Saturday 3 December 2016

Baluchari From Sarees To Stoles and Shawls.

Intricate Baluchari saris are works of art woven in silk. The borders and pallu are embellished with exquisite motifs inspired by the epics, mythology and traditional texts, as also scenes from courtly life. Each panel of these delicately woven sarees tells a timeless story. A single sari can depict an entire episode from the Mahabharata or Ramayana, woven into its border and pallu. The magical weaves with their centuries-old tradition continue to enchant through generations. They take pride of place in the heirloom collection of Bengali women.

With more use of stoles/shawls in the modern world, the making of Stoles along with sarees can be a precious possession for many more women. A saree has a width of 45” and the two lengthwise borders, which when removed,  gives a loom with 36” fabric, which can be converted into stoles.



The various motifs are first drawn on graph paper, then converted into punch cards that are sewn together and attached to the loom for weaving. Every design on a saree or stole has different sets of punched cards. 




























The designs can be repeated many times as the same set of punched cards are used over and over again in a saree. The price of a saree is also subjected to the intricacy of weave. Which implies a dupatta, with the mythological weave throughout, is royal and very expensive..





















Warp is generally the Bangalore silk and the weft is silk yarn procured from Malda. Setting of Dark coloured yarns like Black and navy blue as weft, gives the traditional and bright Indian colours to the Baluchari sarees.



The staple yarn from local market of Bankura gave us the cotton silk fabric with Baluchari weave. Yet the warp and weft yarns, where weaving of designs was taking place, is the same as original Baluchari fabric to retain the royal and intricate work  in original size.