Temple Saris

A more traditional variation of the Kornad Sari is called Temple sari. Technically, a temple sari is any sari woven for and donated to a temple deity in any part of South Asia. Originally it had to be perfectly executed, although it has always reflected what the donor could afford. Today however all the wide bordered Kornad Saris have become popularly known as temple saris. One type of traditiona Kornard sari is the interlocked weft woven sari, that has its two borders and fields of equal width. The borders are in the usual unembellished style but in the type most often called a temple sari, the entire length of narrow field is covered with fine quality supplementary weft zari patterning woven as a series of weft wise rows which includes such motifs as elephant, peacocks, double headed eagles and foliate floral vines. The motifs are typical of Tamil Nadu south Andhra Pradesh graphic and two dimensional representations are quite unlike the more three dimensional appearance of the northern Indian Patterning typical of Benaras

Tangail saris

Tangail Sarees

Although Jamdanis were traditionally woven by Muslims, Hindu weavers who moved from Tangail during partition helped developoing India's modern Jamdani industry. They were probably originally trained in the pre partition government school that was founded at Tangail in 1930s in an effort to revive the then disapperaring craft of Jamdani weaving. Significantly West Bengal Jamdanis are often called Tangail Jamdani and they typically have many small buti woven throughout the field often diagonally. They are now woven in many areas of West Bengal in such villages as Dhatrigram, Samudragarls, Saithia, Phulia and Shantipur. Those from Shantipur have black or dark blue bodies with brightr buti. Today the Tangail Jamdanis have developed a style of its own with a distinctly Modernist Hindu Aesthetic and it is now acquiring the vibrant colours of southern India and bold animal designs of Andhra Pradesh. Many are also made in silk instead of cotton because silk is easier and faster to weave and weavers are usually paid more for weaving silk fabric than cotton.

Kashmir Embroidery

The beautiful valley of Kashmir is justly famed for its textiles, above all the Kashmir shawl. The manufacture of embroidered shawls was started by an Armenian named Khwaja Yusuf, who introduced the concept of amli, the needlework shawls.

The classical Kashmiri shawl was made of Pashmina wool whose main source was the fleece of a central Asian species of mountain goat. Now only a fraction of these shawls are woven out of Pashmina wool, a mjority of them are made out of a yarn called ruffal which is spun out of Merino wool.

The shawl ground cloth was prepared by being rubbed with a piece of polished agate or or cornelian on the flat surface of a plank until it was prerfectly smooth. The pattern to be embroidered was then made on the the cloth with coloured power or charcoal and then embroidered with a satin or stem stitch, each stitch made to lie as flat as possible by picking up warp threads.

Whilst shwals are embroidered with a needle, much of the embroidery done in Kashmir valley is ari work. As with the weaving, embroidery is a male profession. The ari work is used to decorate clothing, wall hanging rugs, curtain covers and whole rolls of furnishing fabrics, with varying complexity of designs.

Maps of Srinagar and human figures are a very popular motif.

Advantage of Shuttleless loom over shuttle loom

Salient feature of Shuttleless looms:
1. Shuttleless weave 2 to 4 times as much as conventional looms per unit time.
2. The cost of pirn winding is eliminated
3. Strain upon the warp threads is reduced due to smaller depth of shed
4. Heavy cost of repairs and replenishment of worn out parts is reduced They can produce simpler tubes of fabrics on a large scale and provide opportunities for profitable exploitation in the long run.
5. The physical and mental strain upon the weaver is reduced
6. There is no risk of shuttle fly out owing to the absence of conventional shuttle and packing being positive
7. Quality of the fabric gets enhanced because of a positive control over the weaving process
8. The looms are easier to work and manipulate
9. Efficiency of the shuttle weaving shed is comparatively higher
10. 5% reduction in value loss for a Rs. 60/- Metre fabric would ensure an additional profit of Rs. 3/- meter
11. Higher production per loom
12. Speed is not the only criterion for the selection of shuttleless looms. Efficiency is also an important criterion.Efficiency advantage of 10-15% due to shuttle changes, Un weaving of damages, reduced time for warp changes canbe obtained from shuttleless looms. 5% higher efficiency would provide an additional profit of Rs. 1/- per metre.
13. 14 minutes stoppage per 24 hours.
14. Ex works cost is less due to less mending and inspection charges and no pirn winding charges. 15. Projectile and Air-jet looms suitable for Mass fabrics Rapier for fashion fabrics