Sarees

Matka silk is one of the silk fabrics produced from four silks - Mulberry silk, Tasar silk, Muga silk and Eri silk. Matka means "rough handloom silk fabric."

Matka Silk extracted at the second stage of cocoon sericulture is one of the most easily maintained silks the feel and fall like crepe, largely used by many bengalis today. It is woven from thick yarns, it has a distinctive character because of the irregularities. It has dull sheen with looks similar to tweed and sews easily.

Matka is weaved in a particular manner where in one thread of cotton and one thread of silk is alternated and woven ofcourse it comes in 4 different types, usual matka, semi-broad matka, broad matka and the purely silk matka.

The tribal saris, scarves, and woven fabric lengths of the Koraput-Bastar region are woven in heavy count cotton ranging from 10 to 20. The weaver uses a three-shuttle interlock patterning, which makes available innumerable combinations in scale and volume. The characteristic natural dye coloring used is derived from the deep red aal or madder dye which is extracted from the root of the Indian Madder tree. The powerful and vibrant deep maroon that is obtained is often darkened to brown with the addition of harikari or sulphate of iron.

Saris of very fine cotton are woven widely in Coimbatore district. These high quality handloom cotton sarees are getting more popular by the day.

The kora cotton sari has a kora silk warp and a cotton weft yarn. The sari has a self-designed jacquard all over. The pallu and border of these cotton sarees are very attractive with a touch of zari work in them. The traditional images in the Kora cotton saree lures women a lot and also accommodates jacquard patterns.

Kurainadu and Kodambakkam saris are the blend of cotton and silk mixture. These saris are complimented with the beautiful geometric and floral designs. Some typical motifs are bells, toe ring armlet, rose-water pot, big seed and flowers. A variety of checks are also used as designs.

Silk yarn is made available through the government agencies and the weavers of the Thribuvanam silk saris are highly skilled. Saris are woven, with a special box fixed above the loom, in natural floral and animal designs

The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra is the place of origin of the karvat kati (saw-edged) sari, so named after the border design which resembles saw-teeth. This sari is generally used during ritual functions and is woven on a pit-loom using three fly shuttles with silk, tussar, and cotton yarns of various counts.