| In past times, saris were woven
of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely-woven,
diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore,
could be passed through a finger-ring. The
poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All
saris were handwoven and represented a considerable
investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are
often decorated with checks or stripes woven
into the cloth. The borders and the pallu
are defined only by the use of contrasting
thread in the warp or weft. Inexpensive
saris were also decorated with block printing
using carved wooden blocks and vegetable
dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani
work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric,
floral, or figurative ornament created on
the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes
warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and
then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes
threads of different colors were woven into
the base fabric in patterns – an ornamented
border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small
repeated accents in the cloth itself. These
accents are called buttis or bhutties (spellings
vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could
be woven with gold or silver thread, which
is called zari work. Modern zari work is
usually executed with glittering synthetic
fibers rather than real gold or silver thread
(made by wrapping gold or silver around
a base thread). |
Bridal
