India's handloom saree history & why I love handloom sarees

Indian Handlooms are an important craft product of the country. Millions of small industries across the country are engaged in weaving cotton, silk, and other natural fibers. There are many villages in India where this handloom art is still practicing from generation to generation. A handloom saree is often woven on a shuttle-pit loom made from ropes, wooden beams, and poles. The shuttle is thrown from side-to-side by the weaver to weave the saree. Other weavers use a fly-shuttle loom which can produce different types of patterns.

Generally, handloom sarees weaving is a family enterprise. The handloom sarees is India's best cottage industries.The handloom sarees are made from silk or cotton threads.

There are various handloom sarees from each state of India which people love to wear & which exports in huge quantity.

• Madras checks from Tamil Nadu

This kind of saree is made from banana leaf fiber. I have read somewhere that in Ramayana when Sita wants to change the cloth but don’t want to ask Ravana for a new one so she asked hanuman to bring the Banana leaf & weaved a saree for herself from it. The gorgeous checks pattern is to die for.

• Bandhani or Tie and dye from Gujarat

Bandhani or Tie & Die sarees are famous for its making process & vibrant colors & design patterns which are created by tying the fabric in small parts to create the design & then dyeing the same. This is widely done in the kutchh where you get different designs & colors & kutchhi Bharat is done on some sarees to make it look richer. During Navratri, the demand of Bandhani sarees or dupattas is so much.

• Banarasi silk sarees

Banarasi silk sarees are famous for its Zari work weaving with the silk thread & achieving different patterns. They use both Gold & silver zari according to design. These sarees comes in various colors & it will take 25-30 days to weave on saree due to intricate detailing in the saree.

• Chanderi pattern of Madhya Pradesh

Chanderi sarees are famous due to its light weight & ease of wearing in hot weather. This can be made from silk or cotton thread by creating a small motif pattern of Zari work.

• Paithani Saree:

Paithani is a variety of sari, named after the Paithan town in Aurangabad Maharashtra state where they are woven by hand. Made from very fine silk, it is considered as one of the richest saris in India. Which was worn by queens of Maharashtra.

Paithani is characterized by borders of an oblique square design, and a pallu with a peacock design. Plain as well as spotted designs are available. Among other varieties, single colored and kaleidoscope-colored designs are also popular. The kaleidoscopic effect is achieved by using one color for weaving lengthwise and another for weaving widthwise.

These are all about the various handloom sarees. However, in Nowadays, there are various sarees which are available at cheap prices which are machine made but it can’t take place of the handloom sarees which brings an authentic look with it. Indian handloom shows the intricate designs of art & craft of rural village of India. It takes days of labor to create one art piece of handloom saree which gives the satisfaction of personalization. The basic difference between the two is that hand-made clothes are made entirely by human beings while the other is made with the help of machines.

Long years ago, before the invention of textile industry machines, only hand-made clothes existed! Later on, machine made clothes ruled the entire clothing market. But hand-made clothes never went out of demand. It still in demand with a huge fan following all over the world. People prefer to buy them over the machine made because of the strength, durability, and uniqueness it reflects in each piece.