Count, Construction and Width of Common Hotel Linens

What is Thread Count

Thread count is a term used in bed sheets and bed covers. Thread count simply means how many threads are there in one square inch of the cloth. Thus it is the sum of Ends per inch and Picks per inch.

Bed Sheets 

Yarn Count- 40s x 40s
Thread Count- 200 and above

Single Bed Sheet is normally comes in 90" x 108". Double Bed Sheet comes in 108" x 108".

Weave Pattern - Plain weave or satin, sometimes satin stripes are usd.

Bed Spread

Size: 108" x 108" and 90" x 108"
Normal grammage for single bed cover is 880 grams, and double bed cover is 980 grams.

Duvet Cover

Thread Count: 200 and above
Size : 61" x 91"

Here is a list of all the items

Buy my books at Amazon.com

Is GI Working in Indian Traditional Textiles ?

In a thought provoking and I would say "disruptive" paper, author Aarti Kawlra, makes some important points citing Kanchipuram Sarees. I have experienced the same while buying sarees for my company.

GI has worked in both ways. On one hand, it has provided some standard under which the quality of a particular nomenclature of textile can be evaluated. On the other, it has given rise to a whole bunch of manufacturers, who have subverted the spirit of GI.

The author has argued that GI in Indian context is arguably useful as it is a highly segmented market and manufacturers have to make a balance between the quality and saleability and thus their sustainability.

The author says that it is the way in British Rule, where the "traditional" fabrics were fixed to a particular area.

The fact that material, processes and place are fixed means to disparage innovations and imitations as deviant and spurious.

She pointed out that even the material specifications as mentioned in the GI journals, specifically Kanchipuram Sarees are not adhered to. Eg. for Kanchipuram saree, the zari should have 78% silver, 21% silk, and 1% gold, which are impossible to comply with. The "Zari Mark" of cooperative society has stipulated as 40% silver, 35.5% copper, 24% silk and 0.5% gold.

Also the Korvai ( Three Shuttle Technique ) of weaving sarees is declining as the process is vary much combersome.

So because of fixing of attributes of sarees, there is a spawning of a whole genre of products knows as "Duplicate Sarees", which have all the features of the Kanchipuram sarees as mentioned in the GI, which have everything except compromise on three cost raising features- zari, silk and Korvai.

GI has transformed manufacturing hubs from "spaces of production" to "places of origin".

Source: http://125.22.40.134:8082/jspui/bitstream/123456789/888/1/29_Aarti_Kawlra.pdf 



Buy my books at Amazon.com

Photoblog- Visit to Pochampally Park

Photoblog- Visit to Textile Clusters of Indore, Dhar and Maheshwar

Route to Bagh is breathtaking. In the background are seen the windmills. The road is newly laid and extremely well built.

These are a common site in Bagh. The printing is done with natural colors and ingredients like myrobalan. The red is developed with Alum by boiling in Alizarin ( an ingredient of Alum). It is also known as alizarin printing. It is said that the minerals dissolved in the Bagh river provide that extremely rich red color to the fabric. The printing is done on cotton, chanderi, Maheshwari, Modal Tussar and Mulberry.

Printing is done with hand. All the three blocks gad, reikh and datta ( daat ) are used.

There are lots of words of wisdom you will find on the local shops, the above notice says "loan is a magic, we give you and you will get vanished....." so true sometimes !!!!

Visit to Maheshwar is inspiring. The township is reverberating with the sweet sounds of handlooms. A neat and clean place with an all pervasive presence of Ahilyabai Holkar dynasty, which is reflected in their philanthropic institutions.

Maheshwari is a fabric in silk and cotton. The difference from Chanderi, as we are told is in the count of weft and twist constructions of warp. In chanderi twisted yarn is used in the warp. Also in chanderi 100s count is used whereas in Maheshwari 80s count is used. But the real difference is in the woven border of chanderi, the inspiration from which is taken from the carvings of the Ahilyabai fort.

The picture above indicates the dobby used to create the famous Maheshwari Border.

So the iron frames are used to hold the handloom together. Look at the way the warp are arranged.

Look at the way the indigenous drop box motion is provided on the loom to change the shuttle.

Here we can see that gears are finding their way in to handlooms to make the process of weaving faster and painless.

It was enlightening to address a group of weavers. A great job is done there by the Handloom School. It was amazing to see how this next generation of weavers is evolved to take on this e-commerce revolution.

Watching Narmada at the sunset was a treat

It was great to see ambar Charkha spinning Khadi at Womens Weaves

Back in Indore, chance to see the Indigo Alizarin Process of Tarapur Cluster

Chance to Meet Sattar Bhai, doing Dabu with hand block printing

This is not all, in the next blog will write about my learning on the various borders in Maheshwar.

Buy my books at Amazon.com