Nuapatna Ikat Textile Cluster-3

This one is called the Khandua Society.

Khandua fabrics and Sarees are in general products woven in the Nuapatna Cluster.

Was impressed to see the technical innovation done in handloom to ease the life of weavers. Use of pedal, chain and wheel from cycle to adoptation of Tara loom to weave weft ikat is amazing. Have a look.

In general in all these sarees the border portion is weft tyed-died while the body portion in weft ikat. 

To know more read the document in this journal

Nuapatna Ikat Textile Cluster-2

This cluster specializes in making Dongria and Siminoi Sarees, which are woven motifs inspired from the embroidery and colors used by Dongria and Siminoi tribes of Orissa.

Dongria

Siminoi

Apart from the that traditional Ikat sarees were woven. EPI x PPI for Silk sarees is 88x 80 for Cotton it is 70 x 80.

The count used in Silk is Bangalore x Maldah ( 20/22 degummed x 33/37 degummed) for Cotton it is 120s x 2/100s.

Nuapatna Ikat Textile Cluster

Nuapatna

This place is known for its Ikat Textiles, specially Sarees. The ikat used is weft Ikat.

When we reached, it was a hot summer day with temperature soaring up to 45 deg C with humidity. But looking at the "cool" weaving, took away some of the heat.

Frame looms are used to weave.

Look at the "bow" used to control the weft, this gives wavy selvedge to the saree. Considered by some as a defect,this is inherent to the manufacture of this saree.

Frame used to tie and dye the weft yarn. The pattern is prepared on the frame then it is transferred to weft spools and then these are used in the loom for weaving. 

The count used is 2/100s or 2/120s for cotton. Both mercerised and non mercerised cotton is used. Silk used is Bangalore (20/22 denier degummed) or Maldah Silk (30/33) denier Mulberry. In Nuapatna Generally Bangalore Silk is used in the warp and Maldah is used in the weft. 

Note the "Comb" used at the selvedge to control the border ends. Note also the absence of warp stop motion. Which means weavers eyes are the only instruments to detect a defect, and it one can only spot a missing end ( Chira) in a 2/100s count cotton only after a few picks have been woven. So expect some missing ends in the warp.

Throughout India, home made dobby attachements are used to create the design. Here is the Nuapatna version.

Notice the lingos falling down at the border.

To create this design below the following steps are done:

1. White fabric is ties for the first time

2. Then it is dyed in the motif colorr. ( Fawn)

3. Then the motif only is tied.

4. Then it is treated with hydro ( Sod. Hydrosulphide) to take away the color from the remaining portion- if needed.

5 Then the background is dyed. 

Generally acid dyes are used for silk and vat dyes for cotton. However, the characteristic "red" of Ikat will bleed as it is dyed in napthol color. For all the bright colors napthol dyes are used, which may bleed. They have also started using the reactive dyes, but is it very rare. 

Do you see the little zig-zag line at the left side in the picture above , this is how the weavers control design, they make sure that this zig-zag line is maintained by pinching a small amount of weft. which is shown as a loop in the wrong side of fabric. So mind you, if you get those loops of yarn at the side of the fabric, these are not defects but effects inherent to the weaving technique. 

This is Nuapatna No. 1, there are many more such societies. Surprisingly each have a different language of products. 

This society has an elaborate stand for checking the sarees against the light. 

Powerloom Clusters in India- A case of Tamil Nadu

The following are some of the observations:

1. The average production of grey fabric per loom per day is 30 meters.

2. For grey varieties, the beam length is observed to be of 1000 meters and max of 4750 meters.

3. For Sarees, the beam length is of 400 meters to 1000 meters.

4. 50% of the powerlooms operate in one shift and 50% in two shifts. As the powerlooms are working on jobwork basis, and they switch over to two shifts only if the jobwork is available. Also there is a restriction on the working of powerloom in the nights. The number of working hours for the units with one shift is 10 to 12 per day. Those which are working in two shifts work from 8 to 10 hours per day.

5. In case of sarees the powerlooms work in one shift only due to the design restrictions.

6. 95% of the units work in the range of 20-25 days in a month. In a year, 90% of the units work for 10 months and above.

7. In grey fabric production one weaver attend to normally 6 looms, if there are no dobby or jaquard deign. For all yarn dyed fabric, one weaver attends to about 2 looms. For sarees, it is one loom pere weaver.

There are two types of Production Activities followed:

1. Job work Units producing Greige Fabric

2. Entrepreneurial Units carrying out own production

In 1. The warp beam and the weft yarn is provided by the master weaver. The fabric is converted and supplied back to the master weaver.

In this case there are several disadvantages: As the job work unit supply the grey fabric without inspection, the quality of the fabric may not be best and depends upon the available infrastructure and resources.

As there are no inspection facilities so feedback is not scientific. Absence of stop motions - warp and weft as well as untrained weavers create a lot of defects. The product may have stains due to incorrect handling by weavers. Improper ventilation and housekeeping leads to lot of foreign matter in the end product.

