===== CULTURE ====== Craft: Chanderi Fabrics Craftsperson/organization: Chanderi Handloom Cluster Development Company Items: Saris, material for dresses, suits and upholstery. Chanderi saris display remarkable subtlety…The fabric has been around for about 600 years now since the Mughal period. Named after the historically strategic town of Madhya Pradesh to which it belongs, Chanderi is a hand-woven fabric, unique in its translucent and sheer texture. What lends the fabric this quality is not the fine thread used for weaving, but the use of single flature yarn. In this type of yarn, the “glue” of the raw yarn is not removed, and this non-degumming causes the finished fabric to shine in its transparency. While the transparent yarn might be of cotton or silk, about 90% of Chanderi saris are made from a cotton-silk blend. The fabric has been around for about 600 years now since the Mughal period. The town of Chanderi is home to about 3500 families of various communities who base their livelihood on the weaving of Chanderi fabrics. In the last four years, there has been an unprecedented boom in the demand for Chanderi saris and fabrics. This has led to an improvement in the wages and working conditions of the weavers. Chanderi saris display remarkable subtlety. This is especially true of the balance of colors used on the body of the sari along with those used on the pallu or border. In fact, it was only 50 years ago that color was introduced to Chanderi saris. Until then, all fabrics were woven in the natural white of cotton and were washed in saffron to give them their characteristic golden hue and fragrance. Some weavers were known to use natural dyes made from flowers on the finished woven product. Today, Chanderi weavers prefer fast-acting chemical dyes instead.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 07:32:47 +0000
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