Weaving a Kullu Shawl

Yarns are rolled on the drum according to the design. Once the warp is long enough it is wound on the beam, which is then mounted onto the back of the frame loom.

This wire heald, a part of the larger warping or 'tana' drum, is a local version of the industrial one. The heald keeps the yarns at the regular distance from each other on the warp.

A weaver pulls on the pulley attached to the shuttle to move it across.

A handloom workshop has a unique music. The constant clacking of the wooden shuttle, the shafts, and the beater, are all a part of a weaver's life.

Equally adept from childhood, women and men work at a loom singly or in pairs. There is no difference in their output or dedication to the craft.

A weaving space in a Kullu workshop can house as many as ten looms where men and women jointly weave shawls.

For Kullu weavers, their designs are set in their minds. They follow no pre-planned patterns on graph paper or even rough sketches.

Here, a woman weaver proceeds on her shawl which has a wide elaborate border. The emerging pattern is in the classic style of a Kullu shawl.

Sometimes, detailing is added with extra weft threads inserted into the border, after the main pattern is established.

Kullu weavers also make a thick natural coloured woollen fabric called 'pattu'. It can be used as a blanket when multiple strips are stitched together, or can also be tailored into a rough coat that shepherds wear in cold weather.

Narrow strips or 'pattis' are woven on small looms. These decorative strips are stitched as borders on shawls, bags, the famous himachali cap or on any other small product.

A small, narrow low-standing loom is made specially to weave these strips. They are casually housed in verandas of weaver's homes and are used while sitting on the floor.

Many rolls of woven strips await stitching onto larger fabrics, dresses or caps.

Sometimes they are even used to attach to tote bags.

Women sit together in verandas to separate the edge threads on the shawl and to tie them into tassles.

Apart from tassels, woven strips are also machine-stitched onto the shawl borders.

This work usually happens in verandas of the weaver's homes which are also used as extended workshops.

A careful tidying up of minor threads and flaws takes place as a form of quality checking.

A weaver cuts off the extended threads in the weft pattern in the process of tidying and ‘finishing’ a piece after the weaving is completed.

After shawls are woven and taken off the loom, they go through a large roller to be steamed and pressed for an even surface.

Dyeing takes place in the weaver's own establishments using chemical dyestuffs.

Shawls too are often dyed after the cleaning process if colours other than natural ones are required.

Shawls, mufflers, lois and pattus are sold in little shops in the town, on pavements in a central area outside a temple, and other informal spaces.

Women carry them in bundles and lay them out for the day to catch local customers and tourists, all of whom find the local Kullu shawl a Himalayan textile of beauty and warmth.

Read more about Kullu shawls here:
-The luxury of a Himachali handloom
-Taming the wool