Gadwal Saris are traditional Indian Saris from Andhra Pradesh. The striking feature of this sari is that, while the body is made from cotton, the borders and the pallu(the falling edge of the saree) are made from silk. There is complicated joinery involved and this gives the silk/cotton mix sari its charm.
Most Gadwal Saris are woven with interlocked - weft borders of contrasting colours. Attaching the silk border and pallav to the cotton body is called doing the 'kechchu'. This is most difficult to do and is also what sets the Gadwal sari apart from other saris. The body of the sari is woven from unbleached cotton yarn and contains patterns made using colored cotton or silk thread. The embroidery is done using threads coated with gold or copper. Traditional motifs are used in the sari.
These saris have different types of borders - Small border, medium border, heavy border (weight of the sari doesn’t vary). Also, Kutu border, Turning border, One side border are some other terms in use.
Most Gadwal Saris are woven with interlocked - weft borders of contrasting colours. Attaching the silk border and pallav to the cotton body is called doing the 'kechchu'. This is most difficult to do and is also what sets the Gadwal sari apart from other saris. The body of the sari is woven from unbleached cotton yarn and contains patterns made using colored cotton or silk thread. The embroidery is done using threads coated with gold or copper. Traditional motifs are used in the sari.
These saris have different types of borders - Small border, medium border, heavy border (weight of the sari doesn’t vary). Also, Kutu border, Turning border, One side border are some other terms in use.
A Gadwal Sari is of 80 counts cotton for warp and weft in the body, and 20/22 D filature silk is used in the border and pallou .The blouse is also woven on the other side of the sari which is generally 32” in length.
How to Recognise a Gadwal Sari
KUTTU (a joining) at the border for any GADWAL sari, is one feature that helps recognize it and also any GADWAL sari whether Cotton or Silk, always has a Silk border.
You can find images of Gadwal Saris HERE.
