional Indian garment made from silk fabric. It consists of a long piece of cloth, usually around six to nine yards in length, draped elegantly around the body.
How to spot an authentic Kanchipuram handloom silk saree
A saree is more than just a piece of clothing; it’s an extension of your personality, an expression of your style, and a nod to your cultural roots. When it comes to your wedding day, you want nothing less than perfection. And the epitome of that perfection often lies in a breathtaking Kanchipuram silk saree. With their exquisite craftsmanship and traditional charm, these sarees are the embodiment of elegance and sophistication.
But how does one navigate through the vast sea of options to find that perfect Kanchipuram saree? We are here to help. Here are some practical tips to guide you on this exciting journey. For more information click here
How do you identify and maintain a tussar silk saree?
What is tussar silk?
Ever heard of tropical tussar? It’s tussar that’s grown in the eastern states of India, the second largest producer of this tussar silk in the world. Indian tussar, which is referred to as ‘kosa’ in Sanskrit literature, is harvested from the forests of eastern and central India. This earns it the moniker ‘wild silk’.
Tussar silk fibres are collected from the cocoons of Antheraea moths, which feed on the leaves of forest trees such as jamun and oak. As a result, the silk fibres have a grainy texture and golden glow. Tussar silk’s texture is very different from the smoother, softer mulberry silk, which is derived from Bombyx silkworms that are only fed mulberry leaves. You can learn more about the difference between tussar and other types of silk in our blog about Indian fabrics. Explore tussar silk sarees.
Tips to Select a Wedding Bridal Kanchipuram Saree
A saree is more than just a piece of clothing; it’s an extension of your personality, an expression of your style, and a nod to your cultural roots. When it comes to your wedding day, you want nothing less than perfection. And the epitome of that perfection often lies in a breathtaking Kanchipuram silk saree. With their exquisite craftsmanship and traditional charm, these sarees are the embodiment of elegance and sophistication.
But how does one navigate through the vast sea of options to find that perfect Kanchipuram saree? We are here to help. Here are some practical tips to guide you on this exciting journey.
1. Understanding the Quality: The Art of Identifying Authentic Kanchipuram Silk
The quality of a wedding bridal Kanchipuram saree is paramount. Authentic Kanchipuram silk sarees are renowned for their:
Richness of the Silk: The silk should feel luxurious to the touch. If it feels soft and plush, you’re on the right track!
Intricacy of the Designs: The zari motifs should be intricately woven and stand out against the fabric.
Authenticity of the Zari Work: Real Kanchipuram sarees are traditionally heavier than other types due to the rich zari work.
Did you know? Genuine Kanchipuram sarees’ zari thread is combed with silk thread, which is twisted with a silver thread and then covered in pure gold.
2. Choosing the Right Color: How to Find the Perfect Hue for You?
The spectrum of colors in Kanchipuram silk sarees is endless. From timeless hues like red, maroon, and gold to contemporary shades such as pastels, blues, and greens, there’s a color for every bride. The goal is to find a color that enhances your natural glow and harmonizes with your wedding theme.
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What makes Kanchipuram korvai silk sarees so special?
The unfurling of a handwoven Kanchipuram korvai silk saree is always a sensorial delight, with its intricate patterns, sparkling zari, and the pairing of surprising yet perfectly matched colours brought together by the korvai technique.
Korvai is an ancient handloom weaving technique that’s exclusive to Kanchipuram silk sarees. It involves weaving the body and the border separately on the handloom, and then joining them using an interlocking weave in the weft. The pallu is then attached using the petni method, where the interlock occurs along the warp.
This requires great skill, and gives the bridge between the border and a body a slightly embossed texture. One could say that a handwoven Kanchipuram korvai silk saree doesn’t just look, but also feels distinctive.
The making of Kanchipuram korvai silk sarees
These sarees can only be handwoven, since the process requires two skilled weavers to work simultaneously on the same loom. Additionally, three shuttles are required to weave a Kanchipuram korvai silk saree; the weavers are seated at the weft ends of the loom, creating the body and border separately.
The complexity of this process is easier to understand when we compare this to how a regular handwoven Kanchipuram silk saree is made. For a non-korvai saree, a single weaver works on the handloom, weaving all three parts of the saree himself.
Designing, dyeing and weaving Kanchipuram korvai sarees are time- and labour-intensive, which is why they’re priced higher than most handwoven silk sarees.
