This blog is meant to create awareness of the handlooms available at KAMAKSHI. Narayanpet Cotton sarees are featherly soft and lightweight. All the customers who bought them are 200% happy and satisfied with the texture of the saree. This saree is made in Narayanpet region in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana. Narayanpet region is well known for its exquisite handloom sarees, both cotton and silk.
Now, let's go back to the period around 1630AD. It is believed that Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the famous Maratha King once travelled to this region where he stopped for rest before continuing his journey somewhere. Few of his weavers who was with him on his entourage stayed behind. It is these weavers who are the pioneers of this art form. Their skill was then passed down from generation to generation and the entire weaver community involved in this art is located only in Narayanpet. This is the reason why these sarees are noticed to have the influence of Maharashtrian style.
Narayanpet saree's motifs are very traditional and the gold borders are lustrous and bright. One of the most unique features in all Narayanpet sarees is the temple design(arrow head) motif in their borders. No wonder it is popular among the women in these regions where it is worn for any traditional ceremonial and religious occasions. It is believed to be very auspicious to wear these sarees. These sarees are also often offered to Goddesses at the temples.
The making of these handloom sarees is described as a unique process wherein eight sarees are made in one go on the loom. Therefore, instead of standard 7 yards of fabric which are generally mounted on the loom, about 56 yards of Silk will mounted, all at a single time. The Narayanpet handloom sarees are lightweight and extremely comfortable to be worn all time.
Narayanpet sarees are woven using the interlocked-weft technique. The warp and weft of Narayanpet handloom sarees represent the 80’s style with combed cotton and these are dyed in Vat colours. These colours are highly durable. The process of making each Narayanpet handloom saree begins with dyeing of the silk/cotton yarn. Dyeing is a process where the yarn is dipped in the boiled colour water at a very high temperature. This process ensures that the colour is spread uniformly all through the yarn while not affecting the quality of the yarn being used. The process of colouring is a crucial step and the yarn is dried under the shade and not under the sun. The dyed and dried yarn is finally loaded into the loom for the final process of weaving.