Jamevaar are most unique. Like the finest paisley design, very intricate, largets motifts, orient designing, Indian culture woven in weaves of Jamavar in Kashmir, India. Pashmina Jamavars, jamevaar saris are hot fashion since centuries. Recommended by the world's leading fashion designers, a jamevaar sarees, Pashmina Jamavar is still a fashion amongst the rich, bold and beautiful people of UK, Europe, USA and the rest of the world.
The base of the Jamawar was always wool-with perhaps addition of a little cotton. The brocaded parts were woven in silk or pashmina. Most of the designs were floral, with the kairy or paisley as the predominant motif.
The art of weaving a Jamavar was painstaking and intricate one. Several kannis or little wooden shuttles of different colors were used for a single weft line of the fabric. Upto 50 colors could be worked into one shawl-the most popular colors being zard (yellow), sufed (white), mushki (black), ferozi (turquoise), ingari (green), uda (purple), gulnar (crimson) and kirmiz (scarlet). Months of hard work went into the preparation for each Jamawar, with not more than an inch being added per day in a 48-inch width of material.
Said to have been brought to Kashmir from Persia many centuries ago, the art of Jamevar weaving grew and flourished, reaching its zenith during the Mughal period. Emperor Akbar was one of its greatest patrons. He brought many weavers from East Turkestan to Kashmir.
The early 19th century saw a major innovation in the weaving of the Jamevaar. Embroidery began to be used to enhance and embellish the woven design. Some shawls actually recreated the entire woven design in embroidery so skillfully that it was hard to tell one from the other!
However, by the end of the century, the art of Jamavar weaving had begun to wane. Jamevar weaving had mainly flourished when the craftsman’s time and patience had been unlimited; when the superb quality of his work had brought him as much if not more satisfaction than the money he earned from it, when the patronage he enjoyed had been both discerning and magnanimous.