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The hands behind the handloom
Twisting
Every day, Munivel carefully weighs the finest silk yarns at the RmKV facility at Arani and decides whether they should become the warp or the weft yarn. He can do this just by touching the yarns, his instincts finely-tuned with over 30 years of experience.
At the Twisting facility, Munivel and his team clean and then ‘twist’ the yarns into one, two or three-ply silk threads. This ensures that the silk yarns are soft yet strong, paving the way for the weaver to create a Kanchipuram silk saree that will last generations.
Scientific Dyeing
Twisting is just one of the preparatory processes that silk yarns undergo before the weaver even begins his work. After passing inspection by Munivel, the selected yarns are brought to Kallapiran at RmKV’s Scientific Dyeing facility.
Kallapiran has been working with RmKV for 20 years. As the dyeing master at our facility, he oversees a series of processes, whether it’s degumming the twisted silk yarns to remove sericin Protein or maintaining detailed dyeing recipes for each of the 50,000 colours used in RmKV’s handwoven sarees. He’s also in charge of creating new colours with our R&D team.
While the yarns are being dyed, Kallapiran looks out for two things. First, the colour should be consistent throughout the yarn. Second, the dyeing process shouldn’t affect the strength of the silk fibres.
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Handwoven ikat sarees – A tale of trade and tradition
How are ikat sarees made?
The design of the saree is first plotted on a graph and then marked onto the yarns; these threads are then grouped and tightly bound together using a rubber band or any other waterproof material (called a ‘resist’), so that the dye can colour every part except those that are tied. This is called ‘resist dyeing’ and is done separately for every single colour in the saree!
After dyeing and drying the warp and weft separately, the weaver brings them together on the loom, matching their colours and patterns precisely. The level of skill required to perfectly align the threads is astounding, and takes years to acquire. Often, either the warp or the weft is resist dyed, not both. In this case, the garment is said to have a ‘single ikat’ pattern. When both the warp and the weft are resist dyed, a double ikat pattern emerges. This is quite a complex and time-consuming process, which is why double ikat sarees like Gujarat’s Patan Patola and Telangana’s Pochampally ikat sarees are so coveted.
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Five events that shaped the modern-day saree
1. A garment as old as history
Historians trace the saree’s origins to the Indus Valley Civilization (3300-1300 BCE), though the word ‘sari’ has its roots in the Sanskrit word ‘satika’ (or ‘sadi’ in Pali), which means an unstitched swathe of cloth.
The Greek descendants of Alexander the Great and his generals, who settled in the kingdom of the Mauryas, probably influenced the garment as well. Their flowy chiton (a tunic pinned at the shoulders) isn’t too far removed from the many draping styles that have permeated India since the second century CE.
Each culture that flowed into India through trade and conquest left a subtle imprint not just on how the saree is worn but also woven.
Persian zardozi embroidery, Mughal motifs, and the opulent Banarasi brocade…each add a page to India’s voluminous tale.
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THE TEMPLE MOTIF: Where weaving meets worship
In India, craft reflects culture. Many of India’s craft traditions are hundreds of years old, originating in eras when one’s mental map stretched only as far as adjacent villages and small towns.
Weavers and artists drew on local, everyday experiences for inspiration. In Kanchipuram, temples are the centers of community life and define the ethos of its craftspeople. In that sense, the temple pattern is the leitmotif of life in Kanchipuram.
The many avatars of the temple border
A temple border is easily spotted; its recurring motifs are triangular and often layered, resembling the gopuram’s brilliantly-nuanced design as it arches skyward. Yet, the temple motif is so widely used that its subtle differences and versatility are often unnoticed.
Did you know, for instance, that there are several types of temple patterns?
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Sarees that aren’t just made exclusively for you, but also by you
When a saree becomes a story
A saree is perhaps the most personalized garment one can wear. The blouse is stitched to fit just so, and the saree is draped to complement our shape. Designing your own saree, then, seems like a natural extension of wearing one.
Vasanthi Gomathinayagam, for example, wanted her wedding saree to reflect her journey to the mandapam. She reached out to us a few months before her wedding, asking if we could create a bridal saree that captured the milestones and memories of her relationship, which all occurred in Washington DC.
