Jamdani

These are fine transparent cotton muslin with discontinuous supplementary weft motifs woven in heavier cotton threads.

Jamdani weaving methods employs two weavers sitting side by side at a simple handloom who add every discontinuous  supplementary weft motif separately by hand , using individual spools of threads called tilis. No special warp lifting mechanisms are required.

In terms of color and design, contemporary Jamdanis fall into six categories: those with

1. Natural coloured, unbleached cotton grounds with bleached white cotton supplementary work.

2. Pastel coloured grounds with white supplementary work.

3. Dark coloured grounds with white supplementary work.

4. Any of the other, with coloured threads, either of similar or contrasting tones.

5. Any of the above combinations with 'zari' supplementary threads as part of the mix.

6. Dark grounds with only zari supplementary work.

The only town in India where traditional Jamdanis are still made is Tanda in Uttar Pradesh. Here finely patterned white Jamdanis usually completely covered with vines and foliate patterns, have been created since at least the nineteenth century. Today most Tanda Jamdanis are woven into dupattas or yardage, although sais of this type were most popular among wealthy old women and widows.

How to cite this article:
Goyal, P. Jamdani. My Textile Notes. Available at: https://mytextilenotes.blogspot.com/2008/08/jamdani.html

Have a textile question?

If you have a question related to this topic, you are welcome to ask it in the My Textile Notes Discussion Forum.

Students, merchandisers, designers, researchers and textile professionals are welcome to participate.