Narratives Of Narayanpet Sarees

By Author: Ankur Modi
Total Articles: 2
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Introduction: Narayanpet Sarees

A small town with a population of 50,000 people, Narayanpet lies in the border between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Appealing with its simplicity, the town has an old charm to it with old exquisite houses with faded jaali work, small dusty lanes leading to huddled houses that roll out colourful rangolis at their entrance and showcase brightly colored adorned doors opening into the homes of the weavers, where the clacking looms create music. These houses echo with the rhythm of the looms and the sight of many skilled hand screating mesmerizing Narayanpet handloom sarees. These skilled artisans come from every community and religion. There are Marathi speaking, telugu speaking and Kannada speaking and both Hindus and Muslims working together to create magic with their fingers. As varied as the weaving community, the array of lively colors of these Narayanpet sarees brightens up the mood. The traditional motifs and rich designs come alive as bright gold borders adorn the rich tapestry of colours. ...
... While the cotton sarees from Narayanpet come in a hue of rainbow colors and simplistic designs, the Narayanpet silk sarees are soft and silky and come in myriad shades and patterns.

Features of Narayanpet Sarees:

Narayanpet handloom sarees are well known for the durability of the colours used in yarns which is attributed to the right mixture of colors. The softness of a saree depends upon the thread count in the warp and weft respectively. Hundred percent handlooms, each and every step involved in making of the Narayanpet handloom sarees is done by hand. In Narayanpet, the weavers generally have the looms in their house and every member of his family is involved in different steps of the weaving process. Depending on the saree, each Narayanpet saree takes 2 to 3 days of continuous efforts for weaving a saree.

Process of Dyeing of Narayanpet Sarees:

The first step involved in making of Narayanpet sarees is the Dyeing of the yarn by dipping it in boiled colored water at very high temperature. The higher the temperature, the higher is the durability of the colour. A crucial step in making of these sarees, care is taken to make sure the color is spread uniformly throughout the yarn.

Process of weaving:

After the yarn is dyed uniformly, it is converted to thread and loaded as warp onto a beam which is in turn loaded into the loom for weaving. The yarn is also rolled over small sticks to be used for weft. Narayanpet handloom sarees are traditionally woven in the interlocked-weft technique. While it takes around 40 to 45 days to complete weaving of one beam, approximately 30 sarees can be made from one beam of warp.

Process of Design:

The desired design for the saree is first drawn on a computer and then punched into a card to be loaded on the Jacquard in the loom which is a box like structure fixed on the top of the loom. The needles in the Jacquard read the punched cards and control the weaving of weft.