Balarampuram Sarees of Kerala

Balaramapuram is a small village in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, South India. This village is famous for saree making. The Balaramapuram sarees are exclusively made in the small village of Balaramapuram in the outskrits of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) city.

The weavers use a primitive type of throw-shuttle pit looms for the production of exclusively cotton fabrics with pure zari. They do not use any type of improved appliances such as Dobby, Jacquard, Jala, etc. for the production of designs for cloth with extra warp and extra weft. Identical appearance of designs, including warp and weft stripes on the face and backside of the fabric is obtained by this technique of weaving.

It is usually a cream stretch of cloth with "Kasavu" (exquisite embroidery work created from silver wires coated with gold) borders.

Super fine woven natural muslin color fields with bold geometric pallus. The cloth is just amazing - super fine and airy, yet strong. Sarees are 6 yards long and 48" wide.

These sarees are woven of a very special soft and very durable cotton, with a finish that's only able to be created here in this climate. If you go a bit north to Madras where the weather is hotter and drier you won't get such smooth finishing on the yarn. This is what makes Balarampuram sarees so wonderfully soft and durable.

Topic
Arts & Crafts