In 2. The yarn is procured, dyed and converted.

The flow chart of the various production models are as given below:

source

Buying of Indian Ethnic Fabrics- Weaving Issues

Weaving flaws come naturally with Indian traditional fabrics. Some of these are inevitable and some of these are avoidable. Below are the details of the common weaving issues that come with the Indian traditional fabrics:

Fabric Weight

Weaving defects in the traditional fabrics arise due to techniques used in weaving them as well as the manual operations involved in it. They also occur as the quality of yarn used in warp and weft is compromised or the yarn itself is handspun. In Handloom fabrics, the usual defects are holes, mending, missing end and missing and broken picks. The fabric weight also varies as the fabric is getting woven with variable beat up depending upon the person and also varies during the course of the day of weaving. In the morning, the weaver is fresh, and the beat up is more compact. As the day progresses the picks may spread farther apart.

From the facts given above, it can be inferred. The usual method of finding GSM by using GSM cutter is no longer valid when evaluating handloom fabric. The best way to evaluate is to weight it thaan by thaan and average it out. 

Chira ( Missing End)

This effect occurs in all the fabrics, but it is more severe in powerlooms which are without warp stop motion. Chira is not prevalent in South looms as they are equipped with warp stop motion. However, for woven fabrics of north India, it is quite a common defect. 

Banding

Banding in the weft occurs due to particular contrast of colors, it is more visible in fabrics with cross colors. Also banding is visible when yarns are hand dyed and after the finish of one pirn, the next pirn contains different dyed lot of yarn. It also is visible in dyed fabrics when the count in the weft changes appreciably. It is more common in Khadis where the yarns of weft ( Amber) come in different lots. 

Tight End and Reed Mark

This forms a series of warp wise faint lines in the fabric. It occurs due to uneven tension in the warp beam which can happen when making the warp beam manually. It also occurs due to not cleaning, damaged heald wires or some problems in the reed. Often reed marks come in these fabrics. 

Holes

The main cause of holes is the pointed scale used all across the country to measure the length and fold the cloth. If a center point is used to hold the fabrics, and the point gets blunt it can cause appreciably visible holes and sometimes makes the whole fabric amenable to rejecting. 

Slippage of the Warp or weft ends

This takes place in almose all the fabrics loosly woven but it is more appreciable in silks and especially unions of silks with Viscose. The unions from Bhagalpur are more susceptible to this defect. To counter this the fabric after weaving is given a special starch finish, but that too is unsustainable and gives way in three or four washes. The cause of this defect is the smooth surface of viscose which can slip easily on silk. This damage leads to seam slippage which is easily noticeable in the stress areas of the garment(neck and arm whole) The solution is to improve the construction of the fabric or use a better quality viscose. To control this problem in garments at the nect, moon patches are applied

Specs

This defect is observed in handloom fabrics which use handspun yarn. Based on the quality of roving they are using these will contain foreign fibers which do not catch dyes leading to this defect. 

Rough appearance

Rough appearance occurs due to the nature of yarn. In most of the cases carded yarn is used, which contain short fibers which come at the top in the process of weaving. This also due to the uneven count of yarn and slubs present therein. This defect is not a defect as such rather than a mark of true ethnic fabrics. Moreover, hand feel of two garments made from identical fabrics will be different as they may be woven on different looms and subject to different treatments.

Pilling

Pilling in cotton fabric is observed in cross colors where one of the yarn is of dark color. The short fibers come to the surface and form a pill type structure. This defect is aggravated when one of the yarns is sulphur dyed. This is also present in Matka silk which is handspun and handwoven. In yarn dyed Matka, the problem is further aggravated. Silk Noil fabrics are also a victim to this defect as they by default contain short fibers.  

Manufacturing of Powerloom 40s x 40s 72 x 68 Fabric

This fabric is woven on the border areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states of India and has a widepopularity as a dress material for ladies ( Kurtis and Salwars). It has the potential to be printed or embroidered.

The count for this fabric is 40s  both warp and weft and constructions is 72 and 68. It is available in both 44 inches and 56 inches.

The following are the broad steps in making the fabric

1. Yarn is taken in hank form and is kept in water tanks for two days for them to wet properly. Then the yarn is scoured in hank form itself.

Label on a Hank Yarn

2. Yarn dyeing is done using either reactive or vat dyes. Yarn dyeing is done manually.

Color Kitchen

Dyeing Bath for Hank Yarn - Reactive Dyes
  

3. Yarn is then subjected to sizing using Maida and Gum as components. The yarn is subjected to alternate dyeing and sizing three times.

Yarn Being Dried after Sizing

4. Yarn is then prepared for warping using an ingenious creel and then wound onto a weavers beam using a conventional sectional warping machines. 

5. Pirns are prepared using an indigenous contraption.

6. Yarn is then worked on powerloom having warp stop and weft stop motion.

6. Primitive dobbies are used for woven and zari borders.

 
7. The yarn is then subjected to finishing using water, sometimes in a padding mangle using softner and desizing agent.

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