The Lincoln Memorial was where the proposal took place, and Vasanthi chose the monument as the main motif of the saree. Over several calls, Vasanthi shared her ideas with our design team, who worked on sketches and renders to translate her vision into a weave. Once the design was finalized, our master weavers began telling the story of the courtship in the language of warp and weft. The Lincoln Memorial was woven into the pallu in stunning detail; the cherry blossoms that bloom around the Memorial in spring were recreated on the body, interspersed with honeycomb patterns. On the border, the Washington Monument stands tall beside the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building. Every detail is reflective of a cherished memory, and by custom-creating her wedding saree, Vasanthi made the garment truly her own. Here’s how she described the experience:
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A handwoven celebration of Raja Ravi Varma’s timeless painting
The legend behind Hamsa Damayanti
Raja Ravi Varma’s painting captures a pivotal moment in the story of the protagonist, Damayanti. Her legend is one of the many strands that compose the Mahabharata, and is remembered for its attributes of loyalty, love, conviction and persistence.
Damayanti, the princess of the Vidarbha kingdom, was famed for her beauty. Her mother hoped that the princess would be the bride of a god; she sent a swan (hamsa) to Lord Indra, inviting him to seek Damayanti’s hand in marriage.
Destiny had other plans. The swan got swept up in a storm and sought refuge in Nishada, the kingdom of Nala, a skilled charioteer and capable ruler. Impressed by how King Nala cared for it, the swan flew back to Damayanti instead of soaring into the clouds to meet Lord Indra. The swan sang Nala’s praises, Damayanti fell in love, and the god to whom she was promised was not pleased.
Despite the gods’ many deceits, Damayanti chose to marry Nala and lived happily as his queen in Nishada for years. Yet, the gods did not forget. They tricked Nala into gambling away his kingdom, forcing him and Damayanti into exile in the forest. Guilt-ridden and ashamed, Nala believed that Damayanti was better off without him and abandoned her in the forest. Devastated but undeterred, Damayanti searched for Nala, convinced that they would one day be reunited. She faced every challenge with poise and, 12 years later, they met again.
Nala won back his kingdom from his younger brother Pushkara, and all the wiser from their many hardships, King Nala and Queen Damayanti ruled Nishada admirably till the end of their days.
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India’s handloom industry needs a hand
If there’s an instrument that can tell India’s story in all its multifaceted richness, it’s the handloom. The rhythmic rattle of the loom has sounded in India’s villages for millennia; every motif that takes shape beneath the weaver’s nimble fingers bears influences from near and far, and every technique is an innovation sparked by the intertwining of cultures.
This is particularly true of the sari. If the luxe Benaras weave speaks of Mughal patronage through its flamboyant Persian motifs, then the tie-and-dye technique that colours the eastern coast’s ikat saris is a memento of trade and cultural links with Indonesia. The Kanjivaram sari, its motifs infused with nature and mythology, mirrors Tamil Nadu’s cultural landscape. Generations of weavers have been the keepers of these stories, resolutely working at the loom, even as their own story becomes more imperiled.
National Handloom Day, observed on August 7th since 2015, draws attention to not just the products that are created on the handloom, but the people who create them as well.
For, a handwoven sari is an extension of its weaver’s skill and imagination, and filled with the richness of human touch. It’s said that no two handwoven saris are ever alike, even when crafted by the same weaver.
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At RmKV, every day is Women’s Day
The story of an RmKV sari doesn’t just span yards, but generations. We’ve been privileged to watch our customers go from twirling around in pattu pavadai sets as little girls to selecting graduation saris and wedding silks as young women. Indeed, our women customers have been the driving force ever since we started as a small business in Tirunelveli in 1924.
Yet, the stories of our saris don’t begin with those who wear them. Perhaps the beauty of a handwoven piece is that it carries traces of the person who made it – their influences, the deftness of their fingers, their eye for detail, and the scale of their imagination. Anything handmade is a continuous human narrative, passed on from weaver to wearer.
Celebrating this generation of women artisans, and encouraging the next
In the case of woman weavers, the handloom isn’t just a tool of expression, but empowerment as well. In an endeavour to give them a wider platform, we partnered with SEWA – an organization owned and managed by thousands of women weavers –to conduct an exhibition and sale of products handcrafted by women from across South East Asia. On display were crafts as wide-ranging as delicate Jamdani from Bangladesh, the discontinuous tigma weave that’s a signature of Bhutan, the intricate and colourful Baluchi Kandahar joshi embroidery of Afghanistan and mirror embroidery from Gujarat.
A Bhutanese artisan shows visitors how tigma fabric is woven. In Bhutan, weaving is a skill handed down from mother to daughter through ‘hingtham’, which means ‘from the heart’.
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How do you identify and maintain a tussar silk saree?
