Khadi Spinning and Weaving

Fourteen pure khadi saris display the range of colours that can be derived from natural dyestuffs.

These saris are collector’s pieces now, as spinning wheels, customer tastes and weavers’ inclinations have changed.

Their real value, both in terms of fabric quality and historicity, are invaluable.

A close up of the finest khadi saris, which are part of a precious private collection, demonstrating the exclusive quality of Indian khadi woven at the beginning of the 21 century.

Seen here is a range of blues that can be extracted from the indigo plant and woven in the hands of skilled dyers and weavers of khadi fabric.

The colours of yarn and the pattern of the border represent what could be symbolic of the quintessential khadi sari of earlier times when wearers of such saris made political history.

Gentle yellow stripes interspersed with zari threads and a narrow green border form the body of a more ornamental khadi sari that allows a splurge of zari on its pallu, or end piece.

Detail of the body of a khadi sari in gold and yellow checks that encompass a small green motif in them.

The texture and weave show it as being pure hand spun and handwoven.

Khadi followed the principles of extreme simplicity.

However, when khadi wearing politically conscious women wanted to be dressy, a more generous amount of metallic, zari, threads, broad golden borders and decorative body designs were woven. The fabric remained fine for lightness.

Detail of the gold zari border in which the crinkled fabric has a textural charm of its own.

The same sari has been stored rolled onto a long wooden rod for nearly 20 years, yet remains fresh and unspoiled.

It has wider gold zari borders along both lengths to add weight to the delicate body of small diagonal motifs in green and gold.

A beige or biscuit shade of dyed khadi has a quiet elegance when dotted with small coin- sized gold dots and a generous gold pallu or end piece.

A high level of sophistication is achievable in a khadi sari which is today unfairly considered a dowdy politician’s garment.

Finer counts, specks of gold against a black body left this sari to the level of high luxury.

This detail shows the level of delicacy achieved in the weaving of a golden motif against black hand spun threads.

An indigo and natural shaded khadi sari is another signature design that came out of the political movement for India’s freedom.

Above the dark blue border, the spiked ‘temple’ border is seen in many khadi saris in varying widths and styles.

This design retains the simplicity of a Gandhian product while retaining a quiet elegance.

Detail of the nature of the weave of a temple border in a pure hand spun, hand woven khadi sari.

This detail of a pale beige, possibly tea-dyed khadi saris enable a closer look at how the texture appears when woven with short staple cotton yarn.

A line up of khadi saris with assorted borders that give each one its own verve and personality.

Such saris are extremely rare to find now.

These border weaves and designs that nearly always identify the sari as a khadi, hand spun, hand woven one, shows the sizes and varieties of the small additional ‘temple’ design consisting of tiny ridges or spikes above the main border.

The uneven quality of this very plain khadi sari can be examined by looking closely at the texture created by weaving short staple yarn.

It gives a texture that is unique and impossible to duplicate.

Tiny brown dots and circles cover the natural coloured body of a two-decade old khadi sari with quiet symmetry.

A black khadi sari with tiny gold diamond-shaped motifs and gleaming gold borders and pallu demonstrates its elegance when draped on a stand against a turmeric yellow khadi sari.

A cream coloured khadi sari with gold diamond motifs and a gold pallu with additional gold stripes for extra ornamentation is an example of how true simplicity is the way to achieve luxurious elegance.

A soft pink bordering on salmon can be achieved by using pomegranate dyes.

This hand spun hand-woven khadi sari needs nothing else to enhance it.

A soft pale blue with minimal silver enhancements would have been considered adequately dressy for the evening twenty years ago, before bright colours and digital prints came into the market.

Cotton fabrics in wider widths and thicker counts were developed two decades ago into a range of soft furnishings from the khadi sector.

Soft furnishings in khadi weaves were in a variety of widths and neutral colours made of natural, organically grown cotton.

The many boxes made to contain the khadi fabric swatch cards are carefully designed to make each one a collector’s item.

The pattern that naturally emerges after weaving shows the nature of the hand spun staple yarn used for this fabric.

A loose weave in two colour yarn threads reveals yet another natural charm of khadi fabric.

Swatches of different weaves and textures in khadi when held up against the light, show the texture and quality of each.

The pattern that has emerged in this khadi fabric is abstract, random, and cannot be easily replicated, making it rare and especially beautiful.

Khadi fabric that emerges as a form of twill weave.

The nature of short staple hand spun yarn is to give a new aspect to stripes by insinuating its own character into them.

Fabric swatches are mounted on stiff cards with all the details required to understand and replicate the fabric at a later date.

A collection of khadi fabric swatches is fitted into each box in the collection.

The final loving touch given to the project is the preparation of khadi yarn bracelets with a message of peace, to be worn like a friendship bracelet.

These were given out to every visitor to the exhibition of the outcome of the Khadi – Fabric of Freedom project of 2001- 2002 in India.

Read more about khadi weaving here:
-An archive from the dawn of the 21 st century
-Ponduru - spinning and weaving 20 years later