Handloom tussar silk sarees are wardrobe essentials; their unique texture, experimental prints and flawless drape make them versatile outfits for a multitude of occasions.
What is tussar silk?
Ever heard of tropical tussar? It’s tussar that’s grown in the eastern states of India, the second largest producer of this tussar silk in the world. Indian tussar, which is referred to as ‘kosa’ in Sanskrit literature, is harvested from the forests of eastern and central India. This earns it the moniker ‘wild silk’.
This kalamkari printed saree shows off the natural tone of tussar silk.
Tussar silk fibres are collected from the cocoons of Antheraea moths, which feed on the leaves of forest trees such as jamun and oak. As a result, the silk fibres have a grainy texture and golden glow. Tussar silk’s texture is very different from the smoother, softer mulberry silk, which is derived from Bombyx silkworms that are only fed mulberry leaves. You can learn more about the difference between tussar and other types of silk in our blog about Indian fabrics.
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THE BLESSED HARVEST: Kanchipuram motifs inspired by abundance
Handloom Kanchipuram silk sarees are filled with motifs of prosperity and fulfillment. Drawn from mythology and the bounty of Nature, these symbols invoke abundance in the language of silk and gold.
Kanchipuram might be better known for its temples (and its handwoven sarees for their temple borders), but it’s also situated in one of the most fertile regions of Tamil Nadu. As the harvest season grows near, its fields are green with paddy, its trees heavy with fruit, and its granaries evidence of the red soil’s richness.
Each motif in the Kanchipuram weaving tradition is symbolic. Kanchipuram’s weavers incorporate motifs derived from agriculture, Nature and mythology to connote fertility, auspiciousness and prosperity. As the harvest festivals of Pongal and Makara Sankranti draw near, we revisit some of the most popular motifs in the Kanchipuram repertoire and reflect on how each celebrates abundance in its unique way.
KolamDrawn on damp earth at daybreak, the kolam’s sacred symmetry is a harbinger of prosperity and a celebration of co-existence.Typically created using rice flour, the kolam invites all beings to feast on the fruits of life, thus signifying abundance.
The curvilinear lines of the kolam are constantly referenced in Kanchipuram silk sarees. Just as women carefully draw these sacred patterns at the entrance of their homes, our weavers faithfully reproduce these motifs on our sarees, filling them with symbols of auspiciousness.
Pookal
The lotus, hibiscus, mallow and champa – sacred flowers grow lush in forests and fields, to be offered in shrines and used as adornment. A delight to the senses and a symbol of plenty, each flower holds in it the promise of fruition.
Floral motifs abound on handloom Kanchipuram silk sarees, appearing as flamboyant buttis, lush garlands, and flowering creepers growing in a thick canopy. Each flower has meaning; the lotus symbolises wealth and purity, the hibiscus brings good fortune, and the jasmine is associated with sensuality. Kanchipuram’s weavers handcraft them in rich detail, celebrating them as evidence of Nature’s creativity.
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Handloom Banarasi sarees: Traditions of a thousand years
How are Banarasi sarees woven?
Banarasi sarees, whether silk or cotton, are woven on pit looms. Hand-drawn designs are converted into jacquard cards, which are then loaded onto the loom to guide the weaver in the placement of the threads. However, this description only broadly outlines the process. What makes a handwoven Banarasi saree so revered is the craftsmanship – the individual skills and time-honoured methods passed on within the family.
Banarasi fabrics are further refined in terms of techniques and fabrics. For example, Banarasi Jamdani sarees employ a double weft, while Banarasi Tanchoi sarees require a single or double warp and multiple weft threads.
What are the different types of Banarasi sarees?
There’s incredible depth to the weaving traditions used to create handloom Banarasi sarees. The choice of fabric, the quantity of zari, and the use of additional warp and weft yarns can transform the look and feel of a handloom Banarasi saree.
Handwoven Banarasi silk sarees are of four main types, depending on the silk that’s used: – Katan, which is a pure silk saree that’s compactly woven and features beautiful zari brocades. These sarees tend to be heavier than the other kinds of Banaras silk sarees.
– Kora or organza, which is gauzy and features detailed zari patterns. Kora Banaras silk sarees are woven using raw silk threads; zari threads can be used for the weft, giving the saree a translucent quality and noticeable sheen.
– Khaddi georgette, the sheer silk saree with a grainy texture, is preferred for its beautiful drape.
– Shattir is an innovation that’s lighter and has more contemporary designs. Shattir Banarasi silk sarees can often be worn to daytime events.
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